I’ve mentioned already how I like fairy-tale retellings. And while Alice in Wonderland isn’t strictly a fairytale, it’s become a bit like one in our culture. I read the story when I was young, and so was familiar with it enough to enjoy fun twists on it — such as some of the later Beaumont and Beasley books. But this retelling was unlike anything I’ve seen before.
The Myth: Alice was an ordinary girl who stepped through the looking glass and entered a fairy-tale world invented by Lewis Carroll in his famous storybook.
The Truth: Wonderland is real. Alyss Heart is the heir to the throne, until her murderous aunt Redd steals the crown and kills Alyss’s parents. To escape Redd, Alyss and her bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, must flee to our world through the Pool of Tears. But in the pool Alyss and Hatter are separated. Lost and alone in Victorian London, Alyss is befriended by an aspiring author to whom she tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life. Yet he gets the story all wrong. Hatter Madigan knows the truth only too well, and he is searching every corner of our world to find the lost princess and return her to Wonderland so she may battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.
Amazon Blurb
This upper middle-grade tale was extremely creative. Frank Beddor takes the chaotic, mad world of Wonderland and organizes it into a steampunk-fantasy setting which retains many of the original story characters and features. The writing style was unique, and while fast-paced, doesn’t fail to fully paint a picture of a highly imaginative world. While the original Alice in Wonderland was bizarre and slightly disjointed, due to it perhaps having come from Carroll’s children’s imagination, this new Wonderland ties it all together and gives it a unique plot, as well as some cool technological features.
It was perfectly clean language-wise, though there was some violence, and how you take it depends on your taste for gallows humor. If you’ve read Alice in Wonderland, you might find threats of beheading almost amusing. However, to the sensitive reader it might be more disturbing, as might be The Cat, the evil assassin with nine lives and a tendency to impale victims. Again, here, one who owns a cat might snicker as they reflect on their own feline, but it could also be alarming. There’s also a slight touch of what might be subtle feminism, relating to how it’s the queen in charge of Wonderland, not her husband. I’d say this book lands on par with most upper middle-grade fiction, but of course, be discerning.
This book is apparently part of a series, though it seems to function just fine as a standalone as well. I have not read the entire series, so I cannot vouch for it.
On the whole it was an enjoyable read that mixed Victorian Europe with a wildly imaginative fantasy world and a unique cast of characters, while also putting a more pleasant spin on the rather… odd tale of Wonderland.
Alright, guys, that’s all for this week. Have a lovely day. Cheers!
Leave a Reply