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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
Alice Will by Ashley Chappell is a brilliant, well imagined young adult novel. The main characters are a fourteen year old girl and a six year old girl, something which for me only made the story more interesting.
Trotter, a young Demi-goddess, is trying to get to grips with her powers. Something which is much easier said than done. To make things even more difficult the apocalypse begins. With the gods fighting between themselves Trotter finds herself right at the heart of the blame for the chaos reigning around her.
Alice is a young girl who has effectively been a slave for her whole life. With powers similar to Trotter’s their paths soon cross.
Throw in an evil god hell bent on destroying everything and you soon have madness that Trotter and Alice have to try and contain.
What a book this was. By at all what I expected from the description, although on reflection I couldn’t honestly say what I had expected. This book took you on such a ride while also being easy to read. I loved the fact that the two main characters were young girls. They were so well written that I instantly fell in love with both of them.
Not an author I had read before but one I will be keeping my eye on in the future.
Trotter, a young Demi-goddess, is trying to get to grips with her powers. Something which is much easier said than done. To make things even more difficult the apocalypse begins. With the gods fighting between themselves Trotter finds herself right at the heart of the blame for the chaos reigning around her.
Alice is a young girl who has effectively been a slave for her whole life. With powers similar to Trotter’s their paths soon cross.
Throw in an evil god hell bent on destroying everything and you soon have madness that Trotter and Alice have to try and contain.
What a book this was. By at all what I expected from the description, although on reflection I couldn’t honestly say what I had expected. This book took you on such a ride while also being easy to read. I loved the fact that the two main characters were young girls. They were so well written that I instantly fell in love with both of them.
Not an author I had read before but one I will be keeping my eye on in the future.
Trotter is a fourteen-year-old demi-god who hardly uses her powers and hasn't even met her immortal father. All the gods have hidden away in another reality because of the damage they did to the human world--but as a child of a god, eyes are on Trotter--to see if she can be dangerous, or perhaps a useful tool.
And when the in-between world starts quaking, a sign that reality is under attack, Trotter is under suspicion as the cause. But there's another little girl out there, lonely and mistreated Alice. Alice is an even more attractive target--what will she do with her own abilities when the minions of a dark god find her?
Trotter's going to have to find some answers to figure out what's happening--and she's going to need a lot of help.
The story is packed, a breathless rush of action that manages to pack a lot into the amount of pages, while still leaving you wanting more. The gods are wacky, as affected by their worshipers and the worshipers are by the gods. And their world is larger than life--full of mysteries, tragedies, and laughs.
And when the in-between world starts quaking, a sign that reality is under attack, Trotter is under suspicion as the cause. But there's another little girl out there, lonely and mistreated Alice. Alice is an even more attractive target--what will she do with her own abilities when the minions of a dark god find her?
Trotter's going to have to find some answers to figure out what's happening--and she's going to need a lot of help.
The story is packed, a breathless rush of action that manages to pack a lot into the amount of pages, while still leaving you wanting more. The gods are wacky, as affected by their worshipers and the worshipers are by the gods. And their world is larger than life--full of mysteries, tragedies, and laughs.
Alice Will by Ashley Chappell
Gods, monsters, and magic make and break the rules in the young adult fantasy Dreams of Chaos series
The beginning dragged a bit for me personally but the more I read the more into the book I got. I enjoyed all the way, Mrs. Chappell splashed the magic and gods and more throughout the pages ! it really pulls you in further and further to the book. The detail that Mrs. Chappell used to describe the times and areas in this story is great! Really pulls you into the book. I look forward to reading more from Mrs. Chappell.
Gods, monsters, and magic make and break the rules in the young adult fantasy Dreams of Chaos series
The beginning dragged a bit for me personally but the more I read the more into the book I got. I enjoyed all the way, Mrs. Chappell splashed the magic and gods and more throughout the pages ! it really pulls you in further and further to the book. The detail that Mrs. Chappell used to describe the times and areas in this story is great! Really pulls you into the book. I look forward to reading more from Mrs. Chappell.
Okay, so it took me over a year to finish this book - I started in February 2018, and it's May 2019 now. I read heaps of books between starting this one and finishing it, of course, but despite this book coming and going from my life while remaining unread, I didn't want to give up on it. Despite how hard it sometimes felt to make progress with the read, I really did enjoy the book whenever I picked it up again.
The book is set in a world that is so richly built, and so unique, that I frequently felt amazement at what I was reading. I could picture the scenes vividly in my mind but I also had to really suspend belief here and there, or maybe it was more a case of expanding my mind to accommodate what I was reading about. It's a complicated world, or rather, set of worlds, and while they each have their own rules, they're also all interconnected and reliant upon each other.
There are serious moments, and there are ridiculous, amusing moments. I laughed quite often but also felt rage when bad guys were doing bad things. I was proud of Trotter and her resolve to do what had to be done. I was also proud of the other characters who played their parts. Despite what I said earlier in a comment about not being big on talking cats, I grew rather fond of Prowler, and felt exasperated for him and some of the things he had to put up with. ;) I'm glad he got his seafood buffet at last though!
Some little details about the world of DoC that I loved:
- There's a Hostage Crab!
- There are teddy cats! Nuts
- There's a guy called Barry Metric
- There's a desert called the Soggy Desert
- There's a mountain range called the Prawn Mountains
Some fave quotes:
“I’m a little busy at the moment!” he complained through a mouthful of teddy bear.
This time she didn’t even notice the childish décor and the sad bear cub Poo-Poo grumbling at the teddy cat that kept trying to climb up his back.
The bed was covered from end to end with small mewling teddy bears similar to the one that Ursula had been clutching in her parlor, and in all different colors.
Again, most of the city shut down and everyone celebrated by giving each other, in addition to confused looks, chocolate covered hard-boiled eggs, which nobody ate, and had city wide duck hunts. Not that they shot the ducks, of course. They simply hid them in various cupboards, alleys, and trees while the children tried to find them. Getting them to not quack was the trick.
“What’s a cat got to do to get a drink around here?” he asked irritably.
To conclude, I think I may have to read on with this series. But the thought scares me, in case it takes me another 1+ yrs to read the next one. Maybe I'll give things a rest & return to the matter later.
The book is set in a world that is so richly built, and so unique, that I frequently felt amazement at what I was reading. I could picture the scenes vividly in my mind but I also had to really suspend belief here and there, or maybe it was more a case of expanding my mind to accommodate what I was reading about. It's a complicated world, or rather, set of worlds, and while they each have their own rules, they're also all interconnected and reliant upon each other.
There are serious moments, and there are ridiculous, amusing moments. I laughed quite often but also felt rage when bad guys were doing bad things. I was proud of Trotter and her resolve to do what had to be done. I was also proud of the other characters who played their parts. Despite what I said earlier in a comment about not being big on talking cats, I grew rather fond of Prowler, and felt exasperated for him and some of the things he had to put up with. ;) I'm glad he got his seafood buffet at last though!
Some little details about the world of DoC that I loved:
- There's a Hostage Crab!
- There are teddy cats! Nuts
- There's a guy called Barry Metric
- There's a desert called the Soggy Desert
- There's a mountain range called the Prawn Mountains
Some fave quotes:
“I’m a little busy at the moment!” he complained through a mouthful of teddy bear.
This time she didn’t even notice the childish décor and the sad bear cub Poo-Poo grumbling at the teddy cat that kept trying to climb up his back.
The bed was covered from end to end with small mewling teddy bears similar to the one that Ursula had been clutching in her parlor, and in all different colors.
Again, most of the city shut down and everyone celebrated by giving each other, in addition to confused looks, chocolate covered hard-boiled eggs, which nobody ate, and had city wide duck hunts. Not that they shot the ducks, of course. They simply hid them in various cupboards, alleys, and trees while the children tried to find them. Getting them to not quack was the trick.
“What’s a cat got to do to get a drink around here?” he asked irritably.
To conclude, I think I may have to read on with this series. But the thought scares me, in case it takes me another 1+ yrs to read the next one. Maybe I'll give things a rest & return to the matter later.
Alice Will- Ashley Chappell
4-star review
Alice Will by Ashley Chappell is a very entertaining young adult fantasy read! This is the first book in Ashley’s Dreams of Chaos series. This is my first book of this authors as well as one of my first books of this genre, I’m not sure why I waited so long to try this genre because fantasy books like this one pull me right in from the first chapter with all of the detail. From the history, the characters, both main and supporting and to the surroundings no detail is left unwritten making it a true page turner.
I jumped right into this incredible world that Ashley created, this storyline is unique, intriguing, unpredictable and complex. There was never a dull moment as there was always something going on, which kept me really engaged, though in the beginning I found it a bit hard to follow along. However, all of my questions were answered as I continued with Alice and Trotter’s story.
Ashley created a world full of power, fairy-tale stories, god’s, magic, talking cats and war. I’m really looking forward to continuing this series with the second book, Tilt.
4-star review
Alice Will by Ashley Chappell is a very entertaining young adult fantasy read! This is the first book in Ashley’s Dreams of Chaos series. This is my first book of this authors as well as one of my first books of this genre, I’m not sure why I waited so long to try this genre because fantasy books like this one pull me right in from the first chapter with all of the detail. From the history, the characters, both main and supporting and to the surroundings no detail is left unwritten making it a true page turner.
I jumped right into this incredible world that Ashley created, this storyline is unique, intriguing, unpredictable and complex. There was never a dull moment as there was always something going on, which kept me really engaged, though in the beginning I found it a bit hard to follow along. However, all of my questions were answered as I continued with Alice and Trotter’s story.
Ashley created a world full of power, fairy-tale stories, god’s, magic, talking cats and war. I’m really looking forward to continuing this series with the second book, Tilt.
This book was..interesting. to say the least. Nice world building, clever premise, but the mild abuse over Alice quickly turned off and I had to stop reading.
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.75 stars
I finally had the time yesterday/this morning to settle down and really dive into this book the way I haven't been able to do since I started it, and I finish the entire second half in two sittings. WHEW. I was hooked.
I have to say: I chose a bad time to start this book. Especially with new books and authors, I like to be able to sit down and really get immersed in the new style and story, and I generally end up plowing through it (sometimes out of sheer curiosity about how the author will manage). However, I started this book when the busiest part of school hit, so I had to take it just a dozen or so pages a day, starting and stopping, and sometimes going long enough between times I got to pick it up that how fast I was reading it would leave me struggling to remember what I had finished last time I let off.
But every time it would only take me a couple lines to find my way back into the story. Everything was distinct, and the world was a complex one but so easily and vibrantly explained that diving back in after all my brief hiatuses was no trouble.
Let me say first that it’s been a long time since I read a story from the third person omniscient perspective, so I wasn’t expecting that to be the style. At first, it threw me. But then I was so curious about what was going to happen and how all these storylines would tie together, that it ceased to bother me. And that’s saying something, because generally I cannot get on board with that style. The story would not have worked without this particular point of view (or it wouldn't have worked as well), because not only do we see Trotter and Alice and the gods, we see sweeping aerial scenes and Chaos, and in my opinion there would have been far too much jumping from character's mind to character's mind had omniscient not been the perspective. It worked, and I thoroughly enjoyed it in this book, so well done, Ms. Chappell!
I had a hard time deciding whether to classify this book as middle-grade or YA. There was some description or a curse word that had me leaning toward YA, but then some of the easy humor and the age of the characters seemed more middle-grade. Either way it was still a simple, good-old-fashioned fantasy. There were realms and magic and gods and mystical creatures, and the world was fed to you a little at a time so it never felt overwhelming. Ashley Chappell has an amazing imagination; I was sucked into the hilarious descriptions of the gods’ realms, the mode of transportation within Realm, and the unique magic surrounding the characters. With so many “demigod” stories out right now, Ms. Chappell’s book managed to never make the mistake of falling in with the rest of the genre; the gods were not Greek, the main character, Trotter, was not the only important and powerful one, and even the magic was not traditional. I didn't feel like I could guess everything that was going to happen, and I certainly didn't. There were surprises and reveals and plenty to keep readers on the edge of their seats!
My only wish for this story was that some of the scenes would be expanded. It was definitely not something to bring my rating down even a whole half-star, and honestly, I'm not sure it's something worth that .25-star reduction. But sometimes I would be so invested in the scene that was happening or coming up and I would have loved to see some of those be longer, more detailed, dived into further, but instead the story moved on. Now, the quick pace was one of the things that kept me so invested—the story never dragged, and I HUGELY appreciated that. Too many stories do.
As an author who's had to attempt some serious world-building myself, I'm awed by Ashley Chappell's ability to do so. Imagination flowed off the page, and everything was so unique and so fitting; it never seemed like she'd had to spend ages deciding how this or that particular piece of her world would appear. It flowed naturally, and she commanded every single bit masterfully, and that made Alice Will utterly enjoyable!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I finally had the time yesterday/this morning to settle down and really dive into this book the way I haven't been able to do since I started it, and I finish the entire second half in two sittings. WHEW. I was hooked.
I have to say: I chose a bad time to start this book. Especially with new books and authors, I like to be able to sit down and really get immersed in the new style and story, and I generally end up plowing through it (sometimes out of sheer curiosity about how the author will manage). However, I started this book when the busiest part of school hit, so I had to take it just a dozen or so pages a day, starting and stopping, and sometimes going long enough between times I got to pick it up that how fast I was reading it would leave me struggling to remember what I had finished last time I let off.
But every time it would only take me a couple lines to find my way back into the story. Everything was distinct, and the world was a complex one but so easily and vibrantly explained that diving back in after all my brief hiatuses was no trouble.
Let me say first that it’s been a long time since I read a story from the third person omniscient perspective, so I wasn’t expecting that to be the style. At first, it threw me. But then I was so curious about what was going to happen and how all these storylines would tie together, that it ceased to bother me. And that’s saying something, because generally I cannot get on board with that style. The story would not have worked without this particular point of view (or it wouldn't have worked as well), because not only do we see Trotter and Alice and the gods, we see sweeping aerial scenes and Chaos, and in my opinion there would have been far too much jumping from character's mind to character's mind had omniscient not been the perspective. It worked, and I thoroughly enjoyed it in this book, so well done, Ms. Chappell!
I had a hard time deciding whether to classify this book as middle-grade or YA. There was some description or a curse word that had me leaning toward YA, but then some of the easy humor and the age of the characters seemed more middle-grade. Either way it was still a simple, good-old-fashioned fantasy. There were realms and magic and gods and mystical creatures, and the world was fed to you a little at a time so it never felt overwhelming. Ashley Chappell has an amazing imagination; I was sucked into the hilarious descriptions of the gods’ realms, the mode of transportation within Realm, and the unique magic surrounding the characters. With so many “demigod” stories out right now, Ms. Chappell’s book managed to never make the mistake of falling in with the rest of the genre; the gods were not Greek, the main character, Trotter, was not the only important and powerful one, and even the magic was not traditional. I didn't feel like I could guess everything that was going to happen, and I certainly didn't. There were surprises and reveals and plenty to keep readers on the edge of their seats!
My only wish for this story was that some of the scenes would be expanded. It was definitely not something to bring my rating down even a whole half-star, and honestly, I'm not sure it's something worth that .25-star reduction. But sometimes I would be so invested in the scene that was happening or coming up and I would have loved to see some of those be longer, more detailed, dived into further, but instead the story moved on. Now, the quick pace was one of the things that kept me so invested—the story never dragged, and I HUGELY appreciated that. Too many stories do.
As an author who's had to attempt some serious world-building myself, I'm awed by Ashley Chappell's ability to do so. Imagination flowed off the page, and everything was so unique and so fitting; it never seemed like she'd had to spend ages deciding how this or that particular piece of her world would appear. It flowed naturally, and she commanded every single bit masterfully, and that made Alice Will utterly enjoyable!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2014/03/19/alice-will-ashley-chappell/
Alice Will by Ashley Chappell is the story of a 14-year-old demigod named Trotter who is just coming into her powers. She’s going through an awkward preteen age, and that means she’s pretty bad at magic. She can’t even get the hang of using it to make her hair behave. Trotter has a talking cat named Prowler who serves as her guardian. Prowler is a noble kitty who has a good heart and loves seafood. One day Trotter does something really amazing with magic and makes an item from the past show up. That’s the moment that the apocalypse starts. People think it’s her, but it’s really not.
You see, this is also the story of Alice. Alice is just a little kid, and she’s an indentured servant at an inn. She’s starved and mistreated there, and she dreams of a better life. Alice is powerful too, but she doesn’t know it. She thinks she’s completely human. Then she starts realizing by accident that her wishes and desires can manifest and become reality. She starts out trying to improve her life, and like any six year old, she doesn’t realize that her actions have consequences. Her powers have been noticed by a sadistic god named Laramak who was imprisoned by Trotter’s father a long time ago after doing a lot of terrible things. Laramak sees Alice’s naivete as an opportunity for him to regain his powers and rule/destroy what’s left of the world.
Trotter is in a unique position to stop Laramak and save Alice (and the world). Part of the lore in Alice Will is that the gods had a war, and then they went through a period where they kept changing reality all the time. They saw life as interchangeable, and so it really didn’t bother them if they turned a human into a unicorn or threw people to all corners of creation, erasing and reshaping their existences. Of course, anyone living through that time would have had major problems. After the war ended, the gods decided that it would be better for everyone if they kept to their own realm, and let the humans live their own lives and make their own mistakes without interference. Alice and Laramak are in the human world. As a demigod, Trotter isn’t confined to either.
Sounds like an interesting premise, right?
And yet, I had a difficult time getting into the story, even though I came around somewhat by the end. It wasn’t that there was any one major thing that was wrong with the book, but rather a lot of little things that bugged me and could have been fixed with another round or two of edits. Take, for instance, an anachronistic Dr. Seuss reference. Alice Will is a completely different world than our own, so there should be no Dr. Seuss. And then there’s the running motif that the gods have no imagination, but then we see the gods crafting some rather creative monstrosities.
Alice Will has a lot of humor, but I didn’t think a lot of the jokes were funny. Now, that’s probably just me being weird, because I couldn’t get into Good Omens either and everyone tells me that that book is hilarious. I told my boyfriend that I was having a hard time getting the jokes, and he asked me tongue-in-cheek if maybe the real problem is that I’m a grumpy old lady at heart. There’s a fair chance that his assumption was accurate.
But as the book progressed, I started to get it. There were several parts of Alice Will that made me silently chuckle. Ursula and her teddy bears are a good example. When gods lose their worshipers, they fade away into something less than what they once were. Ursula was once a warrior goddess, but as people forgot the bulk of her story, she instead became the goddess of bears. Cute stuffed ones, apparently.
And I did enjoy many of Chappell’s anecdotes about the nature of stories/legends/gods/etc. Like this part, where Prowler is explaining to Trotter why the gods are so dangerous, even though they seem like nice people:
“They have no frame of reference for life! They live forever and can’t die. Therefore, they have no fear of death. Just because they created something that can die doesn’t mean they understand the concept of death at all. That’s what makes them so dangerous. They don’t actually intend to do anything outright evil, even though it seems that way.”
And for all that I’ve talked about Trotter, it was Alice’s story that impressed me the most. Alice could be Cosette from Les Mis, or Cinderella, or Sara Crewe from A Little Princess. She’s the typical abused yet virtuous orphan girl. And yet, Alice isn’t waiting for a rescue. Instead of just going along with the hand fate dealt her, she changes the face of reality, and that’s pretty awesome.
In retrospect, I think my real problem with the book was that the Trotter/Prowler combo reminded me a bit too much of Sailor Moon.
I’m a bit older than the target audience for Alice Will, which is YA/middle grade, and some of the jokes that I didn’t find as funny were probably much more suited to a different age group. I’d encourage anyone who is considering reading the book to look around at other reviews, because the reader response to this book has been overwhelmingly positive.
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2014/03/19/alice-will-ashley-chappell/
Alice Will by Ashley Chappell is the story of a 14-year-old demigod named Trotter who is just coming into her powers. She’s going through an awkward preteen age, and that means she’s pretty bad at magic. She can’t even get the hang of using it to make her hair behave. Trotter has a talking cat named Prowler who serves as her guardian. Prowler is a noble kitty who has a good heart and loves seafood. One day Trotter does something really amazing with magic and makes an item from the past show up. That’s the moment that the apocalypse starts. People think it’s her, but it’s really not.
You see, this is also the story of Alice. Alice is just a little kid, and she’s an indentured servant at an inn. She’s starved and mistreated there, and she dreams of a better life. Alice is powerful too, but she doesn’t know it. She thinks she’s completely human. Then she starts realizing by accident that her wishes and desires can manifest and become reality. She starts out trying to improve her life, and like any six year old, she doesn’t realize that her actions have consequences. Her powers have been noticed by a sadistic god named Laramak who was imprisoned by Trotter’s father a long time ago after doing a lot of terrible things. Laramak sees Alice’s naivete as an opportunity for him to regain his powers and rule/destroy what’s left of the world.
Trotter is in a unique position to stop Laramak and save Alice (and the world). Part of the lore in Alice Will is that the gods had a war, and then they went through a period where they kept changing reality all the time. They saw life as interchangeable, and so it really didn’t bother them if they turned a human into a unicorn or threw people to all corners of creation, erasing and reshaping their existences. Of course, anyone living through that time would have had major problems. After the war ended, the gods decided that it would be better for everyone if they kept to their own realm, and let the humans live their own lives and make their own mistakes without interference. Alice and Laramak are in the human world. As a demigod, Trotter isn’t confined to either.
Sounds like an interesting premise, right?
And yet, I had a difficult time getting into the story, even though I came around somewhat by the end. It wasn’t that there was any one major thing that was wrong with the book, but rather a lot of little things that bugged me and could have been fixed with another round or two of edits. Take, for instance, an anachronistic Dr. Seuss reference. Alice Will is a completely different world than our own, so there should be no Dr. Seuss. And then there’s the running motif that the gods have no imagination, but then we see the gods crafting some rather creative monstrosities.
Alice Will has a lot of humor, but I didn’t think a lot of the jokes were funny. Now, that’s probably just me being weird, because I couldn’t get into Good Omens either and everyone tells me that that book is hilarious. I told my boyfriend that I was having a hard time getting the jokes, and he asked me tongue-in-cheek if maybe the real problem is that I’m a grumpy old lady at heart. There’s a fair chance that his assumption was accurate.
But as the book progressed, I started to get it. There were several parts of Alice Will that made me silently chuckle. Ursula and her teddy bears are a good example. When gods lose their worshipers, they fade away into something less than what they once were. Ursula was once a warrior goddess, but as people forgot the bulk of her story, she instead became the goddess of bears. Cute stuffed ones, apparently.
And I did enjoy many of Chappell’s anecdotes about the nature of stories/legends/gods/etc. Like this part, where Prowler is explaining to Trotter why the gods are so dangerous, even though they seem like nice people:
“They have no frame of reference for life! They live forever and can’t die. Therefore, they have no fear of death. Just because they created something that can die doesn’t mean they understand the concept of death at all. That’s what makes them so dangerous. They don’t actually intend to do anything outright evil, even though it seems that way.”
And for all that I’ve talked about Trotter, it was Alice’s story that impressed me the most. Alice could be Cosette from Les Mis, or Cinderella, or Sara Crewe from A Little Princess. She’s the typical abused yet virtuous orphan girl. And yet, Alice isn’t waiting for a rescue. Instead of just going along with the hand fate dealt her, she changes the face of reality, and that’s pretty awesome.
In retrospect, I think my real problem with the book was that the Trotter/Prowler combo reminded me a bit too much of Sailor Moon.
I’m a bit older than the target audience for Alice Will, which is YA/middle grade, and some of the jokes that I didn’t find as funny were probably much more suited to a different age group. I’d encourage anyone who is considering reading the book to look around at other reviews, because the reader response to this book has been overwhelmingly positive.
Alice Will (Dreams of Chaos #1) by Ashley Chappell was an imaginative YA fantasy that takes you to a new world! Engaging throughout, and I couldn’t put it down. Love the unique take on this mythical journey! Trotter was written more mature than your average teen, and I really loved that! The passages are so highly detailed you feel apart of their world! Highly recommend if you love YA fantasy!