A review by betwixt_the_pages
Alice Takes Back Wonderland by David D. Hammons

4.0

After ten years of being told she can't tell the difference between real life and a fairy tale, Alice finally stops believing in Wonderland. So when the White Rabbit shows up at her house, Alice thinks she's going crazy.

Only when the White Rabbit kicks her down the rabbit hole does Alice realize that the magical land she visited as a child is real.

But all is not well in Wonderland.

The Ace of Spades has taken over Wonderland and is systematically dismantling all that makes it wonderful. Plain is replacing wondrous, logical is replacing magical, and reason is destroying madness. Alice decides she must help the Mad Hatter and all those fighting to keep Wonderland wonderful.

But how can she face such danger when she is just a girl?

Alice must journey across the stars to unite an army. She discovers that fairy tales are real in the magical world beyond the rabbit hole. But they are not the fairy tales she knows.

Fairy tales have dangers and adventures of their own, and Alice must overcome the trials of these old stories if she wants to unite the lands against Ace.

With the help of Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Snow White and heroes old and new, Alice may have the strength to take back Wonderland.

Rating: 4.25/5 Penguins
Quick Reasons: some grammatical issues/misspellings; HIGHLY entertaining; humorous and snarky; sometimes dark, always fresh and new; David D. Hammons took the fairy tales of old...and recreated them almost entirely into his own unique journey; unexpected love interest in Peter Pan?; LOVE all the pop culture references; LOVE the unique ideas

So I guess I need to send a HUGE shout-out to the lovely people over at Lit Cube for turning me on to this book in the first place; if they weren't so dedicated to finding their subscribers awesome, lesser-known reads, I'd have NEVER known this book existed.

"If you're a kid in Neverland, then you're a Lost Boy," Peter said. "And you're under my protection." Peter spat in his hand and extended it to Pinocchio.

Pinocchio didn't move.

"Are Lost Boys real boys?" Pinocchio asked.

"Lost Boys are just Lost Boys. And all you have to do to become one is shake Peter's hand," I said.

Let me just get this quick note out of the way to start with: there are some grammatical issues with this book. There are some missing words in the middle of sentences, there are places I had to backtrack to see where I'd gotten confused. It is not perfect writing; it is not even necessarily "pretty" prose. BUT. The dialogue? Spot-on. The dialogue ALONE carries this book quite a ways--because snark, and sass, and pop culture references, and general awesome. Trust me, guys--the dialogue far outweighs the small grammatical quirks this book has.

And OH, my penguins, was this a ton of fun to read! David D. Hammons took the fairy tales we all know and love...and crafted something brilliant and wholly his own out of them. I LOVE the world-building that happens throughout this read. I love that the author took the time to sit down and actually come up with a unique, fresh way to twist and braid these stories together into one epic adventure. There's a sort of "Kingdom Hearts" feel to this that I immediately connected with and felt drawn to (Kingdom Hearts is, after all, one of my favorite video games) The plot is filled with fun, entertainment, and humor. I laughed--HARD--throughout a good majority of this read.

"But how will I become a real boy?" Pinocchio asked.

"Dear Pinocchio, you are a real boy. Underneath that iron suit, you are a real boy," Tinkerbelle said with a sage smile.

"But if I take off the suit, I'll die."

"That is what real boys do."

While there's not MUCH in the way of romance, there is a hint of it between Alice and Peter--especially toward the end. This pair was snarky, sassy, and so much fun to read, I didn't even mind how simple it seemed (then again, I have a huge soft spot for Peter, so...) The characters are all vibrant, easily recognized despite sometimes being "in costume"...and a barrel of laughs to boot! And the cast is HUGE, guys--characters such as Hercules, Paul Bunyun, and Jack the Giant Slayer all make their own special appearances, along with so many others.

And while, in the end, Alice does not get the ending she was expecting throughout her journey...the ending is satisfying in a way I wasn't expecting it to be, and closes everything up pretty nicely. This adventure is quirky, light-hearted, and so very easy to slip into; the hours will pass and you'll finish the book without even realizing what's happened around you.

Whether it was climbing up to meet them, or flying through them in an airplane, children quickly discovered the tragic truth about clouds. They're not solid things. They're barely visible. Clouds almost disappear when you get up close.

This was a pretty awesome read overall, and I'm SO so glad that I got the chance to pick it up--though now I sort of want to play Kingdom Hearts. I might have to do that sometime soon. The snark was on point, the cast of characters is vibrant and huge, and the plot is filled with entertainment. If you're seeking a fresh, unique retelling...this just might be the book for you!