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A review by thisbookbelongstosk
Ever Alice by H. J. Ramsay
1.0
**Thank you to NetGalley and Red Rogue Press for this ARC of Ever Alice in exchange for an honest review**
I'm not normally a fan of reimaginings/reinterpretations, and it seems this book really didn't do much to dissuade that feeling.
I was intrigued by the mental instability in the real world aspect, but that part of the plot is nothing more than a footnote.
Alice, almost immediately, returns to Wonderland, where some remember her, some don't (or do but don't care? I'm not sure, that part was tenuous).
Anyway, Alice is co-opted into participating in a plot against the Queen of Hearts. Sounds pretty straightforward... Except there's also a cast of characters all revealed to also be plotting against the queen themselves, but also against Alice sometimes? It's a bit of a mess.
There are needless hook-ups, headless ghosts that mess with the queen but do nothing important, proper names given to classic characters like the Cheshire Cat and White Rabbit (who don't need proper names). And of course a handsome (loathsome and useless in my opinion) Prince that OF COURSE must be in love with Alice on first sight, and she MUST be infatuated with him before they even meet solely because he's a prince. Look, I can accept the whole Disney princess, love at first sight thing, but this relationship was just terrible and added nothing to the plot.
There were also characters dropped into this story that had no place in existing in this world, like Marco Polo (why?) and a rip-off of Marilyn Monroe that's also named Marilyn and sings "Happy Birthday, Mister President" except to the Prince? Ugh, awful. It felt like middle school fan fiction that didn't understand the rules of its own universe.
Honestly, there were SOME ideas that were brought forward in the very end (Alice's hair colour changing as she herself changed) that were interesting and noteworthy, but ultimately didn't make it worth reading this book.
Unfortunately, this just wasn't the book for me. I wouldn't even recommend it to a younger audience as there's much better things out there for young readers.
I'm not normally a fan of reimaginings/reinterpretations, and it seems this book really didn't do much to dissuade that feeling.
I was intrigued by the mental instability in the real world aspect, but that part of the plot is nothing more than a footnote.
Alice, almost immediately, returns to Wonderland, where some remember her, some don't (or do but don't care? I'm not sure, that part was tenuous).
Anyway, Alice is co-opted into participating in a plot against the Queen of Hearts. Sounds pretty straightforward... Except there's also a cast of characters all revealed to also be plotting against the queen themselves, but also against Alice sometimes? It's a bit of a mess.
There are needless hook-ups, headless ghosts that mess with the queen but do nothing important, proper names given to classic characters like the Cheshire Cat and White Rabbit (who don't need proper names). And of course a handsome (loathsome and useless in my opinion) Prince that OF COURSE must be in love with Alice on first sight, and she MUST be infatuated with him before they even meet solely because he's a prince. Look, I can accept the whole Disney princess, love at first sight thing, but this relationship was just terrible and added nothing to the plot.
There were also characters dropped into this story that had no place in existing in this world, like Marco Polo (why?) and a rip-off of Marilyn Monroe that's also named Marilyn and sings "Happy Birthday, Mister President" except to the Prince? Ugh, awful. It felt like middle school fan fiction that didn't understand the rules of its own universe.
Honestly, there were SOME ideas that were brought forward in the very end (Alice's hair colour changing as she herself changed) that were interesting and noteworthy, but ultimately didn't make it worth reading this book.
Unfortunately, this just wasn't the book for me. I wouldn't even recommend it to a younger audience as there's much better things out there for young readers.