lexybexy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Sexual violence
Minor: Pedophilia
bookmark3brodi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Animal death, Blood, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Eating disorder, Torture, Abandonment, Addiction, and Body horror
raythecatlover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Rape, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Stalking, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Misogyny, Murder, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Genocide, Alcoholism, Grief, Ableism, War, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Body horror, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Hate crime, and Drug abuse
stefanie_duncan's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Drug abuse, and Gore
teki_p's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Death, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Medical trauma, Slavery, Murder, Drug abuse, Torture, Trafficking, and Vomit
Minor: Ableism, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Alcoholism, and Animal cruelty
rinike's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I happened to come across this book in my local nerd store cafe and got myself a copy as I love Alice in Wonderland and horror so this book was right in my alley.
I'm always a little sceptic of retelling the old fairytales and stories but this was amazing.
One of the best books I've read this year.
It's dark, it's disturbing and scary CW: rape, drugs, kidnapping, human and sex trafficking, gaslighting and mental health illness.).
Yes it had some flaws like Hatcher's character could have been bit more in depth but it didn't bother me when looking at the book as a whole.
I highly recommend it if you like dark and twisty easy reads!
Graphic: Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Gaslighting, and Mental illness
Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use
tai123's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Gore, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Torture, Blood, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Classism and Kidnapping
Minor: Forced institutionalization and Fire/Fire injury
digililly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Cannibalism, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Drug abuse
the_art_of_reading's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Grief, Rape, Cursing, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and War
syllareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.5
Alice by Christina Henry is a retelling of the famous children's classic "Alice in Wonderland" - I use retelling loosely, however, since the book doesn't truly intend to follow most of the storyline. It, in fact, seems to have more in common with the Disney movie (something I notice as a trend in Alice retellings I've read in the past,,,years because the last one was 2021 :') ) of the same name. We have twisted creatures (though most of them are simply men in this version), weird and inexplicable magic, destiny, and the vorpal sword which Alice has to find to fight the Jabberwocky... classic.
This is not, however, where I had most of my issues but we'll get to that.
What I liked:
This section will be fairly short. I liked Hatcher as a character (most of the time) because I found him fascinating (most of the time) and also because I am a sucker for men who promise their love interest they'd rather kill them than let them be taken and imprisoned again. Sexy.
I liked parts of the descriptions and some ways the author used to incorporate elements from the original tale, such as the way she found a way to fit all the different creatures in Alice meets along the way (I wasn't too fond of them all being human but you know, fine, I can live with that). I liked some of the descriptions Henry uses and overall, I found the premise to be very interesting!
What I didn't like:
Here we go.
The biggest, most glaring thing possible: the way all of the horrific images centered themselves around rape or disfigurement (or sometimes both) of women. I'm not kidding when I say that each and every creature derived from Alice in Wonderland is either a rapist, a torturer, or usually both with the only exception MAYBE being Cheshire. He's instead just your average unhelpful but secretly kinda still helpful but also screws you over kinda guy, which isn't exactly great but here we are.
Spoiler
The whole "men can't help it" kinda thing is really pushed to the forefront and I can't help but think it extremely,,,,,hetero in this context as well? Alice has to pretend she's a boy (and that doesn't work because everyone can just tell apparently lol) which isn't per se transphobic but feels that way in this book. She is also apparently one of the few if not only ones who is like "hey these girls are massively mistreated, maybe don't do that", which, sure, she's the only female character we get a POV from and all men in this book are horrible but it's still absolutely horrible and reminds me way too much of the heteronormative way of being "women are empathic and men are pigs" and I thought we were over that.
Apparently not. Moving on. Henry almost seems to derive pleasure from describing these moments as gruesome as possible and the more it carries on the more you find yourself simply not caring except for the initial shock value. Alice herself is a rape victim (something she remembers through flashbacks throughout the entire book) but the book again doesn't really go anywhere with that except having her say things like "I'm not his toy anymore", which, congratulations. If I sound like I don't care, bear with me for point two in this section:
The Pacing.
The book was way too fast overall. There was a lot of nuanced storytelling and backstory and the author tried to cram it all into 325 pages full of gore and rape - Alice's and Hatcher's memory loss and subsequent regaining of their history and what they choose to do with it, them both visiting several of the creatures from the original tale, now all reduced to Magician Crime LordsTM, a slew of traumatized girls, rescues, fighting scenes, backstory on the lore of this world... It was. So much. And it killed most of the emotional investment I had in the characters because why should I mind when they also only mind for about one paragraph because we don't have any more time left in that scene?
Several conclusions to what could have been interesting subplots also took like half a page or so to happen and at that point, I had lost all hope that the book would ever grip me again, sadly.
On a more personal (but still slightly structural) issue: Henry's inability to write the dialogue structure engaging for me, which, again, killed most of the personal investment I had in those characters previously. There are little to no other dialogue tags than "said", even in highly emotionally charged situations (or what WOULD be highly emotionally charged were I able to give a shit). The structure itself is highly repetitive which lends to quick reading I suppose but not much else - it's like gorging yourself on salty chips before dinner. It fills the stomach fast and easy but not well. And you will probably not remember any of it come the next day.
I think I'm done for NOW but tl;dr: the gratuitous rape and disfigurement of women, the "all men are pigs, actually, even the ones that are supposed to be on a somewhat good side", the pacing and the writing itself really turned me off this book and made this the first disappointment of 2022.
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Gore, Forced institutionalization, and Body horror
Minor: Drug use and Drug abuse