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Velveteen vs. #3
Velveteen vs. The Seasons
A doorway opens in mid-air. The body of a woman falls to the ground and lies there unmoving as the door slams shut behind her, dissolving like confetti into the wind.
As the grass beneath her slowly dies, Velma Martinez–Velveteen–once architect of the downfall of The Super Patriots, Inc., most recently the servant of the Seasons, has come home.
But ah; we are getting ahead of ourselves. That is the difficulty, once holidays become involved. They want everything to be a fairy tale, and nothing to be true. Perhaps this would not hurt so much, except that they remember the meaning of fairy tales, before we sanded off their edges and called them suitable for children.
The holidays remember how to bleed.
So much as it hurts, we must leave the body in the grass, alone and untended, with no one to confirm whether she will live or whether she has already died. For all things must begin at their beginnings, and the beginning of this tale is far, far behind us…
Join us as award-winning author Seanan McGuire returns to the story of Velveteen, where the choices that a superheroine makes always have consequences.
As the grass beneath her slowly dies, Velma Martinez–Velveteen–once architect of the downfall of The Super Patriots, Inc., most recently the servant of the Seasons, has come home.
But ah; we are getting ahead of ourselves. That is the difficulty, once holidays become involved. They want everything to be a fairy tale, and nothing to be true. Perhaps this would not hurt so much, except that they remember the meaning of fairy tales, before we sanded off their edges and called them suitable for children.
The holidays remember how to bleed.
So much as it hurts, we must leave the body in the grass, alone and untended, with no one to confirm whether she will live or whether she has already died. For all things must begin at their beginnings, and the beginning of this tale is far, far behind us…
Join us as award-winning author Seanan McGuire returns to the story of Velveteen, where the choices that a superheroine makes always have consequences.
250 pages, Hardcover
First published May 23, 2016
14 people are currently reading
437 people want to read
About the author
Seanan McGuire
508 books17.1k followersHi! I'm Seanan McGuire, author of the Toby Daye series (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses), as well as a lot of other things. I'm also Mira Grant (www.miragrant.com), author of Feed and Deadline.
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
June 4, 2016
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 Velveteen vs. The Multiverse. 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 Velveteen vs. The Multiverse. 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.
January 16, 2021
This is the third book of Velveteen stories, which examine the life of a superhero through traditional comics story-telling tropes and mythic imagination and societal pop culture and maybe a dollop of quantum mechanics. In the Velveteen stories, whatever is believed in or wished for strongly enough becomes reality. This one picks up right where Velveteen Vs. The Multiverse ends, with Velveteen fulfilling her promise to serve the seasons, and we see her in the realms of Winter, Spring, and Autumn and her eventual return. This volume doesn't have an introduction, and I think readers unfamiliar with the preceding books would be lost fairly swiftly here. (I didn't like the cover as well, either.) The installments were all previously published on the author's website, so the fact that they lacked editorial oversight is both a blessing and a curse; she was free to do whatever she wanted with no limitation, but there was no one there to clarify anything or apply the brakes. This volume reads more like a novel than a short story series, and is a great pick for both comics and fairy tale fans. I hope Velveteen makes a comeback sometime!
paused
June 2, 2016Today is a great day to be a Seanan McGuire fan, apparently. (Or, maybe I just need to keep up better on my news.) She announced on December 22nd that the third book in this series is under discussion for Memorial Day release next year:
http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com...
(Of course, she posts the stories in this serious for free as she writes them, but I really prefer them in book form. If you don't mind reading them online, see here: http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com....
http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com...
(Of course, she posts the stories in this serious for free as she writes them, but I really prefer them in book form. If you don't mind reading them online, see here: http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com....
May 1, 2019
GAH! It can’t end like that! There needs to be more. Yes, I get it, as far as the title goes we have reached the end. This is Velveteen vs. The Seasons, and that particular confrontation is done. But there are too many more things that need to be cleared up for this to be The End.
NOTE: This is now out of print, but I managed to get a copy at Borderlands Books in San Francisco, CA. Seanan was able to get all remaining print copies of this series from the publisher, and sent them all to Borderlands, so if you read this in early 2019 you may be able to secure a copy from there as well. (Update - it's a signed copy! Oooh! Shiny.)
NOTE: This is now out of print, but I managed to get a copy at Borderlands Books in San Francisco, CA. Seanan was able to get all remaining print copies of this series from the publisher, and sent them all to Borderlands, so if you read this in early 2019 you may be able to secure a copy from there as well. (Update - it's a signed copy! Oooh! Shiny.)
March 12, 2017
I really didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as the first two. I think partially because I don't like Christmas/Easter [or spring or whatever] because I did get a little more interested in the general story once Vel got to Halloween [which is definitely my season/holiday]. But I felt like the plot was very rushed once Vel got back to the real world and also rewriting the past to fix [almost] everything always seems like such a cop-out to me. Although I guess in a series with a history of different dimensions etc it does fit.
Also did we just completely forget Tad even exists? Like she doesn't once think about him after she gets back and who knows if they even dated in the new retroactive continuity. I really liked Tad and I feel like he just got completely pushed out in favor of Aaron/Vel's ~childhood true love~ even though they've been on mostly bad terms for years.
Also did we just completely forget Tad even exists? Like she doesn't once think about him after she gets back and who knows if they even dated in the new retroactive continuity. I really liked Tad and I feel like he just got completely pushed out in favor of Aaron/Vel's ~childhood true love~ even though they've been on mostly bad terms for years.
June 8, 2017
I love this series, and this book was just as terrific as the first two. This universe that the author has created is so amazing, there is the "real" world with superheroes, there are alternate versions of the real world some with and some without super heroes and then there are the metaphorical worlds likes the "seasons" and Vel gets to visit all of them in this book.
July 25, 2025
Velveteen's Progress
Velveteen vs. The Seasons is the third book of Seanan McGuire's Velveteen vs series. Nowadays (01-Oct-2022) these books are only dubiously available as books. The first two, Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots and Velveteen vs. The Multiverse are available as audiobooks from Audible, which counts. I have not been able to find Velveteen vs. The Seasons for sale anywhere in any form. It apparently was a real book at some point, published in hardcover by ISFiC Press in 2016, just before, apparently, they went belly-up. Audible doesn't have an audiobook of it. Although Amazon lists Velveteen vs. The Seasons, no copies are currently (01-Oct-2022) available for sale.
The good news, however, is that "The stories remain free to read online", as McGuire says on her website. They are found on her LiveJournal. Or you can just use the handy link list I have assembled below for Velveteen vs. The Seasons. (I have already assembled link lists for Junior Super-Patriots and Multiverse.) You're welcome!
1. Velveteen vs. Hypothermia
2. Velveteen vs. Santa Claus
3. Velveteen vs. Global Warming
4. Velveteen Presents The Princess vs. Public Relations
5. Velveteen vs. The Thaw
6. Velveteen vs. Balance
7. Velveteen vs. Spring Cleaning
8. Velveteen Presents Polychrome vs. The Court of Public Opinion and Not Punching Anyone
9. Velveteen vs. The Melancholy of Autumn
10. Velveteen vs. A Disturbing Number of Crows
11. Velveteen vs. Trick or Treat
12. Velveteen Presents Action Dude vs. Doing the Right Thing
13. Velveteen vs. The Consequences of Her Actions
14. Velveteen vs. Going Home Again
15. Velveteen vs. Everything You Ever Wanted
16. Velveteen vs. The Retroactive Continuity
17. Velveteen Presents Jacqueline Claus vs. The Lost and the Found
18. Velveteen vs. Recovery
I don't guarantee that this list is complete or that it won't succumb to linkrot, but if you find something that I'm missing, message me and I'll fix it!
In Velveteen's world, the four seasons exist as separate little universes. They are peopled by characters who are the personal embodiments of the seasons, or of its holidays. Many of these personified abstractions were once people in what they call the Calendar Country and what we call the Real World. Autumn, Winter, and Spring have long been interested in recruited Velveteen for one such role. In Multiverse she made a deal, in return for making use of some of the magic of the seasons to rescue her friends, that she would spend time in each of Autumn, Winter, and Spring and give them the chance to persuade her to join them.
The bulk of Seasons recounts Velveteen's experiences in Autumn, Winter, and Spring. These are pretty grim, because those three realms turn out to be dystopias. In each of them Velveteen undergoes some sort of torment. It is really, honestly, not that much fun to read. Also, I have never liked books whose characters are personifications of impersonal abstractions. One thinks of The Phantom Tollbooth or The Pilgrim's Progress or even McGuire's own Up and Under series. The problem is that these characters are not human (quite intentionally) and therefore difficult to make interesting.
There is also another story going on simultaneously (sort-of -- the time flow of Seasons is not linear) having to do with what happens to the world in Velveteen's absence and after her return. You may remember that in Multiverse Velveteen brought down The Super Patriots, Inc. That had consequences, which Velveteen and her friends and colleagues have to deal with.
In the end it is all rather muddled. Multiverse had a somewhat coherent plot. In Seasons the plot, while not entirely incoherent, doesn't make a great deal of sense.
Blog review.
Velveteen vs. The Seasons is the third book of Seanan McGuire's Velveteen vs series. Nowadays (01-Oct-2022) these books are only dubiously available as books. The first two, Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots and Velveteen vs. The Multiverse are available as audiobooks from Audible, which counts. I have not been able to find Velveteen vs. The Seasons for sale anywhere in any form. It apparently was a real book at some point, published in hardcover by ISFiC Press in 2016, just before, apparently, they went belly-up. Audible doesn't have an audiobook of it. Although Amazon lists Velveteen vs. The Seasons, no copies are currently (01-Oct-2022) available for sale.
The good news, however, is that "The stories remain free to read online", as McGuire says on her website. They are found on her LiveJournal. Or you can just use the handy link list I have assembled below for Velveteen vs. The Seasons. (I have already assembled link lists for Junior Super-Patriots and Multiverse.) You're welcome!
1. Velveteen vs. Hypothermia
2. Velveteen vs. Santa Claus
3. Velveteen vs. Global Warming
4. Velveteen Presents The Princess vs. Public Relations
5. Velveteen vs. The Thaw
6. Velveteen vs. Balance
7. Velveteen vs. Spring Cleaning
8. Velveteen Presents Polychrome vs. The Court of Public Opinion and Not Punching Anyone
9. Velveteen vs. The Melancholy of Autumn
10. Velveteen vs. A Disturbing Number of Crows
11. Velveteen vs. Trick or Treat
12. Velveteen Presents Action Dude vs. Doing the Right Thing
13. Velveteen vs. The Consequences of Her Actions
14. Velveteen vs. Going Home Again
15. Velveteen vs. Everything You Ever Wanted
16. Velveteen vs. The Retroactive Continuity
17. Velveteen Presents Jacqueline Claus vs. The Lost and the Found
18. Velveteen vs. Recovery
I don't guarantee that this list is complete or that it won't succumb to linkrot, but if you find something that I'm missing, message me and I'll fix it!
In Velveteen's world, the four seasons exist as separate little universes. They are peopled by characters who are the personal embodiments of the seasons, or of its holidays. Many of these personified abstractions were once people in what they call the Calendar Country and what we call the Real World. Autumn, Winter, and Spring have long been interested in recruited Velveteen for one such role. In Multiverse she made a deal, in return for making use of some of the magic of the seasons to rescue her friends, that she would spend time in each of Autumn, Winter, and Spring and give them the chance to persuade her to join them.
The bulk of Seasons recounts Velveteen's experiences in Autumn, Winter, and Spring. These are pretty grim, because those three realms turn out to be dystopias. In each of them Velveteen undergoes some sort of torment. It is really, honestly, not that much fun to read. Also, I have never liked books whose characters are personifications of impersonal abstractions. One thinks of The Phantom Tollbooth or The Pilgrim's Progress or even McGuire's own Up and Under series. The problem is that these characters are not human (quite intentionally) and therefore difficult to make interesting.
There is also another story going on simultaneously (sort-of -- the time flow of Seasons is not linear) having to do with what happens to the world in Velveteen's absence and after her return. You may remember that in Multiverse Velveteen brought down The Super Patriots, Inc. That had consequences, which Velveteen and her friends and colleagues have to deal with.
In the end it is all rather muddled. Multiverse had a somewhat coherent plot. In Seasons the plot, while not entirely incoherent, doesn't make a great deal of sense.
Blog review.
May 31, 2016
Velveteen vs. The Seasons directly follows
Velveteen vs. The Multiverse
, as Velveteen must make good on her word to versus The Seasons. She must try out Winter, Spring, and Autumn and choose which one she likes most. Or hates least, really.
Seanan McGuire has shown us bits and pieces of the Seasonal Lands and their inhabitants over the course of the series, but this is her chance to really dig in, and she clearly relishes it. My God, there's so much love in the writing. She plays with the metaphors of the seasons and how they shape the realms, and the language is so rich and beautiful...and then you have Velveteen walking around muttering, "Fucked up times five thousand." The contrast between the high fantasy tone and Velma "Fuck This Shit" Martinez is a delight; I love that it works such that it doesn't undercut the serious work McGuire has put into her worldbuilding but instead makes it feel that much more real.
Meanwhile, we get some updates from the Calendar Country (aka the real world) and things are not going well in Velveteen's absence. And when she returns—not a spoiler, as the book begins with her return before flashing back three years—Vel has to set some things right. And it's going to get...complicated.
The Velveteen Vs. series has become more and more serialized as it's gone on; now the "stories" feel far more like chapters than the individual short stories that made up Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots . That does make for a more cohesive book experience, though. As much as I liked seeing the Seasonal Lands, however, I found that very little happened for the most part; Velveteen essentially has to survive some weird fucked up things but it doesn't feel very active. That didn't keep me from being immersed in the narrative, but it didn't excite me as much as the plottier stories. I also missed the superhero antics in the real world, so I was glad we did get the occasional glimpses. And there is an overarching story—one I was not expecting—that resolves...somewhat satisfyingly? Fucked up times...something, though.
I do love all of McGuire's musings on superheroes and the multiverse in this world. It's such a fantastic series.
Seanan McGuire has shown us bits and pieces of the Seasonal Lands and their inhabitants over the course of the series, but this is her chance to really dig in, and she clearly relishes it. My God, there's so much love in the writing. She plays with the metaphors of the seasons and how they shape the realms, and the language is so rich and beautiful...and then you have Velveteen walking around muttering, "Fucked up times five thousand." The contrast between the high fantasy tone and Velma "Fuck This Shit" Martinez is a delight; I love that it works such that it doesn't undercut the serious work McGuire has put into her worldbuilding but instead makes it feel that much more real.
Meanwhile, we get some updates from the Calendar Country (aka the real world) and things are not going well in Velveteen's absence. And when she returns—not a spoiler, as the book begins with her return before flashing back three years—Vel has to set some things right. And it's going to get...complicated.
The Velveteen Vs. series has become more and more serialized as it's gone on; now the "stories" feel far more like chapters than the individual short stories that made up Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots . That does make for a more cohesive book experience, though. As much as I liked seeing the Seasonal Lands, however, I found that very little happened for the most part; Velveteen essentially has to survive some weird fucked up things but it doesn't feel very active. That didn't keep me from being immersed in the narrative, but it didn't excite me as much as the plottier stories. I also missed the superhero antics in the real world, so I was glad we did get the occasional glimpses. And there is an overarching story—one I was not expecting—that resolves...somewhat satisfyingly? Fucked up times...something, though.
I do love all of McGuire's musings on superheroes and the multiverse in this world. It's such a fantastic series.
August 17, 2023
Mini blurb: Still reeling from her fight with The Super Patriots, Inc., superheroine Velveteen fulfills her promise to serve Winter, Spring and Autumn for a trial period, and is forced to give up on her humanity in more than one sense while doing so - until her trials end and she realises that they cost her (and someone else) more than she could ever imagine.
***
Rated 4.5 really.
While the concept is fascinating and the body horror is top-notch (says she who usually squirms at body horror), I expected Velveteen's adventures as the Seasons' servant to be more exciting and meaningful, not to mention fleshed out. As a matter of fact, the real excitement, for me, started when she got home after her trials, found a world both gone sour and retconned (at least for what concerns a small, yet not-so-small detail), and banded with her friends to try and make things right again. Which poses another problem, because this made for a huge detour from the titular Seasons plot, and wreaked havoc on the overall structure. Then again, I'm not sure I would have liked to spend more time in the Seasonal Lands, since Velveteen's servant duties came off as a bit mundane and nonsensical.
I loved hanging around with the gang again, and I found the social commentary to be spot-on (especially in light of the Roe vs. Wade debacle - don't take anything for granted, always keep your guard up, they'll start with a finger and in time they'll devour your whole body), and I was excited to get the chance to explore more of the multiverse/multiple identities of our cast, and I appreciated that even with gods bending the rules, there aren't easy ways out. What I didn't appreciate was the amount of loose threads left at the end of the installment, especially since, apparently, we aren't going to get a proper ending anytime soon (there's one more story on McGuire's old LiveJournal, but it's more of a prelude to future adventures than an epilogue...).
Note: definitive review (due to time commitments, I've decided not to write full-length reviews anymore for short stories, novellas and anthologies, except in special cases or unless they're part of a series. Which these are, but not one that I started reviewing back when I used to write a full review for every book...).
***
Rated 4.5 really.
While the concept is fascinating and the body horror is top-notch (says she who usually squirms at body horror), I expected Velveteen's adventures as the Seasons' servant to be more exciting and meaningful, not to mention fleshed out. As a matter of fact, the real excitement, for me, started when she got home after her trials, found a world both gone sour and retconned (at least for what concerns a small, yet not-so-small detail), and banded with her friends to try and make things right again. Which poses another problem, because this made for a huge detour from the titular Seasons plot, and wreaked havoc on the overall structure. Then again, I'm not sure I would have liked to spend more time in the Seasonal Lands, since Velveteen's servant duties came off as a bit mundane and nonsensical.
I loved hanging around with the gang again, and I found the social commentary to be spot-on (especially in light of the Roe vs. Wade debacle - don't take anything for granted, always keep your guard up, they'll start with a finger and in time they'll devour your whole body), and I was excited to get the chance to explore more of the multiverse/multiple identities of our cast, and I appreciated that even with gods bending the rules, there aren't easy ways out. What I didn't appreciate was the amount of loose threads left at the end of the installment, especially since, apparently, we aren't going to get a proper ending anytime soon (there's one more story on McGuire's old LiveJournal, but it's more of a prelude to future adventures than an epilogue...).
Note: definitive review (due to time commitments, I've decided not to write full-length reviews anymore for short stories, novellas and anthologies, except in special cases or unless they're part of a series. Which these are, but not one that I started reviewing back when I used to write a full review for every book...).
May 5, 2017
I love Seanan McGuire's Velveteen stories, and I've been waiting for a long time to read the entire third collection. Velveteen is McGuire's take on superheroes. It is also different from her other works since it is not distributed by a major publisher; all of the Velveteen stories are released for free on her LiveJournal before being collected roughly after every major story arc.
You can tell that the Velveteen stories are made up of some of Seanan McGuire's favorite things. There is always a sense that she is having a ton of fun writing them, and while some aspects can be incredibly silly there is also a strong (and sometimes surprisingly dark) emotional core. Velveteen is also a great series for someone looking for diversity in their fantasy fiction. Just as an example, one of Velveteen's closest friends is a transgender woman who is the living embodiment of the Disney princess concept.
In this third collection Velveteen is dealing with the repercussions of her final battle in the previous book. At first this mainly means fulfilling her promise to serve the seasons for a set period, although the real consequences don't show up until the last third or so of the story.
If you like any of Seanan McGuire's other work then I strongly recommend trying to track down copies of the Velveteen collections. The collected volumes can be a bit hard to find (eBook copies do exist but are sometimes unavailable), but several of the earliest stories are available on Seanan McGuire's professional website. The rest of the series can be found on her LiveJournal under the tag "Velveteen vs". This series is one of my favorite takes on the superhero genre and I hope that Seanan keeps writing Velveteen stories for a long time.
You can tell that the Velveteen stories are made up of some of Seanan McGuire's favorite things. There is always a sense that she is having a ton of fun writing them, and while some aspects can be incredibly silly there is also a strong (and sometimes surprisingly dark) emotional core. Velveteen is also a great series for someone looking for diversity in their fantasy fiction. Just as an example, one of Velveteen's closest friends is a transgender woman who is the living embodiment of the Disney princess concept.
In this third collection Velveteen is dealing with the repercussions of her final battle in the previous book. At first this mainly means fulfilling her promise to serve the seasons for a set period, although the real consequences don't show up until the last third or so of the story.
If you like any of Seanan McGuire's other work then I strongly recommend trying to track down copies of the Velveteen collections. The collected volumes can be a bit hard to find (eBook copies do exist but are sometimes unavailable), but several of the earliest stories are available on Seanan McGuire's professional website. The rest of the series can be found on her LiveJournal under the tag "Velveteen vs". This series is one of my favorite takes on the superhero genre and I hope that Seanan keeps writing Velveteen stories for a long time.
December 22, 2016
Between this and the Toby Daye series, I'm starting to think of Seanan McGuire as a sort of 21st century Piers Anthony -- incredibly prolific, very talented (Anthony used to be, anyway, before he started phoning it in), but dear god, does not know when to let a series END. And so they all seem to start very strongly and then gradually decline.
I mean, this is not a bad book. But it's weaker on pretty much all levels than the first two. Plotting is shakier, characterization is all over the place (we get a batch of new people in each season, we barely see old favorites like Victory Anna, and lots of characters just end up changed for somewhat dubious in-book reasons), and the whole thing is a good deal preachier than is necessary (and I say this as someone who is in basic agreement with everything said).
I mean, this is not a bad book. But it's weaker on pretty much all levels than the first two. Plotting is shakier, characterization is all over the place (we get a batch of new people in each season, we barely see old favorites like Victory Anna, and lots of characters just end up changed for somewhat dubious in-book reasons), and the whole thing is a good deal preachier than is necessary (and I say this as someone who is in basic agreement with everything said).
March 6, 2018
I really like the Velveteen Vs. books, but the first 2 (which I have as Audible books) more than this one. It's the difference in tone, I think. Not that it's so much darker, because "Velveteen Vs. the Multiverse" was plenty dark, too. Things are still up in the air at the end, but less so than at the end of Multiverse.
By the way, for another Velveteen story, check out Marion G. Harmon's book "Teamups and Crossovers" for the short stories Velveteen vs. The Crossover and Everybody vs. The Team-Up. I was reading the Grrl Power webcomic, and so was introduced to both Velveteen and the "Wearing the Cape" series. These 2 stories are not canon for Velveteen Vs, I understand, but happen in some very close parallel universe.
By the way, for another Velveteen story, check out Marion G. Harmon's book "Teamups and Crossovers" for the short stories Velveteen vs. The Crossover and Everybody vs. The Team-Up. I was reading the Grrl Power webcomic, and so was introduced to both Velveteen and the "Wearing the Cape" series. These 2 stories are not canon for Velveteen Vs, I understand, but happen in some very close parallel universe.
August 14, 2016
I absolutely loved the first two books in the series, and was actually surprised to see there was a third. I just didn't enjoy this as much for some reason. The writing is still good, the characters still interesting, but I suspect the length of time between books has let me forget a lot. I plan on a re-read of the first two and then will try this again to see if my opinion changes.
January 3, 2018
I didn’t want to finish this book but I couldn’t stop reading it. This is a continuation of the story of Velveteen and the other Supers and Seasonal characters. Continuing just after “Velveteen vs The Multiverse”. She is off to serve three seasons for one year. Santa didn’t lie, exactly, but it isn’t exactly straight forward. There is always a cost and Velveteen/Velma chose to pay the cost. She could stand it, she could sacrifice herself for the freedom of the supers. She hadn’t counted what it would cost her friends or the world. Will she choose humanity or her own humanity to survive? It is difficult to read this book without coming to care for Super heroes and the Villains - they are beautifully developed and as worthy of care as the heroes and some of them are real heroes. You can read this book as a stand alone but the other books are wonderful and you really will want to get all the backstories.
September 3, 2018
I read all the Velveteen stories online. They are quite a romp through Seanan McGuire's imagination, which is prodigious. They have pretty much everything: superheroes (some with very odd superpowers), the multiverse, seasons as their own dimensions, archetypes that are embodied (including a god or two), rewriting of reality, an evil marketing department, a hyperintelligent steampunk girl, politics, and I think there's a kitchen sink in there somewhere. Coherent world-building takes a back seat to fun, and I don't have a problem with that. But it does seem like, as the stories went on, that new explanations rewrote the old. In fact, that's a lot of the plot of this third batch of stories. Three and a half stars, rounded down because I didn't like it as much as other of the author's books that I rated four stars. But still good, and lots of fun
June 27, 2019
I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much as the second collection. It's still quite good, and each individual story works, but it doesn't tie up as nicely as either of the first two collections. I'm guessing there are more short stories available on the Internet, but the fact that they won't be collected makes the ending of this one feel very rushed and the series as a whole feel incomplete, which is a shame. There's some fascinating stuff in here about identity, and metaphor, and responsibility. It's still one of my favorite superhero books out there, just... not as coherent or strong as it could be.
July 16, 2020
I hate to rate a Seanan book under 3 stars, but this made me so damn mad. It was repetitive and pointless and even though the whole premise was "the Seasons try to convince Velveteen to stay," there was very little of that going on at all. Mostly they just made her miserable. What. Why. And then everyone was sooooooooooooo upset about the WHOLE PREMISE, the promise she literally made, and bam let's just undo everything. Why did I even sit through that. And THEN we didn't even get an answer to the ONE QUESTION I'm just DYING to KNOW--argh. Arghhh. Argh!!!! I had to go do some comfort reading after this one.
June 17, 2025
(7/10) I was not enormously keen coming into this volume, because the seasons content in earlier volumes of Velveteen has been kinda underexplained and tonally disjointed with everything else, making it a confusing part of the story. Here though, when the seasons content is allowed to take centre stage and McGuire is able to tell a story running solely on myth-logic, it works a lot more smoothly. We end up with a story that is full of Velveteen's development as a person, and full of real stakes despite the dreamy atmosphere. That said, one does miss her camaraderie with the excellent cast of side characters.
April 12, 2019
This was a mixed bag. The main character continues to be a wonderful mix of complexity and fun. And the world she has created for her is very cool. But this book also had tons of exposition dumps and even a purely modern political rant (literally a press conference where someone gets angry and rants for over a page on an issue). So, some parts get 5 stars and some parts get 1 star. Average 3 stars.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I could not find this book for sale anywhere (lots of searching). No idea why. But I eventually found all the chapters posted on the author’s livejournal.com account.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I could not find this book for sale anywhere (lots of searching). No idea why. But I eventually found all the chapters posted on the author’s livejournal.com account.
November 12, 2018
Seanan McGuire is in my opinion one of the most underrated authors around.
I love the character Velveteen and the series just keeps getting better. Great book and awesome supporting characters (well, maybe not action dude), I also love the little asides that Seanan fits in every so often.
Bad points - none
Please, more Velveteen novels
I love the character Velveteen and the series just keeps getting better. Great book and awesome supporting characters (well, maybe not action dude), I also love the little asides that Seanan fits in every so often.
Bad points - none
Please, more Velveteen novels
May 4, 2022
Even upon reread
I revisited the world of Velveteen after reading it for the first time six years ago. It is still, by any measure, one of the best deconstruction of the superhero genre ever, made more powerful for its exploration of the human side of the tropes. My only complaint is that I wish there had been a fourth book.
I revisited the world of Velveteen after reading it for the first time six years ago. It is still, by any measure, one of the best deconstruction of the superhero genre ever, made more powerful for its exploration of the human side of the tropes. My only complaint is that I wish there had been a fourth book.
February 17, 2023
i kind of resent that these books aren't well known enough to be a huge fandom; there is SO much room to play in this sandbox and i want every last toy people dream up
4.5 stars
(p.s. i...kind of ship action dude and velveteen a little bit now? he's very pathetic and sorry okay and unfortunately that works on me)
4.5 stars
(p.s. i...kind of ship action dude and velveteen a little bit now? he's very pathetic and sorry okay and unfortunately that works on me)
February 4, 2017
A slightly darker turn to the story, in that it feels very Gaiman-ish in that she's dealing with the idea of seasons and representations of that seasons made real. Great worldbuilding, enjoyable characters, and a fun plot, if one where you really feel for poor Velveteen and her friends at times.
Want to read
November 14, 2024It's like the publisher doesn't want people to access these books. Finally found this one (none of the others) on my library system, but it has some kind of stupid DRM that means I can't read it on my Kobo.
December 17, 2017
Took a while to read, mainly because I enjoyed Velveteen’s time in the seasonal lands about as much as she herself did. The whole arc was excellent in the end, of course.
April 21, 2018
I do love Velveteen and I love this interpretation of the seasons and the realities they create.
June 22, 2018
Good read
I really love this series,but this book feels like a bridge between the second book and a as-of-yet unpublished book. I really want to see the next one.
I really love this series,but this book feels like a bridge between the second book and a as-of-yet unpublished book. I really want to see the next one.
July 22, 2018
This was as enjoyable as the previous two books, but it does feel darker than them. Still, I'll continue to keep tabs on Velveteen.
September 13, 2019
Incredibly sad that there is no more.
July 19, 2020
There were times that it felt almost too clever, but as expected there were still really good sentences.
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