[A note on cover art: The main character in this book has dark skin but the cover art portrays her as white, which is a reprehensible oversight on the part of the Macmillan publishing imprint Feiwel & Friends and the illustrator Ana Juan. This sort of thing should not still be happening.] 
 "You are not the chosen one, September. Fairyland did not choose you. You chose yourself." 
 September is having a lonely life. Her father has been drafted into a war and her mother is working all hours to make ends meet. One day, the North Wind arrives dressed all in green and she takes his hand. She's taken to fairyland on the back of a flying leopard and doesn't think to leave a note behind. 
 I loved this. Valente has managed to write a fresh take on the expected standards of portal fantasy books. The world of Fairyland is lyrically written and full of clever and engaging characters that offer September insight into her own life and give her new ways to think about her life back home. 
 In one of the most beautiful sequences I've read this year, September confronts the very real aspect of her own Death by singing it to sleep, thereby retrieving a treasure by remembering and appreciating her mother. This is a book about determination, free will, the grey line between good and evil, and above all the relationship between mothers and daughters. 
 There are truly terrifying elements to this book, and a lot of blood and hardship, but honestly I think that younger readers might be less scared by it than I was. The story is strong enough that the scary bits didn't pull me away from the narrative, and for me those parts made the Fairyland that September visits feel more visceral and real. 
 I'll definitely be adding more of the Fairyland series to my reading list! 
 (I am regretfully subtracting a star from my review because this is a book published after the year 2000 that includes no gay or queer characters)