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A review by colossal
Velveteen vs. The Seasons by Seanan McGuire
4.0
The first two Velveteen books are my favorite Seanan works and this one is a really unexpected continuation of the fantastic world and friends of the brilliant Velma.
Velma Martinez is Velveteen, a superhero with the rare animus powerset and a marketing theme based around the Velveteen Rabbit. As has been established in the previous two books, the power to animate anthropomorphic toys and make their weaponry, skills and powers real is just the tip of her abilities and to quote a character in this book: she's f'ing terrifying.
In this one we pick up directly after the previous book and go to the action of Velveteen following through on her promise to serve each of the Seasonal lands of Winter, Autumn and Spring. Each of these kingdoms have their own personifications, some of whom are familiar to Vel and some who aren't, and all with their own agendas. Velveteen doesn't know these "people" as well as she thinks.
This book is good, but the previous book was amazing and this is therefore something of a step down. We do get lots more detail about the seasonal lands, and we get to play with the Hall of Mirrors and the multiverse again, but very little of it is at the emotional intensity of [b:Velveteen vs. The Multiverse|17667054|Velveteen vs. The Multiverse (Velveteen vs., #2)|Seanan McGuire|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375079874s/17667054.jpg|24661739]. Unfortunately, like that book, this one finishes with much undone and just as little uncertainty about whether there will be more in the series. That being said, I had no expectation that this one would ever be done, so I remain hopeful for further Velveteen books, hopefully working towards resolving Tag's situation and the power vacuum left from the Super Patriots Inc. changes as well as some of the new problems raised with this volume.
If you haven't read these yet and you like any of Seanan's stuff, you should correct that immediately. The first two are some of the best things she's done, and this one is still pretty good.
Velma Martinez is Velveteen, a superhero with the rare animus powerset and a marketing theme based around the Velveteen Rabbit. As has been established in the previous two books, the power to animate anthropomorphic toys and make their weaponry, skills and powers real is just the tip of her abilities and to quote a character in this book: she's f'ing terrifying.
In this one we pick up directly after the previous book and go to the action of Velveteen following through on her promise to serve each of the Seasonal lands of Winter, Autumn and Spring. Each of these kingdoms have their own personifications, some of whom are familiar to Vel and some who aren't, and all with their own agendas. Velveteen doesn't know these "people" as well as she thinks.
This book is good, but the previous book was amazing and this is therefore something of a step down. We do get lots more detail about the seasonal lands, and we get to play with the Hall of Mirrors and the multiverse again, but very little of it is at the emotional intensity of [b:Velveteen vs. The Multiverse|17667054|Velveteen vs. The Multiverse (Velveteen vs., #2)|Seanan McGuire|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375079874s/17667054.jpg|24661739]. Unfortunately, like that book, this one finishes with much undone and just as little uncertainty about whether there will be more in the series. That being said, I had no expectation that this one would ever be done, so I remain hopeful for further Velveteen books, hopefully working towards resolving Tag's situation and the power vacuum left from the Super Patriots Inc. changes as well as some of the new problems raised with this volume.
If you haven't read these yet and you like any of Seanan's stuff, you should correct that immediately. The first two are some of the best things she's done, and this one is still pretty good.