Not a shadow of it's predecessor
Not since the Harry Potter series have we seen different facets of our favourite characters through the lens of the hero. One of my favourite aspects of Harry Potter was how the characters remained true to themselves but we got to see how they changed through Harry. Professor McGonagall seemed less strict through the eyes of a grown-up.
September is growing up. [I do hope she never grows up too much.]
The charm of these books is the aspect of trying to get home the entire time from classic fantasy genres are gone. The Fairyland books have a healthy balance between wanting your own life but also the wildness of fairyland. Adventure, Quests and magical lovely friends.
The lovely Sundays reading in companiable silence sounded nice and relatable to my own life of wanting to be away from work or in my youth, school. The nice quite times get their special spot in September's life.
She returns to Fairyland a year after the events of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. This time she chases a silver figure back into fairyland. This time it's her cut-off shadow Halloween whose made things topsy turvy by stealing shadows.
Without their shadows the citizens of fairyland have lost their magic thus have to use ration cards.
The ration cards are similar to September's own life back home during the war.
Everyone's shadow selves are a darker version of who they once were. Ell and Saturday are not quite like the friends she left behind from the first book.
Now that September is growing up and is not quite so heartless she feels like must put things right since it is her shadow causing all of the trouble.
While my favourite characters from The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making aren't exactly the same they are still just as loveable. We're just viewing them from a different angle.
Abguirine, the night Dodo, is my new favourite friend she makes.
This book reminded me more of the Alice books than it's predecessor [which reminded me more of Oz & Labryinth] because of the Dodo bird, tea and chess references.