Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor

The second book in Beddor’s Looking Glass Trilogy, Seeing Redd begins almost immediately where the first book ended. We find newly crowned Queen Alyss trying to juggle the demands of rebuilding a country largely destroyed during the reign of her aunt, Redd. And while Alyss is preoccupied, her banished aunt is plotting an uprising, drawing the purveyors of dark imagination to her side. It’s no stretch to recognize a confrontation with Alyss and the followers of white imagination is approaching.

If you haven’t read the first title in the series, The Looking Glass Wars, you’ll want to begin there, as this is not a stand-alone story. This story may only be suffering the middle child slump of trilogies, but it lacks cohesion and never rises to its possibilities. As I read the first novel, I forgave some unexplored areas, but expected them to be taken up in the following novels. They weren’t, and even more underdeveloped story lines emerged. And while the story once again references Carroll’s original, it fails to incorporate the symbolic edge of its namesake.

Though I have no qualms with taking the story to a more brutal edge, I feel that marketing toward elementary students is wrong. Not only does the death and violence negate its intermediate use, but also the themes of revenge and grief are a tad strong for discussion in an elementary classroom setting. This is in no way a recommendation for secondary classroom use, as I feel this story would work better in a small groups (of fantasy leaning students) or as a silent reading title. But educators might want to let students know that the ending is unresolved and that they'll have to wait until the third installment for resolution.

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