Fairyland Books In Order

Publication Order of Fairyland Books

Fairyland is a fantasy series Catherynne M. Valente, a very well-known American fiction writer, poet and literary critic. The series consist of a short prequel and five novels. Having won many awards thanks to her poems and novels in the fantasy genre, Valente welcomes readers into an adventurous and magical world in this series titled as Fairyland. As suggested by the name of the series, the basic setting of the books is the land of faeries called as the Fairyland. In this magical world, the plot is centered on the life of a twelve-year-old girl named September. Winning significant awards and receiving great publicity, Fairyland has accomplished to attract readers of all ages over the recent years.

Details on the Series

Palimpsest is a novel written by Valente in March 2009, before the Fairyland series. In this novel, one of the characters named November is especially fond of a book since her childhood. The book is called “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”, which is also the name of the first novel in the series of Fairyland. Having hinted at the novel in Palimpsest already, Valente began writing “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making” in 2011. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, the book was published online during the same year. Gaining a certain level of popularity and a large group of online fans, the novel was later published traditionally as well. Additionally, Valente later on wrote a short prequel as an e-book, introducing the life of Ana Juan, the evil Marquess of Fairyland.

Apart from the prequel, all the novels in Fairyland focus on the life and adventures of September, a 12-year-old girl from Nebraska. The readers get to know September through a span of time and eventful adventures. In the first novel of the series, “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”, September is first introduced as a simple girl. Living in Omaha, Nebraska, September’s life is quite ordinary. She has a father who is away with the army in Europe. Her mother is extremely busy working with airplane engines all day in factory. In her lonely and ordinary life, September longs for adventure and fun. One day, her ultimate wish miraculously comes true as a Green Wind in disguise visits September’s house while her parents are gone as always.

The Green Wind asks September to join him on a journey of adventure. As September accepts his offer, they leave for the bordering sea of Fairyland. One adventure leads to another and September soon meets a new character, more specifically a gnome. This gnome helps her see Fairyland without being physically there. After seeing Fairyland, she has no doubts left and soon she enters into this new world of magic. Her adventures increasingly go on there where she gains a new mission.

Coming across with witches who assign her this brand new role, September finds herself in a situation facing the evil Marquess, the strict ruler of Fairyland. September needs to get back a spoon from Ana Juan, the evil Marquess and she feels astonished by this unexpected situation. Teaming up with her new friends, September tries to accomplish her mission while witnessing other difficulties and transformations while she is in Fairyland.

After the first novel of the series, September’s adventures continue in slightly different settings and circumstances. Although remaining in Fairyland, Valente manages to find exciting ways to bring in new and fresh ideas into the next novels. Namely, there are always new places that September finds herself in, new people that she comes across with and new challenges that she needs to accept and overcome.

While Catherynne M. Valente keeps all the next novels fresh, adventurous and free of repetitions, September’s character has a certain impact on the popularity of the series. She is a brave and loyal girl with strong morals, despite her age. She is also clever and she comes up with the right ideas and solutions whenever needed. Moreover, readers get to see her grow up. In the first novel, she is only 12 but by the end of the last book she reaches the age of 15. While enjoying the magical vibe of Fairyland, September is constantly challenged by the evil nature of other characters and dangerous situations. Sometimes having fun and sometimes getting extremely scared, September slowly matures through her adventures in Fairyland. While doing so, she never really gives on her ethical and good side. September successfully accomplishes to protect her good nature while also affecting others and her surroundings in a positive way.

As the first four novels in Fairyland have already been published, Valente noted the fifth and last novel in the series is to be published in March, 2016. Titled as “The Girl Who Racced Fairyland All the Way Home”, the last novel has an exciting plot that has risen great curiosity in the loyal readers of Fairyland. In the last novel of the series, September becomes the queen of Fairyland while her parents cross the universe to finally find her. After spending years of adventures in Fairyland, it is yet unknown where she will choose to live in the end.

Overall Experience & Awards

Originally published for young adults, Fairyland goes beyond being a fantastical tale for its primary target audience. Regardless of age, the series has been embraced by many people. Glorified with great critics in numerous magazines, Fairyland is considered to be a masterpiece by Valente as she uses a beautiful writing prose while creating a strong balance between modernism and Victorianism.

Loved by many readers and art critics, Fairyland was a bestseller in the year of 2011 and the series also received some important awards proving the hype behind. In 2009, Fairyland won the Norton Award before it was published as hard copy. With that, Fairyland became the first book ever to win this award as an online publication.

Proving the overall popularity of the series, “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making” was also awarded to be the “Best Web Fiction of the Decade” as the readers’ choice by CultureGeek for the first decade of 2000s.