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cwalden's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Gore
Minor: Murder and Police brutality
graceev's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Child death, Gore, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent
kimib79's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, and Cursing
citrus_seasalt's review
3.0
3! The premise was interesting, and I loved the representation, but the execution was..so-so. Firstly, because we didn’t spend a ton of time in Wonderland, especially with other residents, the world-building was done through exposition and not in a more organic way. I forgot which chapter it was, but most of it was just Maddi doing a lengthy backstory explanation on the different queens via mirror images.
Secondly, I didn’t like the romance! Alice has a lot of different people she crushes on in the book, which is fine because that’s what teenagers who get crushes do, but it resulted in this…weird pseudo love triangle?! Like, she almost kissed Chess, but spends the entire book thinking of Hatta. At least pick somebody, geez! (And then there’s her crush on the knight lady from the white queen’s kingdom, which I thought would go somewhere but no she got paired with the princess lol. But that wasn’t too surprising? Ok, those two were kinda cute but should’ve gotten more on-page time together.)
(But also..her and Hatta have a mentor-student dynamic, and I’m a little unsure how Wonderland Immortal Aging even works, so I’m not the only one who thinks that’s a little weird right?)
It also took too long for the plot to really kick off, I think. It isn’t until halfway when Hatta gets poisoned, and then a lot of said plot revolves around a MacGuffin. Point is, it doesn’t feel very solid, especially with the weaker Wonderland worldbuilding. I’ve heard the second book is stronger in this regard, hopefully that is actually the case! Again, an Alice with a darker story and more Buffy vibes is interesting.
Last gripes: Some of the writing felt more tell-not-show, didn’t like the one use of “orbs” instead of eyes, how did Alice just…never hesitate to get back out of the house or at least think things through a little more after her no-nonsense mom kept catching her sneaking out and got mad at the later and later times she got back?! Alice please be so fr LMAO
Anyhow! Overall though, this wasn’t a bad read, it’s not a ⭐️3 in the same way “Belladonna” narrowly avoided a 2.75, but it had its fair share of flaws and I was hoping for the story to feel stronger in its structure.
Secondly, I didn’t like the romance! Alice has a lot of different people she crushes on in the book, which is fine because that’s what teenagers who get crushes do, but it resulted in this…weird pseudo love triangle?! Like, she almost kissed Chess, but spends the entire book thinking of Hatta. At least pick somebody, geez! (And then there’s her crush on the knight lady from the white queen’s kingdom, which I thought would go somewhere but no she got paired with the princess lol. But that wasn’t too surprising? Ok, those two were kinda cute but should’ve gotten more on-page time together.)
(But also..her and Hatta have a mentor-student dynamic, and I’m a little unsure how Wonderland Immortal Aging even works, so I’m not the only one who thinks that’s a little weird right?)
It also took too long for the plot to really kick off, I think. It isn’t until halfway when Hatta gets poisoned, and then a lot of said plot revolves around a MacGuffin. Point is, it doesn’t feel very solid, especially with the weaker Wonderland worldbuilding. I’ve heard the second book is stronger in this regard, hopefully that is actually the case! Again, an Alice with a darker story and more Buffy vibes is interesting.
Last gripes: Some of the writing felt more tell-not-show, didn’t like the one use of “orbs” instead of eyes, how did Alice just…never hesitate to get back out of the house or at least think things through a little more after her no-nonsense mom kept catching her sneaking out and got mad at the later and later times she got back?! Alice please be so fr LMAO
Anyhow! Overall though, this wasn’t a bad read, it’s not a ⭐️3 in the same way “Belladonna” narrowly avoided a 2.75, but it had its fair share of flaws and I was hoping for the story to feel stronger in its structure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Grief
Moderate: Racism, Police brutality, and Death of parent
Minor: Body horror
pinkalpaca's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Grief, and Police brutality
hendrixpants's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Death, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent
adrenabereading's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This book was ok to me. Alice, who is a Dreamwalker, takes us on an adventure through Wonderland and Atlanta with her mentor, Addison Hatta, fighting Nightmares (nightmares are monsters created by humans' sadness and anger). The story is set many years after the original Alice, who was the first human to make it into Wonderland.
This book got pushed up to a 3 because I was intrigued by the magical elements in Wonderland and the action that was happening. However, I feel like the book never made a connection between issues like racism and police brutality and how nightmares caused these issues to arise. I think this book really missed an opportunity to be powerful. Also, I feel like a part got skipped in the beginning. We went from Alice being new to fighting Nightmares to her being experienced.
As far as the romance element, there wasn't much going on between Alice and Hatta. Then, there was her relationship with Chess, and there wasn't much happening there either. I'm not a romance girl, so I wasn't mad at the lack of romance.
✨️Favorite Character✨️
Chess was my favorite character because he was a friend that was level-headed and very understanding. He always had Alice's back.
Overall, this book was ok. It just needed more.
This book got pushed up to a 3 because I was intrigued by the magical elements in Wonderland and the action that was happening. However, I feel like the book never made a connection between issues like racism and police brutality and how nightmares caused these issues to arise. I think this book really missed an opportunity to be powerful. Also, I feel like a part got skipped in the beginning. We went from Alice being new to fighting Nightmares to her being experienced.
As far as the romance element, there wasn't much going on between Alice and Hatta. Then, there was her relationship with Chess, and there wasn't much happening there either. I'm not a romance girl, so I wasn't mad at the lack of romance.
✨️Favorite Character✨️
Chess was my favorite character because he was a friend that was level-headed and very understanding. He always had Alice's back.
Overall, this book was ok. It just needed more.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
A grimdark Alice in Wonderland adaptation with a Blerd Alice.
It's well-written if oddly paced, with fairly well-developed characters and enough real-world ties and consequences to keep the plot engaging even when it meanders. But let's be honest: how a person reacts to that first sentence I put up there probably determines whether or not they'll like it.
It's well-written if oddly paced, with fairly well-developed characters and enough real-world ties and consequences to keep the plot engaging even when it meanders. But let's be honest: how a person reacts to that first sentence I put up there probably determines whether or not they'll like it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Murder, Police brutality, War, and Death of parent
kshertz's review
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Pretty great for a first novel! A debut that kept me wondering. I’m not huge on fantasy because of all the necessary world building but this book does a great job of getting straight into it. I would have loved a little more character building, I had some trouble getting Invested in the protagonists. But maybe because I’m the old mom who’s like, “ok how hard is it to just be home when you say you’re going to be home? Just cuz nightmares are chasing you…” anywho, If you like fantasy, you’ll love it. If not, it’s not going to draw you in enough.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
theespressoedition's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Whew, what a wild ride this book is!
If I'm being honest, the beginning confused me a little bit. Maybe my brain wandered while I was listening to the audiobook and I just missed it entirely, but I somehow didn't notice the skip in time, so when the FMC went from being terrified of nightmares to being a pro at fighting them, I was super confused! However, once I understood the timeline, I felt much better and very quickly adjusted to the story - which was amazing!
What an incredibly unique twist on the classic Wonderland story! I've read reimaginings of Alice in Wonderland, but never something quite like this. If the character names weren't somewhat similar to the originals, I would've never known that it was connected, which I actually really liked. It was whimsical and dark, simultaneously, a mix that's hard to accomplish in my opinion.
The relationships between Alice and all of the other characters was something that I loved from the very beginning. While there are tiny elements of romance, it's definitely not the focus at all. The primary emphasis is on the adventure and the friendships made along the way. It has a great found family aspect that I really enjoyed.
My first thought after finishing the book was, "when can I get my hands on the sequel?" I proceeded to immediately download the audio for the second book because I had to find out what came next!
If I'm being honest, the beginning confused me a little bit. Maybe my brain wandered while I was listening to the audiobook and I just missed it entirely, but I somehow didn't notice the skip in time, so when the FMC went from being terrified of nightmares to being a pro at fighting them, I was super confused! However, once I understood the timeline, I felt much better and very quickly adjusted to the story - which was amazing!
What an incredibly unique twist on the classic Wonderland story! I've read reimaginings of Alice in Wonderland, but never something quite like this. If the character names weren't somewhat similar to the originals, I would've never known that it was connected, which I actually really liked. It was whimsical and dark, simultaneously, a mix that's hard to accomplish in my opinion.
The relationships between Alice and all of the other characters was something that I loved from the very beginning. While there are tiny elements of romance, it's definitely not the focus at all. The primary emphasis is on the adventure and the friendships made along the way. It has a great found family aspect that I really enjoyed.
My first thought after finishing the book was, "when can I get my hands on the sequel?" I proceeded to immediately download the audio for the second book because I had to find out what came next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Grief, and Blood
Minor: Police brutality