Title: The Looking Glass Wars
Author: Frank Beddor
Pages: 358
Premise: The reason I picked up this book in the first place was the premise- the idea that Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” was actually a poor rendition of a tale a young girl told him about her narrow escape from Wonderland, and her duty as the princess of that world. Throughout the book, there are dozens of characters familiar to those who have read Carroll’s work, but with a more mature twist to it. Wonderland is a country ruled by a Queen, and it has been recently overthrown by Redd, Alyss’ evil aunt. Alyss is the princess. Hatter Madigan is her bodyguard. The similarities run through the whole book, and it makes for a very interesting read. Alyss and Hatter are forced to retreat to our world before Redd kills Alyss, but they are separated, and that’s pretty much where the story takes off. The novel chronicles Alyss’ trials and tribulations in our world, her return to Wonderland, and her eventual face-off with Redd.
Favorite character(s): Hatter Madigan (the bodyguard), the Cat (Redd’s ruthless cat-beast assassin).
Least favorite character(s): Dodge Anders (Alyss’ childhood friend), Alyss Harte (the protagonist)
Review: Overall, this book was interesting, but it failed to really grip me like fantasy novel’s usually do. I never really became attached to Alyss, focusing my feelings towards one of the supporting characters instead (which is odd for me). The pacing towards the middle was really choppy as it switched back and forth between different points of view, and it made the middle drag a bit. However, the concept was executed to the fullest extent, and I have to give Beddor props for making a world so like Carroll’s, but so much darker and mature and different then his as well. It was refreshing to envision these characters completely different then the way they were originally portrayed. The world they lived in was also very detailed and interesting (especially their magic and their looking-glass travel), even if there were some plot holes (it was established that there was some sort of white magic and black magic, but as far as I could tell, they were pretty much the exact same thing, yet one was good and one was evil… what?) and the ending was a bit of a letdown. In addition, there is a huge time jump about half-way through the novel, but some characters barely change, and some change to the extreme, and it made the whole thing a little difficult to follow. Overall, the action really picked up in the third part, about when Alyss prepares to enter the Looking Glass Maze.
To long, Didn’t read?: Great concept, decent execution, but lacked the conviction to really win me over.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Check out the Sequel?: I haven’t decided if I care enough about the characters to check up on part two when part one ended so neatly. I suppose I could always wait until it comes out in paperback.

mood: content