The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home

The story puts characters in many dangers, including mortal combat. Death herself, last seen several volumes ago, makes an appearance. Many returning characters have been raised from the grave or magical prisons for the race, and the penalty for losers is to go back to their previous states. One vanquished villain's remains are made into a throne. A character gradually loses his memory due to being bitten by a bear.

The series includes a fair amount of gender-bending (e.g., characters with opposite-sex names or job titles) and matter-of-fact acceptance of gay relationships, but there's no sexual content. In Book 1, it's revealed that on at least one possible time ine, September and Saturday have a daughter. Here, they kiss several times, with much intensity and magic, amid many dangers and reality shifts. But make no mistake: Within its own universe, the story is profoundly romantic, as in this speech by a character confronting an adversary:

"We've only just wed. In the Autumn Provinces, in the Worsted Wood. I put a wreath of kelp round her neck, and she painted her name upon my eyelids. She wore green; I wore blue. We danced for three days, my wife and I -- along with a Wyverary, a wombat, a Dodo, a family of trolls, a matchstick girl, a gramophone, a whole gang of shadows, a Yeti and his dog, a talking lamp, Winds of every color, a wairwulf and both his wives. Seventeen versions of me were there, along with her parents and mine and a pooka and Ajax Oddson, the greatest Racemaster who ever lived. We told each other our true names and fell asleep among our friends, covered in moonlight and the silver comfort of the right ending. She is my wife and I am her own and you were not invited. Leave us alone."

In an insult fest, a character says, "Go pick lice off your mother's backside, you saucepan-headed ape!"

Many celebrations in Fairyland involve alcoholic drinks, and an adult character reveals that she named Fairyland creatures after the bottles in her parents' liquor cabinet. Some Fairyland characters smoke pipes.

Parents need to know that Catherynne M. Valente's conclusion to the Fairyland saga maintains the wild imagination, oddball perspective, and deep heart that has set the series apart and made it so popular with kids and critics alike. It also wraps up the various plot threads and relationships in an emotionally satisfying way. Along the way, there are plentiful positive messages about friendship, loyalty, love, family, courage, teamwork, and self-sacrifice. Two central characters exchange several intense kisses; some of the conflicts involve fights to the death -- or at least sending recently resurrected characters back to the grave. One vanquished character's remains are turned into a chair. Note: This is the fifth book in a series with a list of characters that takes up two-and-a-half pages in a helpful list at the beginning. It will make very little sense if you haven't read the other installments.