What We’re Reading

The Looking Glass Wars | Frank Beddor

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As she watches the goings-on in honor of her seventh birthday, Princess Alyss Heart can’t help but feel that there’s got to be more to life. Or at least something more interesting. With her father being later and her best friend MIA, Alyss finds the whole affair leaving much to be desired. But when her party is crashed and her people killed by her evil Aunt Redd, Alyss quickly finds herself wishing to be back at the beginning when it was all so simple.

He father dead, he mother cornered, Alyss is sent through the Continuum with bodyguard Hatter Madigan, who is charged with keeping her safe. While in the Pool of Tears, Hatter loses hold of Alyss, exiting in France while she exits a puddle in England. While Hatter searches endlessly for her, Alyss is first taken in by a group of street children, then an orhpanage, then the Liddell family. In fact, she’s about to marry Prince Leopold when Hatter finally finds her.

Her childhood best friend Dodge’s appearance at her engagement party sparks questions in her mind. Questions about whether Wonderland was real, now that she’s convinced herself it couldn’t have been. About whether her past was as awful as she remembered it. Whether it was the true story she told the Reverend, only to have him contort and ruin in it his Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Wonderland, in the meantime, has turned to less than a shadow of its former self under Redd’s rule. The Alyssians fight a slow battle against her evil reign. And upon first reuniting with Alyss, are not at all sure that she can be the Warrior Queen they’ll need to save them.

To find out, Alyss must find and successfully navigate the Looking Glass Maze, which allows entrance only to those for whom it is intended. And while the White Scepter may seem an easy walk, appearances, as it happens, are quite deceiving.

This entirely new look at the Alice in Wonderland story may leave some readers up in arms. I personally found it incredibly intriguing and can’t wait for the next installment to see what comes of Redd after she’s thrown herself into the Heart Crystal.

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