Seven Black Diamonds by Melissa Marr (Review)

Date Finished: January 26, 2018

Page Count: 381

Genre: Fantasy

 

            Meh, it was a disappointment.

            I’ll be honest though, I thought it might an awesome book since the cover had a bleeding flower (plants don’t bleed so it must be some otherworldly fun right?) but, nope, this book merely had untapped potential and characters as forgettable as my dog’s age (and I forget her age all the time). I’ll get into all I hate however, right after I touch up on what was cool about the story.

            For one I like how were simply thrust into the story. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but things got explained at the appropriate times, albeit not always in the most appropriate way, so it worked in this book. It makes the plot feel more natural if that makes any sense, call it being give a window into history. It’s like how most books don’t start with the birth of the main character but rather at a crucial point in their life. This is a bit more extreme though because rather than having narration or the characters sit down for some tea and exposition the plot just throws you in there, so you have to be on your toes, just like with life.

            I also enjoyed how the world these people live in is overcome by pollution and degradation of the environment. Personally I fell as though in reality humanity isn’t too far off from that future (though I’d like to think otherwise) but seeing stories incorporate that idea into their timelines and having the characters have to deal with it is pretty cool.

            Now onto what I disliked about the story!

            Lilywhite, the main character, was “the chosen one.” I don’t normally have a problem with this, but when Lily was introduced as the daughter of a crime lord and then started mentioning how she had four affinities which were more than the average fae I felt betrayed. Lily just isn’t the most standout main character, nor is she the best written. Her interactions with other characters are limited (the same goes for everyone in the book) so I can’t judge if she’s worth of doing anything other than romancing or thinking about what she should do. I felt as if she was given this power but unworthy to wield it and that’s a bad thing since Marr probably wasn’t trying to make me feel that way. Please Marr, have you characters do more than sit and look pretty. They’re all so stiff; I really don’t care about them to read the second book One Blood Ruby.

            I also disliked how small this world was. Not in a literal way, but hardly anything was expanded on or explained enough. There was enough explanation to inform me of the history of the world but not enough to make me care about it. Hardly any of Lily’s home, school or the world of the fae was explored or explained in depth. We don’t know this world Marr, so tell us about it so we can care dang it! I swear, the one place that seemed to get a lot of dirt on it was the freaking club the diamonds hung out at and that was stupid. I’m not even sure if those kids went to school for Pete’s sake! But I digress, it made the setting feel extremely shallow and flat which sucked. There were also very few characters in that book who interacted with each other. You have the seven black diamonds, the two fae monarchs, the three almost conspirators, the two poop head brothers, Lily’s dad and his lover, Lily’s former love interest and that’s all the important people. In total that’s 17 characters but they were also so flat and lifeless it was like there were only three characters in the entire thing and those were the characters who were narrating the chapters. Heck, most of the time (and maybe I’ve already pointed this out) everyone was thinking about the past, the future or romance. BORING. Come one Marr, you’re a successful author, I’m sure you can do better than that. These things pretty much ruined everything about the book for me as I like my foundation to be nice and solid and thick all right? Nothing else to it.

            So yeah, book has potential but fails with basic setting and characters to be memorable or appeasing and I’m sorry such a beautiful cover had to be wasted on a mediocre book. Just look at that cover though, it us so beautiful I wish plants bled in real life. But when you think about it, wouldn’t stepping on grass always cause blood to get on your feet/shoe soles? Would plants also scream in agony as well? I think that’d be pretty mess up man, for real. But yeah! Don’t read this book unless you want to kill time or like paper thin romances!

Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson (Review)

 

Date Finished: January 17, 2018

Page Count: 274

Genre: Historical Fiction 

            I never thought this day would come, but I’ve finally finished reading Laurie Halse Anderson’s Seed of America trilogy! This trilogy was absolutely stunning and I loved how Anderson kept surprising me with the plot and characters. They’re changed so much since Chains that I can hardly believe they’re the same characters, but at the same time they’re been written so well I can’t help but still love the cast. Anderson was even able to write in some new characters which increased the fun big time. I ‘m happy to say that I’m fully satisfied with the way this series concluded and I can now write the long overdue review for Ashes that I know my non-existent readers have been anticipating.

            So as I mentioned in my last blog post, which was about the whole time skip thing, Ashes takes place five years after the first book, and that Ruth was found by Isabel and Curzon as an almost grown twelve-year-old. I also mentioned that there might be a picture to accompany the book review but I don’t know what I was talking about back then so yeah, no picture (sorry). Any who, the plot only got more intense and engaging after that and I loved how Anderson was able to continuously change the situation yet still make everything flow and connect. Isabel, Curzon, Ruth and newcomers Aberdeen and Nancy Chicken (who is in fact, a chicken) try to escape to the west and eventually get back to Rhode Island where Isabel wants to make a life there and be free. Ruth however, hates Isabel and cares more for her friend Aberdeen who was there for Ruth after she got taken away from Isabel. To make matters worse, Curzon becomes more and more detached form Isabel causing her situation to go from bad to worse. Things almost came to an end when Ruth sprained (or maybe she twisted) her ankle and it had to be disinfected before the gang could continue their journey. It was around this part that I did my first review so no reason to go over this stuff twice.

            Once Ruth healed I wondered how Anderson would progress the story as Isabel couldn’t seem to have any decent relationships with her travel mates due to them all keeping their distance, and the gang didn’t seem to have any goals other than evade the whites. That was, until Anderson had them stumble upon the town of Williamsburg. It was there that everyone split up to find work, and Isabel was stuck with Ruth where she attempted to try to rebuild their sisterly bond. I loved this transition as it gave time for relationships to fall apart (so the story could progress), and for Isabel to gain a new purpose. It was also the start of a greater focus on the relationship between Ruth and Isabel after being away for so many years, and a showcase of Ruth’s abilities that let the readers know she wasn’t completely helpless, which I kinda though she was since in the first book we didn’t get much character development with her (it was about as much character development that any five-year-old gets).

            I expected the story to somehow remain in Williamsburg, but things took a shocking turn when Isabel realized that the people she and Ruth worked for were planning on enslaving them. This was a nice throwback to Chains in my opinion, and it showed that Isabel learned from the past as the two were able to escape to safety and start heading for Yorktown to try to find Aberdeen and fight for the Redcoats to gain freedom. That’s right, Aberdeen was started working for the Redcoats and became a spy.

            I was not expecting Aberdeen’s character to go that route despite him showing an interest in the British’s cause earlier in the book, and the fact that he would argue with Curzon about which side promised freedom. It just never occurred to me he’d go full force and become a spy. This was one of the surprises I like and disliked the most as it made story more exciting, but at the same time I knew that this meant that Isabel, Ruth, Curzon and Aberdeen would never be together again most likely. It was so very tragic indeed.

            Where was I again? Oh yeah, so they escape hoping to join with the British when suddenly Anderson throws in something historically accurate that helps progress the plot by changing the girl’s minds. I don’t know if you know this but thousands (or maybe it was just hundreds) of slaves fled to join the British in hopes of becoming free men, but the British couldn’t handle them all, so when they got sick with small pox the British released them towards the direction of the Patriots in hopes of getting them sick. I for one, find that incredibly disgusting and inhumane of the British but the past is the past and I’m not going to get super salty about it _{just gotta learn from history to keep it from repeating itself.} This event shocks the girls terribly and it cause Isabel to reconsider joining the British and her neutral stance in the war. I love the scene that happened in this part after the two encountered the deserting youth who informed them of this news when Isabel and Ruth got into a fight over Aberdeen. Seeing how found Ruth was of him was sweet but at the same time it tore my heart up little by little thinking that she’d never see him again. The fight itself was mostly verbal like the average sibling argument is but then things got intense when Ruth slapped Isabel and then Isabel slapped her back.

            This was some heavy sibling grudges and angst ya’ll but I just loved it because it reminded me of me and my sisters a lot. Well, mostly me and my little sister and my little sister and my older sister (I only have two sisters by the way), but it was still nice to see that not every sibling gets along with each other even if the two are fictional siblings. This was also just the push Isabel needed to get talking to Ruth about what happened five years ago, and Ruth’s explanation for avoiding Isabel was so adorable and unexpected *inhales deeply*: she was afraid Isabel was going to send her away again. Awwwwwwww. Ugh, typing it isn’t the same as saying it out loud, but I digress! The only person probably more surprised than I was would be Isabel who reassured Ruth that she didn’t want to get rid of her and loved her the way she was which was the most adorable thing in the whole novel. It was also maybe my favorite part in the novel and I just love the sibling fight and make up there (if only things were like that with my sisters *stares longingly at the wall.*)

            So after that wonderful sibling bonding, Isabel and Ruth head to the Patriot’s camp where they search for Eben (from Forge but older and a sergeant or whatever) in hopes of getting work. Anderson was somehow able to surprise me again here by having Eben (it was nice seeing him again by the way) take to two to the company of none other than Curzon himself. That wasn’t the surprise actually, it was the fact the Curzon has written Isabel down as his wife when he enlisted, so all his company members though that Isabel was his wife. My gosh Curzon, can you not be any subtler about your true feelings for Isabel? I don’t know how to describe my feeling at that moment but it’s that strange sort of embarrassment I get from reading/watching something that I enjoy which causes my heart to speed up and my insides to smile. It’s kinda hard not to smile on the outside as well so I’m pretty sure I had a goofy grin on every time the topic was brought up in the book except when Curzon when on his supposed suicide mission and at the very end where they got married (actually, I may have still ben smiling at that part). To make matters all the more that strange feeling-ey, Curzon and Isabel’s unsure dialog was hilariously cringe worthy and I loved every second of it. The best part was that there were tons of moments like that since Isabel and Ruth were going to work for the company for the rest of the book.

            But yeah, Isabel had patched up her relationship with Ruth but Curzon was still an enigma, and to make things even more complicated Aberdeen showed up again spying on the Patriots to try to convince Ruth to run away with him. I love how Ruth didn’t chose to run away with him as it meant she got to be alive at the end of the novel (where Aberdeen is MIA), and her reason was that she didn’t want to leave Isabel behind. Horary for sibling bonds! Aberdeen reappearing also allowed us to start to see how Isabel was favoring the Patriot cause. It was about time Isabel chose the winning side as I didn’t want to see her character get killed off or worse, going back in to slavery, so it brought hope to me that her character would end up happy at the end of the series.

            My hopes were fulfilled, thank the Lord, as Isabel realized her true feelings for Curzon once he’d gone marching off to death and didn’t return so she had to cope with the loss and live with the memory she had of him. Just kidding. Curzon came back injured and unable to fight so he and Isabel got to spend some quality bonding time having their normal awkward conversations, but they still got to think over their feeling over each other. I once read a quote about a woman having many valuables being able to quickly decide which were most valuable once her house was on fire and that’s exactly what happened with these two. While I stated oh-so-long ago in my Chains review that I didn’t want the two to become a couple, the smooth translation of their relationship in Forge and now in Ashes is exactly how I like my relationships to go (I can take some fast paced ones where people fall in love with their eyes, but hardly ever if the two don’t get to know each other) so I couldn’t help but cheer for their relationship just a little bit from the sidelines. Turns out their relationship was also the best way to end off the book as right before that part there was that depressing bit where Ruth talked about a scenario in her mind where all her loved ones who were no longer with her were living happily together (which was quite mature of her and a good situation for her character’s last big moment), and the wedding, albeit a simple one, left me on a good note a quite satisfied with the trilogy.

            So to summarize that jumble of a review (really, it’s too much of a mess for me to even think about reorganizing), the transitions from situation to situation flowed effortlessly making the novel coherent and smooth which is key in writing a good novel. I also loved all the things I didn’t expect to happen in the book as I find my stories more enjoyable when thing go as you expect them to but with a twist and Anderson was able to include the most out of any of the books in the trilogy in Ashes. Then you have the character of Isabel, who was a head strong as ever, nor did she lose sight of her goals at all. She returned as the voice of the novel (which was great cause that meant no single page chapters) and I felt gave such an inside point of view about the events of the story. You have Ruth, who was still herself like in Chains, but more grown up and responsible, plus a great foil for Isabel and an overall fun character to have around. Curzon was Curzon I guess (he wasn’t around much), and the character of Aberdeen faced a depressing yet different fate than the other characters which made him stand out from everyone else. The time jump no longer bothers me as much as it did when I first started reading the book, and I actually think the book turned out for the best taking place five years after the first book. By doing that Anderson was able to have off screen interaction that wouldn’t have been the most interesting things to make books out of happen and characters build relationships then. We got told about these events through words or flashback which worked fine for me and it actually helped things keep interesting in the long run and not be dragged out into an unnecessary fourth book I’m looking at you Dorothy Must Die series. If you read the first and second book you have to read this conclusion for it does such a nice job of tying up loose ends and giving readers a satisfactory ending. If you haven’t even read the first book I recommend you do that as this is a great historical fiction trilogy that sits well with teenagers since Anderson’s able to keep surprising the readers with her story and keeping them attached to her characters. So go on, go read the series and stop sitting here reading my review! _{Also, sorry bout the word vomit, too much good things to say and no good way to organize my thoughts properly.}

 

More blog posts on the Seeds of America trilogy
Chains book review
Forge book review
Other blog post on Ashes

Five-Gazillion Years Later...

            Mikayla, is it happening?

            Yes, it’s happening.

            Are you serious? Right here, right now?

            You better believe it me!

            But why now after such a long time?

            It doesn’t matter how long it’s been I still remember the previous books.

            Are you sure? Do you even remember the date period?

            Yeah,  sometime around the late 1770s and-oh God, there’s a time skip.

            *Face palms* Idiot! Why didn’t you see this coming?

            *uneasy laughter that lasts and eventually fades into the distance*

 

 

            So for those who don’t know or don’t remember, I am reading The Seeds of America trilogy by Laurie Halse Anderson, and the last book I read was Forge back in November. At the end of the review for Forge I typed, and I quote, “I look forward to getting around to reading the finale of the series in the near future!” and if I’m not mistaken, I was smiling when I typed that.

What a lie that was.

To be honest, I thought I’d read one or two other books I had recently found in the library before putting the final book on hold, but yeah that didn’t happen and I finally got around to picking up the last book at my local library over the winter break. Personally, I wish I got around to Ashes sooner as then I might not have made the mistake or reading so many poor books last year, which I’d like to keep unnamed in case the authors of the books ever stumble upon this blog post The Counterfeit Family Tree of Vee Crawford-Wong, Seeing Redd, and ArchEnemy. But I digress, would you like to know what exactly what make picking up the final installment so worthwhile? Well I don’t care because I’m gonna tell you right now it’s Ruth. For those of you who didn’t hear me I typed Ruth. For those of you who don’t remember who that is, she’s Isabel’s little sister who was highly prone to fits and was the most adorable character in Chains. For those of you who aren’t just a wall that I’m talking to, why are you reading this random blog post on the book rather than the review unlessthereviewdoesn’texistyet? Go read the review!

            Man, I really need to stop treating this blog like people actually read it and/or like the internet has a mind of its own, technology hasn’t become that corrupt yet as far as I know.

            But yeah, Ruth! I wasn’t expecting her to appear till the end of the book in a tearful reunion of her and Isabel being united after beating the final boss, so to speak and the two would then be able to live together in freedom for the rest of their long happy lives or something (maybe Curzon would be there too). That time skip to August of 1781 caught me off guard as it’d been five, I repeat, FIVE years since Isabel had seen Ruth and ding, dang, dong, has the kid really grown up in this book. I’m surprised Isabel recognized her in chapter four and was actually right about her being Ruth. I wasn’t expecting Isabel and Curzon to find Ruth so quickly, much less as a twelve-year old woman who has practically disowned Isabel and told her to get the heck out of Dodge. It was so unexpected, yet so interesting and I feel as though that’s made me far more invested in seeing what happens next in the story than I was before. Heck, I’m about fifty or so pages in right now and Ruth still hates Isabel which makes me happy that everything isn’t nice and sugar-coated like I expected it to be. It also makes the title that much more symbolic of Isabel’s relationships with her loved one’s having being tossed into a furnace of war and slavery leaving nothing more than a pile of pitiful ashes behind. Beautiful, Anderson, you are such a mighty wordsmith. With such a good book I doubt it will take me long to finish it so you can expect the review very soon (and maybe a picture to accompany it me?).

 

Also in case you were wondering, here’s how much a gazillionis.

ArchEnemy by Frank Beddor (Review)

Date Finished: January 1, 2018

Page Count: 370

Genre: Fantasy

            Well, this book sucked. The series started out on a high note and slowly began to fall ever so slowly into a boring collection of words that I no longer care about (except for the fact that Alyss x Dodge happened at the end which it kinda ironic if you’ve been keeping up with my reviews). What was so bad about the book you ask? It failed to keep my attention in the long run and thanks to the disaster of the second book, I had little to care about in the final installment of the series. The book was so bad I actually didn’t read it completely. Yes, I admit it, aside from the first thirty pages or so, I skimmed through everything other than a few eye catching conversations and significant events that would help me keep up with the story. I’d feel bad for doing such a thing if I actually cared about the book but I didn’t. There’s not much I have or want to say about this book, but I can tell you what made the book on its own too boring for me to enjoy.

            ArchEnemy picked up where Seeing Redd left off, which was showing how everyone in Wonderland trying to cope with the loss of imagination. I personally hated this about the second book (everyone losing their imagination) but if I were just to look at the loss of imagination in ArchEnemy, I still think it lasted for far too long in my opinion. The imagination-based battles were what I loved most about the series so removing it for the beginning resulted in two bad choices. One effect was Alyss becoming a more a dull character than she was in Seeing Redd. Sure, she got to understand those without imagination (like her love interest) more and experience what it’s like to not be able to rely on her powers, but it also caused the second poor choice of the battles only being technology based!! That’s taking away one of the crucial fun parts of the story!

            My interest in the characters also decreased as they simply went about doing war activities and preparing for battles for a lot of the first part that I fully read. Normally I wouldn’t get upset about this, but I feel like there are too much meaningless actions and not enough decent character development, or enough new and interesting info being given to the readers. I was already loosing interest in the characters in the previous book, try not to make me care even less in the final book.

            To be honest, I feel as though my loss of interest in this book can be traced to Seeing Redd at its roots, and then a failure to keep things interesting and fresh yet still remain true to the series roots. Guess it’s no surprise this review is so short then and the fact that I don’t recommend anyone to read this book due to the lack of new ideas and interesting plot/characters. Just read the first book and none of the sequels in the series okay? Spinoff books are okay though as I read Hatter Madigan Ghost in the H.A.T.B.O.X which was a nice fresh take on the character of Hatter as a young boy and didn’t seem to be a poorly retold version of Alice in Wonderland. Not going to review the book here though because I only have so much break time and so much time to do nothing. All you need to know is that it’s really good and far better than ArchEnemy in my opinion.

Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor (Review)

Date Finished: December 16, 2017 (maybe, I can’t remember)

Page Count: 371

Genre: Fantasy

 

            Well I’m disappointed in you Mr. Beddor. I had a slight feeling that a second book couldn’t be done in the Looking Glass Wars series with the main conflict of the story primarily wrapped up, and just a few minor problems being left for the characters (possibility of Redd resurfacing in our world, Dodge’s quest for vengeance, Hatter wanting to mourn the death of his lover, Alyss and Dodge’s relationship, ect.) and I was right. The way this book played out was not what I was hoping for with the sequel and while I can’t get on Beddor for just writing Seeing Redd since the first one was such a success (apparently he planned this series out extensively before writing it according to the authors bio in The Looking Glass Wars), I can get on him for a dull plot and boring characters. That’s just my opinion though so stick around to hear me through or not if you don’t want me to slowly tear apart the joy you felt at reading this series. Without further ado, I give you a first on this blog:

The Everything I Felt Was Wrong with this Book List!

1.      Alyss was a flat character in this book. Like all I remember her doing is war, looking out for Dodge, and being a queen. There was next to no major character development for her in this book and I cared about her less as a character because of it.

2.      Lots of the book took place in our world when it was focusing on Redd. So in the first book I like seeing the real world because it was spaced out nicely and served the purpose of helping set up Alyss as an individual devoid of imagination, but here that wasn’t the case. Reading about Redd gather people to fight for her wasn’t too exciting and there was hardly any action because of that. Boo. It’s not Wonderland with it’s exciting battle between important characters.

3.      Hatter Madigan has a love interest and get blackmailed because of her. It’s not that I have a problem with giving the Batman characters a love interest, it’s just that we, the audience, was misled into believing that she was dead and when she reappeared Hatter was blackmailed into doing all the wrong things (plus it was super anticlimactic overall and his character could have been handled so much better if she was left dead). All the while, Hatter showed way too much weakness in caring than I thought his character should have in proportion to how conflicted he was about doing the right thing and trying to get him and his loved ones out of the mess they were in. At least his paper thin lover was killed near the end of the novel but far too late to prevent them for one of the other major things I disliked about this book.

4.      Molly Homburg is revealed to be Hatter’s daughter. Son of a Shakespeare Beddor, why’d you have to go and do something as stupid as that?! No, I did not like the idea of Hatter having family ties, much less having a daughter. Molly was cool without having any know parents alive so why’d you have to go and do a thing like that? The you had her freaking take Hatter’s job, which she did a terrible job at by the way, and got herself screwed up and in the enemy’s hands. Normally I’d congratulate this sort of character development but factors (like the fact that I just don’t think Hatter should have a kid) make me not like this. It was a good idea but bad situation if that makes any sense.

5.      King Arch. He was a sexist and was simply good at manipulating his words, plus he was something of an opportunist disease in my opinion. I normally wouldn’t be upset about villains this crafty, but the way he was introduced as a sexist that crawled to power just made me dislike him for the entire series. Dude didn’t even try to hide the fact that he found women to be below women multiple times! Too much salt in the wound Beddor, way too much.

 

But yeah, that was my list of grievances about the book. The only things I really enjoyed were some real sweet Dodge x Alyss fluff and the fact that Jack of Diamonds got killed. He was such a brat and an annoying character (probably done on purpose) but it was nice to see a mushroom see get planted in him and the roots strangle his heart (pretty sure that’s what happened). Those were the only things that kept me going and I really should have given up on the book longer ago. But alas, I felt an obligation to finish the series I’d started and it’s been an extreme waste of my time. I don’t recommend people read this book unless they really, truly like the first book as it prolongs a story that should have finished with one book. It wasn’t all that bad a book however when you compare it to the final book in the series.

 

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor (Review)

Date Finished: December 14, 2017

Page Count: 358

Genre: Fantasy

            Shhhhhh, I know a review has to be completed within three days of reading a book, but I was swept away by finals and then Christmas and then a request from my uncle and then visiting family. Even now its super cold and I can hardly type a thing because my family keeps the house so cold and it’s hard to move my fingers. I just want to write a review on this book because then it feels like I truly read the book and hopefully reviewing it will help me remember how much I like the book in the future.

            So this is the second rewritten story I’ve read this school year and I have to say it’s a ways off from being better than the Dorothy Must Die series by a long shot. Doesn’t mean Frank Beddor did a bad job however as I thoroughly enjoyed, The Looking Glass Wars. I found some of the descriptions a bit hard to follow like when the action was being described occasionally, and there were little to no descriptions of what characters looked like. Some of the dialogue was a bit awkward as well. It sounded like people would talk in their everyday lives but the way Beddor wrote it and the fact that the story took place in the late 1850s to the early 1870s made it seem out of place. I’d pull a quote as an example but my memory of exact details is slightly foggy and I’ve got four days of vacation left (not counting today) and I’d rather not spend too much time doing homework plus there’s a video game I’m super close to finishing that I really want to finish instead of writing this and about a dozen Bleach mangas I want to read and I want to watch the end of the Assassination Classroom anime and ya know what never mind I’m going on a tangent right now that’s irrelevant to the review. But yeah, book did some stuff that irked me. The biggest thing though had to be the time glazing that happened. Just stay with me for a minute here now and I’ll explain.

            The book starts at Alyss’s seventh birthday celebration. Her parents get killed, she and Hatter (who’s the best character in the book by the way) flee through the Pool of Tears, then get separated, and couple chapters later she’s like eleven years old. What the heck? Then she’s practically sixteen when we come back to her after visiting Hatter and the war going on in Wonderland (some of the best parts in the book) or whatever the acceptable age of marriage was back (maybe it was twenty one). Leaving out all those years Alyss spent in our world was a good way for the audience to see Wonderland in civil war (which was cool) but it led Alyss to lossing a ton of character development other than, “she’s a straight arrow who won’t allow herself to believe in her outlandish past anymore and because of that she’s lost her imagination (which may sound like nothing but it means she can’t make anything appear out of thin air with just a thought).” The whole losing imagination part wasn’t bad as we cot to see Alyss regain her confidence and develop her powers once she returned to Wonderland, but I still hate how little character development she was given. Since that was all the things I disliked about the book I’m move onto what I liked and if you’ve been with me for a while I’d assume you know I pay attention to the characters of the books most.

Alyss in part three was cool since that was when she returned to Wonderland and had to face her past and all the crap that happened back then which meant feels and character development! Okay, so there wasn’t a lot of feels but I still enjoyed seeing her go from helpless and afraid of how daunting her situation was to a brave warrior queen who was ready to reclaim her kingdom. Then you have Alyss’ best friend Dodge (odd name me thinks he has), who is dedicated to his duty but still makes time for fun with Alyss. Then his world gets wrecked when his father is killed by Redd and he believes Alyss to be dead causing his character to take a drastically dark turn. It was beautiful seeing him struggle with acting for the good of the kingdom and his desire for vengeance against the Cat for killing his dad, and I love that he still didn’t get to satisfy his thirst for bloodlust by the end of the book. Also, I really liked the fluff between Alyss and Dodge that we were given, especially that part in the beginning where it mentioned the picture Alyss kept by her bed side of her as a baby and a three (or something) year old Dodge kissing her cheek. That was the best Beddor. It was also nice that the romance wasn’t the main thing about the book nor was it set in stone by the end of the book. A romance that takes time is the kind of romance I crave.

            The only other characters truly worth mentioning is Alyss’ aunt Redd who was an awesome psychopath and good at making threats as well as Hatter Madigan, the royal bodyguard. I love how the Mad Hatter in this version of Alice in Wonderland wasn’t just some crazy guy who had tea parties but rather was an amazing fighter who was extremely good at his job. He was like Batman in a way and I totally love that. As a matter of fact, the dude is actually probably my favorite character from the book.

            So there you have it, great characters but the plot wasn’t good enough for me to mention it at all. Some of it felt cliché (evil uncle/aunt as main antagonist) but whatever, I liked the story. What really gave it the magic was getting to experience this more violent and technological version of Wonderland and be able to see how it was connected to our world. Very well done Beddor on linking Alice in Wonderland to a misinterpretation of the reality you’ve given us. I’d recommend this book to those who like rewritten stories, people who like fantasy with low doses of romance and/or people who like to read about others creating things with their imaginations and using it to fight each other. Imagination turned reality based combat is the type of creative stuff I like to read about. Too bad the rest of the books in the series weren’t as good….