In 1865, Reverend Charles Dodgson (aka: Lewis Carroll) published a little nonsense story for Alice Liddell. It was heralded a masterpiece and has never gone out of print since. But Rev. Dodgson was a thief. He stole and twisted the story from Alice herself, the story of the land from whence she came, from where she was meant to be queen….
This is the premise of Frank Beddor’s Looking Glass Wars. Alyss must return to Wonderland to reclaim her rightful throne, taken by her Aunt Redd during a bloody battle. It was this battle that began the story, sent Alyss into seclusion in our world, and killed Alyss’s mother as her Aunt Redd stormed the castle screaming, “Off with their stinking, boring heads!”
Beddor has done his homework with Carroll’s original. Yet, once you’re a few chapters in, you begin to forget about ‘that other Alice’ and start liking the story on its own merit. It’s action packed, which serves to interest boys (something not usually associated with the original). In fact, some scenes are probably too graphic for the elementary set. The naming of characters is brilliant and this helps us to fully invest in them. The plot moves along nicely, holding our interest easily.
But while the premise, characters and action are all sound, the book does have a few hiccups. The writing is uneven, with some scenes too quickly executed while others drag. The love story is somewhat unbelievable as most seven year olds are not of the mindset, nor maturity, to fall. The publishers seem to have marketed this towards an elementary set (maybe because that’s where the original is wrongly placed also). However, this book is much better suited to the middle grades or the fantasy-minded high-schoolers. Finally, my twenty-year-old son took some offense with the author’s ‘trashing’ of Dodgson’s memory. He sited examples where authors wrote parallel fiction without implying (strongly) that the originator was a liar and thief.
All in all, it’s a fun, fast paced action story that made some sense of the nonsense. It would be good as a companion book to employ comparison activities with the original.
Beddor has done his homework with Carroll’s original. Yet, once you’re a few chapters in, you begin to forget about ‘that other Alice’ and start liking the story on its own merit. It’s action packed, which serves to interest boys (something not usually associated with the original). In fact, some scenes are probably too graphic for the elementary set. The naming of characters is brilliant and this helps us to fully invest in them. The plot moves along nicely, holding our interest easily.
But while the premise, characters and action are all sound, the book does have a few hiccups. The writing is uneven, with some scenes too quickly executed while others drag. The love story is somewhat unbelievable as most seven year olds are not of the mindset, nor maturity, to fall. The publishers seem to have marketed this towards an elementary set (maybe because that’s where the original is wrongly placed also). However, this book is much better suited to the middle grades or the fantasy-minded high-schoolers. Finally, my twenty-year-old son took some offense with the author’s ‘trashing’ of Dodgson’s memory. He sited examples where authors wrote parallel fiction without implying (strongly) that the originator was a liar and thief.
All in all, it’s a fun, fast paced action story that made some sense of the nonsense. It would be good as a companion book to employ comparison activities with the original.
1 comments:
Many thanks for your enthusiastic leap into the Pool of Tears assisting Princess Alyss and Royal Bodyguard Hatter Madigan with their harrowing adventures into pop culture.
We would like to share with you new revelations from Wonderland as they come into the Looking Glass Wars Library and Hatter M Institute. If you’re interested in receiving this confidential material, before it becomes public, please supply a secure email address.
The LGW Librarian
info@lookingglasswars.com
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