The Looking Glass Wars

Hey everyone! Today I am reviewing The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. It has been awhile since I have read it, so I am looking forward to revisiting it! Enjoy.

Characters: Because The Looking Glass Wars is a spin-off of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, I am going to give the characters name in both The Looking Glass Wars and in Alice in Wonderland
Princess Alyss Heart: Alice Liddel/heiress to the throne of Wonderland/has one of the strongest Imaginations of any Wonderlander
Queen Redd: The Queen of Hearts/ Alyss's cruel aunt/ highly proficient in the art of Dark Imagination
Hatter Madigan: The Mad Hatter/the leader of the Millinery/searches for Alyss after they disappear through the looking glass
Bibwit Harte: tutor to the Queens of Wonderland/the wisest man in Wonderland/part of the resistance against Redd
Dodge Anders: Alyss's childhood friend/a lead member of the resistance/wants revenge on the Cat for killing his father

Plot: Alyss Heart had it all. Heir to Wonderland, the most powerful Imagination in ages, and two parents who loved her. That was until her Aunt Redd, disowned Princess of Wonderland, used her Dark Imagination to kill Alyss's mother and father. Terrified and on the run, Alyss flees with her bodyguard Hatter Madigan to the Pool of Tears which they dive into. No one has ever returned from the Pool of Tears and no one knows what awaits on the other side. Until now. Alyss arrives in 19th century England and is taken in by the Liddels, who care for her as if she is their own daughter. However, as Alyss grows up in this strange world, she starts to think Wonderland was really only a dream or fantasy. But that all changes when Hatter Madigan, who had been searching for Alyss for many years after they got separated in the Pool of Tears, whisks her away back to Wonderland in order to fight the now Queen Redd and to restore Alyss as the rightful heir to the crown.

What I liked: The concept of the story was absolutely amazing. I would have argued before this point that everything had already been done with Alice in Wonderland, but Beddor proved me wrong. He completely revamped a classic but still kept the same elements in the story. I loved how Beddor actually had Lewis Carroll in the story as the man who writes Alice in Wonderland but gets it all wrong. That was a hilarious and great comparison to the original story and author. I also loved how most of the characters were from Alice in Wonderland but just tweaked a little bit. For example, the Cat was not Chesire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, rather he was Redd's skilled assassin. These little changes made the book that much better.

What I didn't like: Besides the concept, pretty much everything else. I felt like the characters, while interesting in concept, were nothing more than boring, one-dimensional figures. Alyss was boring and had a lack of personality, Hatter Madigan was too serious the entire novel, and Dodge was so obsessed with revenge, it made it hard to read as he continually talked on and on about how he was going to kill The Cat. The only redeeming character was Redd, and even she was just a stereotypical villain. Also, the plot was very slow. Beddor spent entirely too much time in England and not enough in Wonderland. And once we arrived back in Wonderland, there were a lot of dull points. The novel could have been so much more interesting than it ended up being.

Overall: I harshly have to give this novel a 5 out of 10. A five because the concept was so great, and no higher because the rest of the novel did not live up to my expectations. Instead of having well developed characters and plot, The Looking Glass Wars ended up being full of caricatures with a plot that was barely able to keep the story going.