Another absolutely wonderful book brought to you by the woman who "gets" magic and fairy tales and what it means to tell a specific kind of children's story. Valente is still writing in the tradition of Lewis Carroll and L Frank Baum, but, at the same time, manages to write a thoroughly timeless story. She understands how fairy stories and folklore works. She knows it and knows where it can be gently mocked and where it must be played quite seriously. She knows the games that you can play with fantasy and metaphor and she plays them well.
There are certain kinds of books (and, perforce, writers) who understand what it is I want from a fantasy novel in terms of language, of story, of character. Valente is one of them.