The Looking Glass Wars #1
“Off with their heads! Off with their stinking, boring heads!”
Redd
I was drawn to this book’s cover, and the premise seemed interesting. Unfortunately, it ended up being a rehash of different tropes and, ultimately, a disappointment.
The story is a combination of different tropes that it never expands beyond. The villain is evil, therefore ugly. She was told that she wouldn’t be a good queen, so she takes over and promptly proves everyone right by turning Wonderland into a dystopian wasteland. It’s a sequence of events that have been done many times before just with a Wonderland skin.
The characters are no better at breaking out of their assigned roles, sometimes to the point of annoyance. Alyss is a spoiled brat as a child and grows into a dull, lifeless adult. Hatter is highly trained as a bodyguard, but even after years of living outside of Wonderland, he can’t figure out how to enter an event without raising the alarm. This wouldn’t be so bad, but a different Wonderlander without any training and who has never been outside of Wonderland can do it immediately. I never grew to like any of the characters, and I was not sad to see the end of the book.
The book isn’t poorly written. It just doesn’t bring anything new to the genre. Someone who has not grown bored with these tropes may very well like it. As for me, I’ll go watch the Royal Opera House’s far more entertaining version of the story.
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