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Looking Glass Wars | December 4, 2013

by Frank Beddon (Dial Books/Penguin Sept. 2006)

There is something about Lewis Carroll’s seminal works, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, which lend themselves to endless re-imagining, so while the first in Frank Bodden’s Looking Glass Wars trilogy may not exactly tread new ground, it manages to distinguish itself with a cast of characters who step onto the page with their own histories and motives, practically begging to be expanded upon, and easily able to stand on their own without leaning too heavily on the Victorian tale they were inspired by. The third book in the trilogy was released this year, but for those of us who seem to constantly be at the mercy of our pocket watches, this is a perfect enough time to catch up on the first.

Alyss Heart, Princess of Wonderland, has a fairy tale life. She is next in line to the throne, has an incredibly powerful imagination (the story’s stand-in for magic), and a host of faithful friends and advisors; including the floppy eared albino tutor, Bibwit Harte (an anagram for white rabbit), her top-hatted body guard, Hatter Maddigan, and her friend, Dodge. But this perfect life is predictably shattered when her Aunt Redd seizes the Queendom with an army of playing cards and a larger-than-life cat. In the ensuing battle, Alyss is forced to flee Wonderland through a looking glass where she finds herself in bland, imagination-wilting Victorian England. She is taken in by a family, and her tales of Wonderland are taken to be the ramblings of a child, particularly by a mild-mannered, aspiring author, Charles Dodgson. As Alyss grows into a young adult, she begins to believe that Wonderland was nothing but a dream herself, until her past bursts back, and she comes face to face with what has become of Wonderland under the totalitarian rule of the Redd Queen.

The story is fast paced and action packed. Machines and magic stand comfortably together to create a unique steampunk fairy tale. As stated, the characters are the real draw; dark distortions of their Carollian counterparts with backstories and motivations which the book only has time to touch upon before bounding to the next battle. Fortunately, Bodden has expanded upon his wicked Wonderland in other novels, comics, and even a upcoming movie adaptation. In short, this is one deep rabbit hole.

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