Alice | Review

4.58/5.00

Published: 2015

Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Retelling

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Once upon a time, there was a lonely, friend-less boy who would escape to other worlds, in movies, in books, in his head, wherever, just other worlds, where he wasn’t so anxious and timid, didn’t feel like such an idiot and a coward, talked more, had friends, went on adventures and quests, was cunning and heroic. Over time, he began to find this escape more in books than anywhere else. Of all the books, Eragon, Harry Potter, The Phantom Tollbooth, his favorite was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He was introduced to the movie first, but soon fell in love with the word play and the world Lewis Carroll showed him. Of course that boy just had to read an Alice in Wonderland retelling.

“Alice remembered who she was before. She just couldn’t recall what had happened to that girl to make her this girl.”

This disturbing book is mad magic in the dark bound to paper. It is fear, desperation, loneliness, and a twisted reality that resembles our reality too well. It’s a beautiful nightmare full of monsters. This book does include rape. If it’s something that will make you squeamish, you might want to avoid reading it. Just the thought of the Walrus and the Caterpillar is horrifying, but they aren’t that outlandish. It strays from the original even more than the typical retelling, so don’t expect to see many resemblances to the original Alice than the names.

“‘Interesting’ meant that you attracted the notice of men who would hurt you to possess whatever they found ‘interesting’ about you.”

It’s about a girl, Alice, who strayed into the Old City for some fun, for an adventure. Something happens, something bad, something dark, something that she can’t quite remember, and she ends up stuck in a hospital for years. And she makes a friend, through a little hole in the wall. Hatch is an interesting version of the Mad Hatter. He clearly better resembles the modern, Tumblr version of the Mad Hatter. Together, they go on a quest to defeat the Jabberwocky.

Even though I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed this book as much if it wasn’t based on Alice in Wonderland, assuming all else remained the same, I would still recommend this book. It was dark and entertaining, if cliché at times. It’s imperfect, but it’s a story worth reading.

Christina Henry is the author of “Red Queen,” “Lost Boy: The True Story Of Captain Hook,” and the “Black Wings” series. She has another book, a historical fairy tale called “The Mermaid,” coming out in the summer of 2018.

“You’re only a mouse if you let them make you one.”