what an unsurprise!

Unbirthday – Liz Braswell

Alice in Wonderland, young adult, fiction.

Rating 11/10

It has been eleven years since Alice had visited Wonderland. She has wanted to go back but never was able to. She now has a new hobby that entails photography with the help of her aunt. One day a photo reveals Wonderland citizens in peculiar, distressed states. Alice fearing the worse she tries to go understand what is going on in Wonderland when she takes a photo of herself revealing Mary Ann who is in peril. Alice produces a way to go back to Wonderland and it involves returning back to the place where she first had discovered Wonderland, the park. She manages to successfully find her way into Wonderland, but things have became darker and more gruesome as she discovers that the Queen of Hearts has been murdering her own people. Alice hops through both worlds, her own and Wonderland, to balance out her personal issues while dealing with Wonderland issues. She is faced with the ultimate choice that would depend on the survival of Wonderland.

I had seen this book all over my feeds on my many platforms of social media and was waiting forever to find out when this book would come out. I had thought I needed to pre-order until my fairly recent trip to the Barnes and Nobles. This book is on shelves of select Barnes and Nobles. I’m a fan of the Wonderland stories and this one was by far the most interesting plot I ever had read. What made this novel interesting was Alice going back and forth from Wonderland to her own reality but the ways she would get back to Wonderland was peculiar and strange. At first, I thought this novel was going to be as dark as some of the other Twisted Tales, but this was all right. I loved the dialogues and character interactions plus the real-life iteration of Snakes and Ladders. That was interesting. Overall, I do highly recommend this novel for sure even if one has to pre-order the novel. I can’t express how much I loved this novel. I binged this novel faster than any novel I’ve read this year.

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A Dark Twist to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

Alice – Christina Henry

Imaginary places, Carroll Lewis, Alice in Wonderland, thrilling, horror, fiction.

Rating 10/10

Alice went mad and was sent to be locked away at a mental asylum. One day, a fire breaks out at Hatcher, a man who lived in the cell beside hers rescues her and himself out of the fire. When the two escaped, Hatcher explains why the asylum went up in flames, it was because the Jabberwocky and the jabberwocky is angry due to its long-imprisoned life. Alice goes on with Hatcher on an adventure to find the blade. A bar keep tells Alice to avoid The Walrus and The Rabbit. Unfortunately, Alice had a run in with the infamous Rabbit long ago. She managed to escape but doesn’t remember due to all the drugs the hospital was giving her. Slowly as they’re journey progresses, she remembers taking the Rabbit’s eye and him marking her. The Cheshire Cat tells the two to go to the Caterpillar to find what they need to destroy the jabberwocky. Both take down the Caterpillar, the Walrus, and the Rabbit. Now the two must still find the sword to take down the jabberwocky.

I had thought that this novel was going to be innocent and a retelling of the classic, but I was glad I was wrong. This was no ordinary tale of a teenage girl following a white rabbit. The novel offered more and added horror and thrilling scenes. Christina Henry is excellent at the horror retelling of classic childhood stories into modernized tales for adults whom seek thrilling horror to enjoy. I enjoy classics but prefer to read the different variations of classic childhood tales as an adult. The theme was nothing was as it seemed in this novel. I recommend reading this novel for sure. I nearly finished this novel in one day.