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A review by tarq1
Fantastic Alice by Margaret Weis
2.0
I am a big fan of the Alice in Wonderland universe, as are countless others, no doubt, for many different reasons. These differences are probably why I found few of the stories in this collection very enjoyable. They weren't badly written, just not written for me. Some people focused on the queen, some on Alice, some on death, and even some still on the poems of Wonderland, but none of them actually focused on Wonderland which is what I find the most interesting about the Alice stories.
In one of his books on writing Orson Scott Card discusses something he calls the M.I.C.E. Quotient. M.I.C.E. stands for milieu (the setting, world, or universe), idea, character, and event and all are things which a story can be built up around. Stories can have all or some or one of these elements, but there is usually one that drives the story. In Alice in Wonderland that is the milieu, or Wonderland itself, not Alice. Alice is merely the viewpoint character through whose eyes we experience Wonderland. You can tell because the story starts when Alice enters Wonderland and ends when she leaves.
The stories in this collection are mostly idea, character, and event stories. Ideas like: how do different people deal with death. Character stories with personal growth and discovery. Event stories such as: kill the Jabberwock. None of these stories focus on Wonderland, even though a few of them take place there.
Again, I don't think these are bad stories, and there are people out there who will probably enjoy them, but spending so much time reading stories that skirt all around Wonderland without ever actually "going there" left me a bit exhausted in the end.
In one of his books on writing Orson Scott Card discusses something he calls the M.I.C.E. Quotient. M.I.C.E. stands for milieu (the setting, world, or universe), idea, character, and event and all are things which a story can be built up around. Stories can have all or some or one of these elements, but there is usually one that drives the story. In Alice in Wonderland that is the milieu, or Wonderland itself, not Alice. Alice is merely the viewpoint character through whose eyes we experience Wonderland. You can tell because the story starts when Alice enters Wonderland and ends when she leaves.
The stories in this collection are mostly idea, character, and event stories. Ideas like: how do different people deal with death. Character stories with personal growth and discovery. Event stories such as: kill the Jabberwock. None of these stories focus on Wonderland, even though a few of them take place there.
Again, I don't think these are bad stories, and there are people out there who will probably enjoy them, but spending so much time reading stories that skirt all around Wonderland without ever actually "going there" left me a bit exhausted in the end.