Reviews

This novel had an interesting concept for an Alice in Wonderland retelling but I think a lot of the sensitive topics were handled poorly and some plot points were done for shock value. Additionally, I think the fact that 3-4 of the bad guys of the book were so easy to take down despite the author building them up to be very scary, powerful men was just weak writing. I also hated the magic system. Despite all that, I was very hooked and wanted to know what happened next and I enjoyed Alice and Hatcher’s characters individually and as a duo.

wayfaring_witch's review against another edition

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2.0

I think I misjudged my interest in this one.

a_mae13's review against another edition

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2.5

“We can’t save everybody. But we can save somebody.”

Trigger Warnings: rape, sexual assault, human trafficking, violence, and murder

As a retelling, I think this book fell a bit flat because it didn't have many aspects of the original story outside of the names of the characters. The Mad Hatter is presumably Hatcher, Alice's neighbor in the asylum. Cheshire, Caterpillar, and Rabbit are all magicians who use their magician to kidnap, traffick, and rape young girls/women. Cheshire is the least violent of the bunch, who is allegedly on Alice's side. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum are, again presumably, the body guards for Cheshire and Caterpillar. The Walrus does make an appearance in this adaptation, and he is by far the worst character. The Jabberwocky does make an appearance, as another type of magician.

The book opens with Alice living in an insane asylum, with Hatcher, an older man who allegedly murdered about 12 people with an ax, as her neighbor. The two bond out of boredom and isolation; discussing their traumatic stories that led them to living in the asylum. Alice was trafficked and sold to the Rabbit, a man who violently raped her and attempted to hold her in his home against her will. She somehow escaped his abuse just to be placed in this asylum by her family. One day, the asylum burns down and Hatcher and Alice are "free" to avenge their abuse.

This plot had a lot of potential; it depicts Alice at an older age with very real events that could have driven her mad. Same with the Hatcher, his storyline gives him reason and justification to be a mad hatcher. However, as we meet more characters the story starts to fall apart. The character Bess was a nice touch, Hatcher's relative that gives them safe passage into the city and warns Alice of their journey. The first person we meet on this journey is Cheshire; who's home is full of poisoned roses. Cheshire sends them out to see the Caterpillar, who is running a trafficking brothel. He is a despicable character that kidnaps girls and turns them literal butterflies:

“The wings were not attached to her shoulders by straps. The girl’s back had been cut from the top of her shoulder to the bottom of her rib cage on both sides of her spine. The beautiful butterfly wings were neatly sewn into the exposed muscle. As the girl flexed her shoulders, the wings would beat.”

Spoiler

Alice kills the Caterpillar, rightfully so, and flees with Hatcher to the meet the next characters: the Walrus and the Rabbit.

Hatcher and Alice have a 50/50 chance of running into the Walrus or the Rabbit next; they're hoping for the Rabbit because the Walrus is the most vicious of the men in this retelling. He eats girls alive before he rapes and murders them. We discover that the Walrus used to be an illegal fighter, who lost a match to none other than the Mad Hatcher. They stumble upon the Walrus who immediately recognizes both of them. Walrus mentions that when Alice was sold to the Rabbit, she was supposed to be given to him. Walrus is not a magician, but Alice is. He could acquire her magic by eating her flesh. Which, is just another crazy plot point.

Spoiler

The Walrus is killed by a giant rabbit who was grown with Cheshire's "eat me" cakes. He was used as entertainment and brutally beat; Alice let him stay in the ring to kill the Walrus as revenge for taking him from his family and children. This rabbit is not to be confused with The Rabbit, which is confusing.

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By the time the duo make it to the Rabbit, they're exhausted and simply want to face the biggest, most evil villain in the retelling. The Rabbit, however, is old and withered. Alice took his magic from him when she escaped; she cut out his eye using a magic knife. Without his magic, he was useless. And this is basically where the book ends.

The issues with this book, aside from the egregious use of trauma for shock value, is the lack of world building. We have our three magicians, all violent men, yet we don't understand their magic. How does it work? What can they do? As the book progresses, we understand that the trafficking brothel Caterpillar runs is completely held together by magic; once he is killed by Alice, the entire building falls apart and begins to sink into an abyss. Yet we learn nothing further about their magic. Alice is revealed to be a magician, and wields her magic to take down the Jabberwock....by simply wishing he was a butterfly kept in a jar. The ending really fell apart for me. We had all of this traumatic tension throughout the novel for it to just resolve with very little effort.

Hatcher's Backstory:

Spoiler

He worked for the Rabbit while he was married. The Rabbit turned on him when his daughter, Jenny, grew up to be a beautiful young woman. Rabbit wanted to kidnap her for himself; invading Hatcher's home and raping and murdering his wife. About 12 men broke in while Hatcher was away on business and brutally raped and murder Hattie, all while abducting Jenny and sending her off into the country. These are the men that Hatcher murdered in a fit of rage (rightfully so) and became the Mad Hatcher.

ralphball's review against another edition

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3.0

I'm not a huge fan of the original Alice story, so I'm not entirely sure why I even picked this up. I enjoyed it mostly, an easy read that moves along quickly and smoothly.
I would say this is horror-ish, definitely graphic with violence and rape scenes. But not as bad as some horror out there.
I feel kind of meh about this book as a whole. I'm glad people like it, but I won't continue with the series.

ammara270401's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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