Recently finished Frank Beddor's The Looking Glass Wars. It's a twisted take on Alice in Wonderland. This version starts as 7-year-old Alyss, heir to the throne of the magical Wonderland, witnesses the brutal assassination of her parents, by her evil Aunt Redd, and escapes the ensuing carnage by jumping into The Pool of Tears, which is actually a portal to our world. She finds herself in Victorian England, where no one believes her story. After being mercilessly teased by everyone around her, and having her story completely changed by the author Lewis Carroll, she decides to forget about her old life and try to adapt to this world. All's well until the day she is set to marry Prince Leopold, Queen Victoria's son, and assassins from Wonderland are sent through the portal to kill her. Hatter Madigan, who has been searching for Alyss the whole time, also finds her and gets her back to Wonderland to try to lead the revolution against Redd and restore the kingdom. Beddor did a wonderful job of twisting the already twisted characters in Wonderland. I have to wonder why Tim Burton didn't choose to do this book rather than the original. As I was reading, I kept thinking of what a cool movie this could become in the right hands (someone like Burton!) Somebody's probably got it in the works. I just hope it doesn't become like the infamous Stormbreaker. It was a fun read. A fair amount of violence, but it wasn't graphic or gory. Nothing really objectionable for middle-schoolers, but plenty of action and plot for high school students as well.
Enjoy!
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