A review by monicalaurette
A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

What a great read! This book has been sitting on my TBR for a while, and it was only after I was given the book for Christmas in 2020 that I was finally able to read it (granted a decent while after I was given it).

This book was first in my head as a sort of re-telling of Alice in Wonderland, but I only a few pages in did I realize that wasn’t the case. It was so much more. Instead of our Alice being a “new Alice” like many retellings, she is a fighter, a protector of Wonderland.

“...even when you’re careful, even when you play by the rules, it might not be enough.”

The premise of Alice being a fighter and the Nightmares that she does fight is a really wonderful twist on Alice in Wonderland to me. To see some of the characters interacting with our world and the different circumstances to why they are not in their homeland was very unique.

I also liked how during the book, while Alice is trying to stop all the bad that is happening, that she was still worrying about home and being back home dealing with those repercussions. I feel that sometimes in books like this their home life is only thought of and never a big part of the storyline that adds to the tension.

Friendship is something so important to me in books, like above all if there aren’t any good friendships, how is the character supposed to advance in their life? And the friendship between Courtney and Alice was just that.

I gave this story 4.5 stars because I really liked it, and it was different from other Fantasy and Young Adult books that I have read. It was different to see that they continued to live in their real world while also working in Wonderland, and sometimes it threw me a little.


I knew that Brionne’s murder was going to be brought back into the book later, but honestly thought her like spirit would be made into a Nightmare, to just add further insult to injury for Alice, but the way that it did tie in was done in a great way to show that now matter what, the emotions are still tied to a spot as well as a person.

AOIUDNAOIABLEJOSNABOI NOT MADDIE MY SWEET MULTI-COLORED EYE LOVE!

Having the Tweedles be Dreamwalkers as well was fun because it gave a little more life to the characters than just some bumbling idiots that Alice has to decipher.

I KNEW ODABETH AND XELON WOULD KISS IM SO HAPPY IT HAPPENED I KNEW IT! I could just tell from the first time they interacted that it was either an already established relationship or it was the sort of feelings that both liked each other but didn’t know the other did until the end. All in all very good, we love seeing the LGBTQ+

When they were talking with Odabeth the first time I think she mentioned having a sibling but then it like wasn’t brought up again so I don’t know if that will be brought in later or if I missed the part in Odabeth talking that the sibling is no longer like the Red Queen
 
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