The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor Review

Rating: 4/4
Genre: Fairytale, Young Adult Fiction

Summary:
This is a tale of a battle of imaginations.
Alyss Heart is the princess of Wonderland. When her evil aunt, Redd, comes to take over Wonderland, she must flee through a portal and ends up on Earth. Alyss tries to tell the people that she's a princess of Wonderland, but nobody believes her and pushes her to give up her imagination. Its up to her guard, Hatter Madigan to save her. He has to travel through the portals to try and find Alyss and bring her back to defeat Redd and become the Queen of Wonderland. Will Alyss still be her people's warrior queen after living in the real world has forced her imagination away?

My Thoughts:

I am not one for retellings, but this is by far my absolute favorite retelling I've ever read. This trilogy is such a creative take on the already creative Alice in Wonderland. Frank Beddor has a very refreshing and unique take on the characters from Alice in Wonderland. Such as Hatter Madigan, being a very skilled guard of the queen, or Bibwit Hare, a knowledgeable tutor to the Queens of Wonderland. The world of Wonderland is shown through beautiful depictions of this fantasy world and through innovative and beautiful examples of imagination. The Looking Glass Wars is a very quick paced read, but I feel that some of the later plot points may have happened a bit too quickly. I do believe that the imagination of this story needs some rules. It is unclear and inconsistent with what can and cannot be done through imagination in the world. The protagonist also seemed to mature way too quickly at the end. We go through most of this story with Alyss as a young girl going towards adult hood with the same kiddish thoughts. Then all of the sudden it is as if a switch has flipped and she's suddenly a mature and capable queen. I would have liked to see a bit more development into this.

Overall I absolutely loved this dark revolt take on the story of Alice in Wonderland. It is absolutely unique and extremely creative. This is a great read for any age.

The Bear by Andrew Krivak Review

Rating: 5/5
Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Summary:
This is the survival story of a journey through grieving, loss, companionship, and love.
After a great apocalypse, a man and his daughter are the only two people left on Earth. The Father teaches the Girl to hunt and how to survive in nature as he also teaches her about her Mother who had passed away giving birth to her. The man knows that he will not outlive the Girl and wants to make sure that he can teach her all that he can. These lessons will prove invaluable as she finds herself alone. But is she truly alone as she finds her way home with nature?

My Thoughts:
This book will easily become one of the classics. The writing is poetically phenomenal. There is beautiful imagery throughout the entire book and the journey you go through while reading this story will leave you in tears. This book will make you want to connect with nature and find the signs of nature's voice. It will give you a whole new respect for our environment.
At first, this book is quite depressing, but you must keep reading! This is not just a tale of sorrow. It is a tale of hope and human resilience. Even after we are gone, we will continue. We are apart of nature and nature is never ending.
The writing style in this novel is very unique. The Father and the Girl do not have names. They are just the Father and the Girl, just as the bear is the Bear and the puma is the Puma. I really think this helps us as readers realize that we are one with nature. The author chose to not use quotation marks which can be a little confusing when reading through dialogue, but fits in with the style of his writing which is very much like Cormac McCarthy's style, but without all the gore. (which I appreciate soooo much!)
Overall, this is definitely one of my top reads for this year. I cannot recommend this book enough! Please give this book a read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bellevue Literary Press for allowing me to review this eARC.