Though sometimes the author's vocabulary and syntax choices were overly precious - I winced through a couple of very affected sentences here and there - the language used, taken as a whole, met a standard of beauty and precision that is rarely seen anymore in any genre (and especially not children's/YA novels). It reminded me of the truly classic children's books: The Chronicles of Narnia, Five Children and It, The Faraway Tree series, of course Alice in Wonderland, but also less fantasy-oriented ones like The Railway Children and Anne of Green Gables. What do all these books and Ms. Valente's have in common? Firstly, they involve the world (or worlds!) as viewed by children, but they transcend age; they are equally enjoyable and edifying for adults as for children. Secondly, they depict a novel moral axis upon which all the characters of the book's universe spin, a moral axis which the reader must navigate him or herself and inevitably consider deeply in order to understand his or her position in relation to that axis. Thirdly, they represent fundamentally relatable characters that we can all empathize with, root for, aspire to be like. And here I must mention the main character of this novel, September, who is wonderfully well written and is in my memory the first fantasy heroine equal to any fictional male hero in the "quest" she is "given" (gross oversimplification, but I don't want to spoil any part of the plot) as well as her decisions and priorities. She is no quaint fantasy heroine stereotype or supporting character in her own novel; and the secondary characters are compelling, fleshed out and undergo fascinating journeys in their own right.