Book Review: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Since this is really late I'll be brief, I was aware of this book when it was first a serialized novel online but was always too busy to get around to reading it. I've also been hesitant to try it out since I've seen reviews of the later novels (the book was later picked up by a traditional publisher, hence why my library had a copy) that say they've gone downhill. The good news is that this book could be read entirely on it's own so if you're nervous like me worry not, no obligation to keep reading!

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by  Catherynne M. Valente, illustrated by Ana Juan

Book Review: Six Gun Snow White

To get picky, I think this story is actually a novella, not a novel because of it's length but there's still more than enough in the story to talk about for a review. I have to admit that I still wish it was a graphic novel instead (when I first heard about it on Tor that's what I thought it was) but that's just personal preference, plus then I might confuse it too much with Rapunzle's Revenge. 

Six Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente

Summary: Six Gun Snow White is the child of a white business man and the Native American woman he forced into a marriage and as a result has not had the happiest childhood. When her father remarries her step-mother makes her life even worse and after years finally takes a chance to run way into America's Wild West.

The Good: Well that was an interesting re-imagining, the story rather throughly tackled nearly ever element of the Snow White legend and re-worked it which I thought was very creative and much better than many of the retold fairy tales I've seen lately which borrow a few themes and drop the rest by the wayside. And I really did think that a lot of the details were clever, I felt like the story was an interesting blend of the original and new, Native American elements (not related to either but the new detail I liked the most was about Six Gun Snow White's step-brother, that felt like something which could have come out of a classic fairy tale with how odd it was).  

The Bad: In the end the story just felt a little too disjointed, I felt like it was trying to have multiple, episodic tales in it (all of which a re-imagining of a specific part of the Snow White legend) but I feel like the story should have tried to be a bit tighter especially since there are a few plot threads that go through almost the entire story, like the step-mother. That might have made this story even shorter still but it seemed to me that this choice stretched the story a little too thin  (I'll also admit I wasn't expecting it to be as, sad in tone as it was and that I prefer cheerful stories which almost certainly influenced how I felt about the book as well).

In the end it was an interesting little story yet I don't think I'll reread it so I'll give it three out of five stars. Oh and I have no idea why the hardcover's price is so crazy, I found a copy at my library easily so I'm not sure what's going on there.