Reading with Fanfan: Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies

[terresdebrume]

Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies by William Joyce
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I’ve noticed, looking back on the latest series I read, that usually when the (often only) female character/protagonist gets more focus, my ratings tend to drop. One may think it’s because I don’t want to see women or girls on the forefront (it’s certainly how Hollywood would think of it) but the truth is my ratings would be higher if (often male) authors could just get off their butts and give their female characters the same respect they give to the male ones.

Take this book, for example, which is titled for Toothiana, the second female guardian (and the only one who made it to the movie, though I don’t know if Katherine stays until the end of the series).

In Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Army, we pick up things as we left them in the last book: Pitch has been laying low for a while, but his defeat isn’t exactly a 100% guaranteeed thing, and there’s still a risk that he may come back. For this reason, the guardians (Ombric the Wizard, Nicholas the former Cossack, Bunny the Pookah, Katherine the little girl who believes a lot and Nightlight, the spirit boy who used to be trapped inside Pitch) decide to keep looking for the relics left on Earth by the Man in the Moon, Pitch’s former boss who is still trying to stop him. In order to find those relics, and because Katherine is still worrying about Pitch (and thinking about how he lost a daughter) they go back to the Lunar Llamas for help.

There, Katherine loses a tooth which, as it turns out, is a sign of Toothiana’s arrival in the Lamadry. So, obviously, we get Toothiana’s backstory, which involves a lot of running, hiding, and generally being acted upon rather than acting on others.

Later on, Toothian’s old archenemy, now Pitch’s associate, manages to kidnap Katherine, prompting the Guadians and Toothiana to follow the both of them to Pitch’s lair where…well. The action happens.

Come on, you didn’t think I was going to spoil the whole thing, did you?

The plot, overall, is a classic one, with the heroes having to rescue a friend from the villain. The worldbuilding is still pretty sweet and the illustrations continue to remind me of a Tim Burton-esque kind of universe, except a lot more colorful and with cheerier characters. The book allows for more development of the characters, which is important, and I definitely think the twists in the plot are definitely going to be surprised by the twists.

So, why the two stars then? Well, as you may have guessed, sexism.

I found Toothiana’s backstory unimaginative once you cut the nice feathers and fancy flying elephants off the bones. She has very little agency in it, is introduced later in the book than Nick and Bunny were in theirs (and not in the same way, either) and once she gets there she doesn’t actually get to do much besides rely on the power of her parents’ gift (which is one of the Man in the Moon’s relic).

Similarly, Katherine’s treatment in this book is pretty overdone and boring. She thinks a lot about Pitch’s daughter, it’s revealed that she misses her dad…I don’t even think this is a real spoiler to anyone who has read the previous installment, honestly.

Both character arcs are kind of lazy and hinge more on the people who surround Katherine and Tooth than on them, which means they lack agency and influence on said plot, even when one of them is the titular character.

Yes, the book still has some interest, mainly in the way the universe and worldbuilding are handled—and the plot, while dissatisfying, is handled well, so there is that—but to be very frank there were times when I just didn’t want to pick the book up again because, as an adult and a feminist, I already guessed most of the plot before it happened and, frankly, I’ve had enough of it already.

Two stars mostly for the illustrations.