The Looking Glass Wars (1)
By: Frank Beddor
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Adventure
Published Sept 2006
Pages: 364
Pages: 364
Publisher: Dial Books
Summary: "Alyss of Wonderland?
When Alyss Heart, heir to the Wonderland throne, must flee through the Pool of Tears to escape the murderous aunt Redd, she finds herself lost and alone in Victorian London. Befriended by an aspiring author named Lewis Carrol, Alyss tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life. Alyss trusts this author to tell the truth so that someone, somewhere will find her and bring her home. But he gets the story all wrong. He even spells her name incorrectly!
Fortunately, Royal Bodyguard Hatter Madigan knows all too well the awful truth of Alyss' story and he is searching every corner of our world to find the lost princess and return her to Wonderland so she may eventually battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.
The Looking Glass Wars unabashedly challenges our Wonderland assumptions surrounding mad tea parties, grinning Cheshire cats, and a curious little blond girl to reveal an epic battle in the endless war for Imagination."
When Alyss Heart, heir to the Wonderland throne, must flee through the Pool of Tears to escape the murderous aunt Redd, she finds herself lost and alone in Victorian London. Befriended by an aspiring author named Lewis Carrol, Alyss tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life. Alyss trusts this author to tell the truth so that someone, somewhere will find her and bring her home. But he gets the story all wrong. He even spells her name incorrectly!
Fortunately, Royal Bodyguard Hatter Madigan knows all too well the awful truth of Alyss' story and he is searching every corner of our world to find the lost princess and return her to Wonderland so she may eventually battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.
The Looking Glass Wars unabashedly challenges our Wonderland assumptions surrounding mad tea parties, grinning Cheshire cats, and a curious little blond girl to reveal an epic battle in the endless war for Imagination."
Review: A neat spin of "Alice in Wonderland." Yet unique in its own right.
This story revolves around Alyss (princess of Wonderland) who escapes to
Earth to avoid being murdered by her Aunt Redd and the Cat assassin.
Hatter M. is a special bodyguard who travels to Earth as well to protect
Alys but is separated from her. His famous weapon is his hat (which I
would love to own in real life!), which can become a spinning, deadly
blade.
Back in Wonderland there is also Dodge, who was the son of a royal guardsmen and is now a mercenary fighting the evil Redd. And the Alyssian army also rebels against the new, false queen. There are several other characters that are based off the original story but Beddor has added his own twists to them.
The book is filled with fun little quips that make the reader smile. The story is easy to read, and moves at a good pace (mostly at least). My only concern was that the characters were not easy to feel and get into at times. Otherwise it is a very enjoyable read. The author did a great job on this project. Very creative, the images that blossomed in my mind were fantastic. This would be a world I would love to visit (when Redd is not ruling mind you)!
This sounds like my kind of book! It's been added to my to-read shelf :)
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, my first ever blog post was a review about Splintered by A.G. Howard - a book with yet another version of the beloved AIW story. I think you would really enjoy it and should add it to your to-read shelf!
Here's my review if you'd like to see just how much I loved Splintered -
http://maechs.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/splintered-by-a-g-howard/
I have heard of Splintered. Still one I want to read. Off to go read your review now :)
DeleteI read this a few years ago and I thought the first book was pretty enjoyable and oh my god I just saw your TBR thing on the side and it has loads of manga. Boys Over Flowers is such a soap opera and I really, really should hate it but I managed to read the whole manga, watch the anime, and I think two live versions of it. There must be something wrong with me (but the Korean versian's lead men are soo delicious...that may or may not have impacted me watching the whole series...)
ReplyDeleteSorry, distracted! Back to what I was saying..which was...oh yeah, I think the world building was great and still unique despite the fact it is a world we are already familiar with. I will say the character growth isn't really there in the next two books (I think that's as far as I read anyway) and in general it sort of fizzled out for me, but hopefully you will enjoy the series!
I need to re-read Boys over flowers. I have seen the anime and the Korean live-action (Which I LOVED). One of the best series to do. Even my boyfriend watched both the anime and live-action with me. And he doesn't like anime. :)
DeleteI really like the concept for this series but the characters are not easy to get into. I just final ruling will be in once I finish them.
I agree with you! I loved this book and I just finished the 3rd the other day. :)
ReplyDeleteMary G Loki
This one was really good, but by the third I felt a bit let down. What about you?
DeleteI loved the review- I would think the book must be promising if the reviews flows so well.I love that you recommended the imagery. It's a solid foundation for a good fantasy.
ReplyDeleteThis one and the second one I really liked. Wonderful recreation of a classic concept!
DeleteI have heard so many good things about this book but I wasn't sure if I still wanted to read...this review made me really want to again. Thank you for that!
ReplyDeleteThis first book is especially good.
DeleteAwesome review!
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazing. I love retellings.
ReplyDeleteI hope you get or have had the chance to look into this one then :)
DeleteHave you tried the graphic novels? They are amazing !
ReplyDeleteOoh I love that this is loosely spun around Alice and Wonderland!! That's one of my favorites!! I can't wait to check it out!
ReplyDelete