Unbirthday

I LOVED this!! To be fair, I am trash for retellings and Alice in Wonderland is probably my favorite children’s classic (tied with Anne of Green Gables), so Alice retellings I am particular to. This particular Twisted Tale picks up 11 years after Alice fell down the rabbit hole. She’s not had heard hide nor hair of Wonderland. She’s frustrated with the politics of England and how hateful the influential are of women and those not there. When developing previous photos, she sees her past friends from Wonderland lurking in the shadows. Can she help Wonderland AND her city? Again, I enjoyed it! I have read Heartless, The Looking Glass Wars, Return to Wonderland, and am working on Christina Henry’s Alice series. I find that this tale is DEFINITELY lovingly written by someone who adores Wonderland and wanted to stay true to Lewis Carroll. Buy this book for yourself or, if you’re twisted, for a stuffy relative who doesn’t abide by Nonsense!

Had a pretty good time with this book, involving an eighteen-year-old Alice, and a quest with some quirky Wonderlandians to stop the Queen of Hearts from collecting all the toys and bringing about the end of Wonderland. Alice travels with the Mad Hatter, though he\’s losing his madness, a Dodo, and a Gryphon, as well as the Dormouse and Bill, the lizard from the Lewis Carroll novel. In fact, it might help if you\’ve read Alice\’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll before picking up this book. There are many references to that work which are not present in the Disney movie. There\’s not too many Through the Looking-Glass references ehre, though one of Humpety-Dumpety\’s lyrical serenades, \”Jabberwocky,\” definitely has plenty of references here. There\’s also something about a corrupt political party which Alice has to put a stop to, and her adventures in Wonderland seem to have some effect on the real world, and vise versa. Or at the very least what she learns from one can perhaps help her in the other. Also, I know only fairy tales have been done with this really, but I really hope a Zooptia one gets written. Zootopia has so much to explore with the twelve districts and I feel it would be amazing to see more of Judy Hopps.

To say I was disappointed in this read would be less than accurate. A better word would be disgusted. The writer exhibits a clear undercurrent of political bias, who\’s intent is too skew the adolescent readers view of current events. Liz Braswell does not honor Lewis Carroll nor lend a layer of fabric to the legacy that is Disney. I have read four of Liz Braswell\’s published works and have found them all to be some what interesting but certainly not for young readers.

I enjoyed this book! It was a page-turner full of adventure and balanced two stories. I would say that for young readers, a caution of violence and hate-fueled politics come into play. So far, none of Braswell’s books (I have read ”Straight On Till Morning, ” ”Once Upon a Dream, ” and this one) have been appropriate for my young teenage daughter to read. As for the older Disney fans, her imagination of Wonderland and the romance she added for Alice was an excellent addition to the Alice classic we already love.

This book was a trip! It was creepy, unsettling, and will probably ruin your childhood but it was a good read! I didn’t find it too confusing to be honest. Highly recommend!

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