the looking glass wars

i must thank fiona for putting me onto this fascinating piece of reading. i read it a while ago, but altely its been on my mind heaps because i know where i can find the third one. well, the looking glass wars is the first book of the trilogy, and basically the premise of the story is that the alice in wonderland and through the looking glass books that everyone knows are actually not true.

wonderland is a real place, but its in a world suposedly located in the center of the universe, and is the source of all imagination (which serves a similar role to magic in wonderland). alyss is a young princess and heir to the throne of wonderland. however, during a massive celebration, the wonderlanders are attacked by alyss's exhiled aunt, redd, and her army. in the battle, alyss's parents are both murdered, and her childhood friend dodge anderson watches as his father is killed also.

allys and her body guard, hatter madigan, escape into a place known as the pool of tears, which actually transports them to the human world. unfortunately, alyss and hatter madigan are seperated, and alyss is forced to grow up as an orphan, with everyone thinking she is mad because of her stories of wonderland. she meets lewis carol and tells him her story, to which he actually writes alice in wonderland based on these events. alyss is infuriated that her story has been turned into childrens nonsense, and soon forces herself to believe that wonderland was indeed only a figment of her imagination.

while this is going on, redd has taken over wonderland and turned it into a dessolate place where black imagination rules. however, alyss's childhood friend dodge anderson is rallying a resistance against redd, but they lack the power to overthrow her, and believing alyss to have perished 13 years ago, are fighting a losing battle. at the same time, hatter madigan has spent the last 13 years searching the world for alyss, to bring her back to wonderland and restore order.

now anyone who is alive today knows the story of alice in wonderland. this novel plays on that with rather a cynical twist to it. the story is far from sugarcoated, and some scenes are actually quite brutal, particularly the ones where redd is involved. its a fairly easy book to read, and there where no parts i found myself bored with. its a book you can finish with little trouble, yet at the same time it makes you want to take in every word.

a great idea for a story if ever there was one. well written, never boring, and once again, its jsut simply a great story to read. unfortunately the sequal, seeing redd, was no where near as good. but the third book, arch enemy, has just been released, so hopefully it will redeem itself a little bit.