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puddleshoes's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Gore
Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, and Police brutality
sarahthescrivnr's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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
The pacing was a bit off. Felt a bit too long in the middle as well. The fact that she’s in high school (and has to constantly lie and avoid her mom) kept me tense even during scenes that I should’ve been enjoying. But great action scenes, love the dialogue and relationships. Very fun take on Alice In Wonderland!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Death of parent
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
jaz_gets_literary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
Thank you to HearOurVoices Tours, NetGalley, and the publisher for the copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
A Blade So Black is the urban fantasy retelling of Alice In Wonderland that I needed as a teen. Alice is on her way to a Con that she was supposed to be going to with her dad but he’s gone. She’s all in her head on the way to the Con when a terrifying creature, called a Nightmare, attacks her her. She’s saved by a mysterious man who turns into her mentor. Her mentor teaches her about the Nightmares and trains her to kill them. While is apart of a small group of people trained to kill the Nightmares, she’s also a normal teen at home. A teen trying to balance her best friend, her feelings towards two different guys, and an overprotective mother. Her mother has every right to be protective when a young Black girl was just killed by police in their neighborhood and Alice starts staying out and not checking in with her. Alice thinks she’s found a way to balance her real life in Atlanta and her life in Wonderland until her mentor is poisoned and she must return to Wonderland to cure him. There are many obstacles in Wonderland and when her real life and it combine all hell breaks loose.
I book kept me on my toes. I was throughly engrossed in it the entire time. Alice is just a normal Black teenager dealing with the challenges that life throws you when she’s thrown into a completely different world with more challenges to deal with. While it did cover heavier topics such as police brutality and death of a loved one, it wasn’t the entire focus of the story. I know those topics can be too much for some people so it was good to see them added to the story in a way that was essential to the storyline but not the sole focus. It contains all the original characters of the story and I love the way the author made them different but still the same. This book is apart of a trilogy and does end in a cliffhanger so I diving right into the second book. I must know what happens next.
A Blade So Black is the urban fantasy retelling of Alice In Wonderland that I needed as a teen. Alice is on her way to a Con that she was supposed to be going to with her dad but he’s gone. She’s all in her head on the way to the Con when a terrifying creature, called a Nightmare, attacks her her. She’s saved by a mysterious man who turns into her mentor. Her mentor teaches her about the Nightmares and trains her to kill them. While is apart of a small group of people trained to kill the Nightmares, she’s also a normal teen at home. A teen trying to balance her best friend, her feelings towards two different guys, and an overprotective mother. Her mother has every right to be protective when a young Black girl was just killed by police in their neighborhood and Alice starts staying out and not checking in with her. Alice thinks she’s found a way to balance her real life in Atlanta and her life in Wonderland until her mentor is poisoned and she must return to Wonderland to cure him. There are many obstacles in Wonderland and when her real life and it combine all hell breaks loose.
I book kept me on my toes. I was throughly engrossed in it the entire time. Alice is just a normal Black teenager dealing with the challenges that life throws you when she’s thrown into a completely different world with more challenges to deal with. While it did cover heavier topics such as police brutality and death of a loved one, it wasn’t the entire focus of the story. I know those topics can be too much for some people so it was good to see them added to the story in a way that was essential to the storyline but not the sole focus. It contains all the original characters of the story and I love the way the author made them different but still the same. This book is apart of a trilogy and does end in a cliffhanger so I diving right into the second book. I must know what happens next.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Police brutality
Minor: Grief
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
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
midnightgremlin's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Police brutality, Death, Racism, Violence, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: War