It's remarkably difficult to review this without spoilers, but I've tried to avoid too many. Velveteen vs. The Seasons deals with the consequences of the rather Faustian deal that Velveteen was forced to make with the Seasons in order to defeat Marketing in Velveteen vs. The Multiverse (Velveteen vs., #2). As a result it is much darker than the previous two volumes, but retains the charm, wit, pacing and strong characterisation of the previous volumes. We learn a great deal about the mysterious Seasons and at least some of why they are so interested in her. Velveteen gathers strength and knowledge, which she will need to defeat her next opponent, the government, which proves only too eager to take over where Marketing failed.

While Velveteen's stays in the Seasonal Lands are rather travailing, alarming events take place in the outside world and her friends are forced to make sacrifices, some of them with tragic consequences. Things come to a rather grim and doom-laden point where all hope seems lost. Then in the best tradition of Golden Age superhero comics, Velveteen pulls off a remarkably well-written yet unashamedly over the top dues ex machina and brings the situation back to one where she at least has a fighting chance. But she will need all her strength and wits and her friends at her back. While its not unsatisfying way to handle things, I can't help but feel a bit let down. Seanan McGuire had set up a rather interesting and tragic situation, only to sidestep most of it.

But what of Tag? Well, he remains asleep in The Princess's castle. Will Velveteen be able to save him? That remains to be told.

Like the previous volumes most of the stories in Velveteen vs. The Seasons could originally be found on Seanan McGuires's Livejournal http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/ but now you need invest in the eBook.

EDIT: tidied up, removed broken links ( )

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. ( )

The last Velveteen book. Not as good as the first two (which isn't saying much as I still really liked this one), though it may also be that it's been several years since I read them, and I had read them back to back. It's even weirder too. There are still loose plot threads, though, which was a bit annoying. I'll keep holding out hope for more stories, even though the publisher closed down. ( )

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.) ( )

The first Velveteen book was almost normal, for a superhero story - she only went weird a couple times. The second one had a larger dose of weirdness. This one...I think there were a few dollops of normalcy, or sanity, somewhere in there, but not a lot. It starts out with Velveteen paying her debt to the Seasons, who do some serious jerking her around - I can't imagine why they think that behavior (those behaviors) would make her want to stay. And then she finds out that things back home are intolerably worse than that, and has to go on a quest - which ends in an even weirder way. And doesn't solve all the problems, though it does solve some...I can't tell if Velveteen has forgotten the other past or not. Poor Jack, either way. I hope there's another book planned - this one ends, but there are some major threads left wandering (is Aaron a loose thread or is he firmly stitched down?). Worth reading, like most of Seanan's stuff. ( )