The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
Series: The Looking Glass Wars
Publisher: Egmont, 2005
Genre: Fantasy
Sub-genre: Fairy tale, YA
Rating: 2 1/2 pints of blood
I have to say, I'm kind of fond of the fantastical look this cover conveys. It's creative, it stands out, and even manages a hint of something darker at work. Ok, the extreme dominance of the white gives a more bland flavour than a stronger colour might, but well, it does suit the story.
I have a distinct fondness for Alice, Wonderland, and all the trappings, so upon stumbling over this retelling, I had to give it a shot. It promised a darker, more twisted version of the story, which of course appealed to me right away. To add to my intrigue, these books have just recently been turned into a series of graphic novels
, so really, I was forced to read this book. You see how it is.
A young princess of Wonderland, seven-year-old Alyss has the most cherished attribute of all: a vivid imagination. In Wonderland, if a person imagines something had enough, it comes into being, and Alyss is being trained to use hers effectively. Her lessons are interrupted, though, when her evil aunt Redd returns from her exile to try forcibly taking over the kingdom, killing both Alyss's parents and everyone known to be loyal to them. Alyss manages to escape with the help of Hatter Madigan, an elite fighter and royal bodyguard as well as the head of the Millinery. Desperately fleeing from Redd's fighters, they leapt into the mysterious Pool of Tears, a portal into our world. Unfortunately, Alyss and Hatter are separated in the Pool, and wind up in different places, Alyss in England, Hatter in France.
Now alone in a strange world and without the powers or privilege she's accustomed to, Alyss struggles to find a place for herself. Mocked relentlessly for her stubborn insistance that the stories she tells about Wonderland are the truth, Alyss lives a friendless life until she meets the Reverend Charles Dodgson, who not only encourages her to tell the stories, but promises her to write a book about them. When he presents her with the finished product, though, Alyss is enraged. The story he's told bears very little resemblance to the truth, and even her name has been misspelled. With this perceived betrayal from her only friend, Alyss concludes she'll have to put her experiences in Wonderland behind her in order to get along in the new world she's forced to live in.
Meanwhile, Hatter Madigan searches for Alyss, convinced that his having lost her counts as a personal failure. Finally, after thirteen years of searching across the globe, someone gives him a copy of Alice in Wonderland, and he concludes the quickest way to find Alyss is to hunt down Lewis Caroll.
The thirteen years has given Redd a comfortable hold over the kingdom, with all the Wonderlanders terrified of her legendary temper. A few rebels have survived, calling themselves Alyssians in memory of the princess they believe to be dead, but time and Redd's stranglehold on the kingdom have worn them down to just a few stragglers, ineffectively hitting minor targets when they can.
When Hatter Madigan finally manages to track down Alyss and bring her back to Wonderland, though, the Alyssians finally feel like they have something to believe in and a way to get Redd out of power once and for all. After so many years outside of Wonderland, though, Alyss had half convinced herself she'd made up her childhood, and rediscovering the reality is a shock, and she's not quite convinced she has what it takes to be a leader, much less be placed on the queen's throne. To add a little more desperation, Redd's spies informed her of Alyss's arrival almost immediately, and the Alyssians are under constant attack, with the princess being the only true threat to Redd's position.
In very short order, Alyss has to be re-taught everything she once knew about living in Wonderland and prepared to not only take the throne, but to take it by force and stand up against her formidable aunt.
At first, I was really enthusiastic about The Looking Glass Wars. The plotline shows a lot of promise, I like the dark twists on the original story, and there are some really creative inventions here. The story unfolds more like a movie than a novel, with action and dialogue taking precedence over narration, and plot driving the characters instead of the other way around. This isn't always an issue, but the style of the narration distanced me from what was going on in the book, with a lot more being "told" than "shown." The combination made it very difficult for me to care about what happened to any of the characters, and I could have set the book down halfway through without being bothered by not having discovered the ending.
I was also annoyed by Alyss's gratuitous love interest, Dodge. You'll note Dodge did not enter in the plot summary at all. Yeah, there's a reason he's gratuitous Dodge. I can handle a love interest thrown randomly in for good measure; I do, after all, read romance novels. The issue here is that gratuitous Dodge not only has no bearing on the plot, but has no personality whatsoever. When I'm wishing one of the side characters would express an interest in Alyss because at least then she'd have the option of someone interesting, there's an issue with your romantic subplot. And I haven't even touched on the part where at ten years old, Dodge fell so madly in love with seven-year-old Alyss that thirteen years later, he still hasn't gotten over her. Bwuh?
Redd is exactly the kind of villain most likely to annoy me, a maniacal overlord with no real motivations or sense of logic, and is prone to occasionally kicking puppies just to prove how very evil she is. There was just no depth to her, no reason for her to be the crazy overbearing dictator she was. But then, considering of all the characters, only Alyss and Hatter Madigan had any sort of depth (and even they were short a full third dimension), I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at the flat villain.
Overall, I liked the concept of The Looking Glass Wars a whole lot better than the actual book, and I kind of wish I'd stuck with just having read the summary instead of delving into the novel.
Publisher: Egmont, 2005
Genre: Fantasy
Sub-genre: Fairy tale, YA
Rating: 2 1/2 pints of blood
I have to say, I'm kind of fond of the fantastical look this cover conveys. It's creative, it stands out, and even manages a hint of something darker at work. Ok, the extreme dominance of the white gives a more bland flavour than a stronger colour might, but well, it does suit the story.
I have a distinct fondness for Alice, Wonderland, and all the trappings, so upon stumbling over this retelling, I had to give it a shot. It promised a darker, more twisted version of the story, which of course appealed to me right away. To add to my intrigue, these books have just recently been turned into a series of graphic novels
, so really, I was forced to read this book. You see how it is.
A young princess of Wonderland, seven-year-old Alyss has the most cherished attribute of all: a vivid imagination. In Wonderland, if a person imagines something had enough, it comes into being, and Alyss is being trained to use hers effectively. Her lessons are interrupted, though, when her evil aunt Redd returns from her exile to try forcibly taking over the kingdom, killing both Alyss's parents and everyone known to be loyal to them. Alyss manages to escape with the help of Hatter Madigan, an elite fighter and royal bodyguard as well as the head of the Millinery. Desperately fleeing from Redd's fighters, they leapt into the mysterious Pool of Tears, a portal into our world. Unfortunately, Alyss and Hatter are separated in the Pool, and wind up in different places, Alyss in England, Hatter in France.
Now alone in a strange world and without the powers or privilege she's accustomed to, Alyss struggles to find a place for herself. Mocked relentlessly for her stubborn insistance that the stories she tells about Wonderland are the truth, Alyss lives a friendless life until she meets the Reverend Charles Dodgson, who not only encourages her to tell the stories, but promises her to write a book about them. When he presents her with the finished product, though, Alyss is enraged. The story he's told bears very little resemblance to the truth, and even her name has been misspelled. With this perceived betrayal from her only friend, Alyss concludes she'll have to put her experiences in Wonderland behind her in order to get along in the new world she's forced to live in.
Meanwhile, Hatter Madigan searches for Alyss, convinced that his having lost her counts as a personal failure. Finally, after thirteen years of searching across the globe, someone gives him a copy of Alice in Wonderland, and he concludes the quickest way to find Alyss is to hunt down Lewis Caroll.
The thirteen years has given Redd a comfortable hold over the kingdom, with all the Wonderlanders terrified of her legendary temper. A few rebels have survived, calling themselves Alyssians in memory of the princess they believe to be dead, but time and Redd's stranglehold on the kingdom have worn them down to just a few stragglers, ineffectively hitting minor targets when they can.
When Hatter Madigan finally manages to track down Alyss and bring her back to Wonderland, though, the Alyssians finally feel like they have something to believe in and a way to get Redd out of power once and for all. After so many years outside of Wonderland, though, Alyss had half convinced herself she'd made up her childhood, and rediscovering the reality is a shock, and she's not quite convinced she has what it takes to be a leader, much less be placed on the queen's throne. To add a little more desperation, Redd's spies informed her of Alyss's arrival almost immediately, and the Alyssians are under constant attack, with the princess being the only true threat to Redd's position.
In very short order, Alyss has to be re-taught everything she once knew about living in Wonderland and prepared to not only take the throne, but to take it by force and stand up against her formidable aunt.
At first, I was really enthusiastic about The Looking Glass Wars. The plotline shows a lot of promise, I like the dark twists on the original story, and there are some really creative inventions here. The story unfolds more like a movie than a novel, with action and dialogue taking precedence over narration, and plot driving the characters instead of the other way around. This isn't always an issue, but the style of the narration distanced me from what was going on in the book, with a lot more being "told" than "shown." The combination made it very difficult for me to care about what happened to any of the characters, and I could have set the book down halfway through without being bothered by not having discovered the ending.
I was also annoyed by Alyss's gratuitous love interest, Dodge. You'll note Dodge did not enter in the plot summary at all. Yeah, there's a reason he's gratuitous Dodge. I can handle a love interest thrown randomly in for good measure; I do, after all, read romance novels. The issue here is that gratuitous Dodge not only has no bearing on the plot, but has no personality whatsoever. When I'm wishing one of the side characters would express an interest in Alyss because at least then she'd have the option of someone interesting, there's an issue with your romantic subplot. And I haven't even touched on the part where at ten years old, Dodge fell so madly in love with seven-year-old Alyss that thirteen years later, he still hasn't gotten over her. Bwuh?
Redd is exactly the kind of villain most likely to annoy me, a maniacal overlord with no real motivations or sense of logic, and is prone to occasionally kicking puppies just to prove how very evil she is. There was just no depth to her, no reason for her to be the crazy overbearing dictator she was. But then, considering of all the characters, only Alyss and Hatter Madigan had any sort of depth (and even they were short a full third dimension), I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at the flat villain.
Overall, I liked the concept of The Looking Glass Wars a whole lot better than the actual book, and I kind of wish I'd stuck with just having read the summary instead of delving into the novel.