History Literature / TheGirlWhoCircumnavigatedFairylandInAShipOfHerOwnMaking

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: Queen Mallow is universally known -- even by those too young to remember her firsthand -- as a kind, intelligent, gracious queen.

* DontFearTheReaper: [[spoiler: September meets her Death in the Worsted Wood. Death appears as a small, gentle creature, who tells September she will slowly grow bigger and more menacing the closer September comes to the end of her life. Death is tormented by the regrets of the dead, and September sings her to sleep with her mother's lullaby. A much larger Death appears again in the final book, to witness September transform into the Green Wind.]]

* DudeWheresMyRespect: [[spoiler: The whole reason for Mallow's FaceHeelTurn. When she returns to Fairyland, she finds that Fairyland has moved on and forgotten her.]]

** In ''The Girl Who Raced Fairyland'', the weapon used by one of the future-tense Latin knights Ell summons appears to be the autonomous dart used by Yondu in the ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' films.

* KingOfTheDinosaurs: In the final book, one of the participants in the competition to decide the next King of Fairyland is Thrum, the Rex Tyrannosaur. Possibly a GeniusBonus, as "Tyrannosaurus Rex" translates to "tyrant lizard king" in Latin.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: In the final book, one of the participants in the competition to decide the next King of Fairyland is Thrum, the [[KingOfTheDinosaurs Rex Tyrannosaur]]. Possibly a GeniusBonus, as "Tyrannosaurus Rex" translates to "tyrant lizard king" in Latin.

* NiceHat: The Marquess has a very fine hat.

* ChekhovsGun: The narrator comes right out and tells the reader that the shoe September lost will become a plot point later.

** Everywhere in Fairyland. Different creatures correct September constantly as to what they are and what they do. Witches would like to make it clear that they are not sorceresses, enchantresses, or hags. In the course of the first book, September meets only two actual fairies in Fairyland, with other characters insisting that they're brownies, elves, pixies, or sprites.

* CreepyChild: The Marquess, who has no problems killing and threatening others and is physically twelve.

* InsistentTerminology: Everywhere in Fairyland. Different creatures correct September constantly as to what they are and what they do.

The book has spawned a series, which is projected for five books in all. A sequel called ''The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There'' was published in October 2012. A second sequel ''The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two'' was published in October 2013, and a third, ''The Boy Who Lost Fairyland,'' in March of 2015. A prequel, ''The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland—For a Little While'', tells the story of the young girl who became Fairyland's Queen Mallow (and is full of Major {{Spoiler}}s for the first book, so only read it after that one). The final book, ''The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home,'' was released in March 2016.

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: Queen Mallow is universally known-- even by those too young to remember her firsthand-- as a kind, intelligent, gracious queen.
* AFriendInNeed: September risks the Marquess' wrath to free Saturday from a lobster cage. Gleam the lantern forsakes her community on the island of the tsukomogami to accompany September, even to the very depths of the Lonely Gaol.

* CameBackWrong: A variant. The death involved is [[ThatManIsDead more metaphorical than literal]]. [[spoiler: Mallow originally came to Fairyland an ordinary little girl who grew up to become a queen. When forced to leave, she desperately looked for another way in, despite no such way existing. It was only through turning her clock back--not at all unlike cheating death--that she could come back. As a very angry, bitter woman in a twelve-year-old girl's body.]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast: The Marquess's {{backstory}} is awfully sad and touching. [[spoiler:In her life in the human world, her mother died when she was eight and she was abused by her alcoholic father. Then she stumbled into Fairyland, lived there for many years, fell in love and became a queen, and not by marriage, and became pregnant. And then she was snatched back into her dull world, all the ones she loved and who loved her in Fairyland gone, stuck with her abusive father and in a twelve year old's body, no husband, no child, nothing. Doesn't really surprise one that she became so bitter and full of hatred for Fairyland, first giving her so much love, and then taking it away again.]]

* FreudianExcuse: The Marquess [[spoiler:lived unhappily as a girl in the real world, but found joy, love and a kingdom as Queen Mallow. Then the laws of Fairyland forcibly evicted her at the height of her power. Small wonder she'd be so resentful after clawing her way back.]]
* [[GenderBlenderName Gender-Blender Title]]: The Marquess. Technically a woman would be a Marchioness or a Marquise.

* [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen God Save Us From the Marquess]]: The Marquess has no problem killing her subjects, stealing their possessions, forcing them to wear ColdIron chains around their wings (which, for the fey, is ''very'' painful) or [[spoiler:splitting Fairyland forever from the human world]]).

* WrongGenreSavvy: September thinks she knows what to expect of Fairyland, but she is constantly proved wrong. This is lampshaded early on when she tries to figure out what sort of story she is in, and can't decide.

* {{Youkai}}: Fairyland residents include {{tanuki}}, as well as tsukumogami, who have their own island.
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* NotSoDifferent: September and the Marquess[[spoiler:/Mallow]].
** In the sequel, Halloween argues this of herself and September. A specific example she gives is how [[spoiler:both of them desperately want to save their father and bring their family together again]]. It makes sense, seeing as Halloween is September's own shadow.

* DumbDodoBird: Subverted in the second book. As related by Aubergine, a particularly quiet dodo, the dodos were a peaceful race who just wanted to be left alone, but were hunted even in Fairyland for their skill as racers. Aubergine is the only dodo we meet-- all the others of her kind have gone deep into hiding.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: In the final book, one of the participants in the competition to decide the next King of Fairyland is Thrum, the [[TyrannosaurusRex Rex Tyrannosaur]]. Possibly a GeniusBonus, as "Tyrannosaurus Rex" translates to "tyrant lizard king" in Latin.

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: Queen Mallow.

* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: [[spoiler: Mallow/Marquess]]

* DontFearTheReaper: [[spoiler: September meets her Death in the Worsted Wood. Death appears as a small, gentle creature, who tells September she will slowly grow bigger and more menacing the closer September comes to the end of her life. Death is tormented by the regrets of the dead, and September sings her to sleep with her mother's lullaby.]]

** September fondly remembers a film where a [[Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs dark-haired princess runs through a terrifying forest]]. She liked that part, but found the princess's singing annoying.

** Subverted for Prince Myrrh: [[spoiler:Being in a deep sleep for years because he was technically never born may sound pretty horrific, but the baku eating his dreams describes his experience as an overly long nap. He is no worse for after he's woken.]]

* FreudianExcuse: The Marquess [[spoiler:lived unhappily as a girl in the real world, and found joy, love and a kingdom as Queen Mallow. Then the laws of Fairyland forcibly evicted her at the height of her power. Small wonder she'd be so resentful after clawing her way back.]]

* OurGeniesAreDifferent: Marids. Djinni are creatures of the air, but Marids are creatures of the sea, and they can only grant wishes after they lose a wrestling match.

* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: The Winds
* AndIMustScream: In the second book we learn that shadows are intelligent creatures with their own wants, personalities, ambitions, and so on. Until Halloween took over Fairyland-Below, they were trapped attached to the denizens of Fairyland-Above, unable to speak or move independently.

* ForcefulKiss: Saturday's shadow does this to September in the second book. She dislikes it.
* FreudianExcuse: for Marquess.

* [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen God Save Us From the Marquess]]: The Marquess has no problem killing her subjects, stealing their possessions, forcing them to wear iron chains around their wings (which, for the fey, is ''very'' painful) or [[spoiler:splitting Fairyland forever from the human world]]).

* PantheraAwesome: The various great cats that the Winds ride, most of which have Shakespearian names. The two most significant are siblings Imogen, the Green Wind's Leopard of Little Breezes, and Iago, the Marquess's Panther of Rough Storms.

* ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler: Mallow/Marquess. Though for a change, it is not entirely her fault. Rather the fairyland rules ''literally'' made Mallow disappear, though what happened aftewards is another story.]]

* LemonyNarrator: Common in Valente's work, but this is the most lemony one of all.

* ExoticExtendedMarriage: The witches Hello and Goodbye are both married to the [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent wairwolf]] Manythanks.

* AbsurdlyCoolCity: So many, including Pandemonium (which is made of cloth), Westerly (made of paper),

* UndergroundCity: Tain, and the entirety of Fairland Below