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.

And I Darken by Kiersten White Review

Rating: 4/5 
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Summary:
This story follows Lada and her brother Radu as they are used as pawns in a political game between empires. Lada's goal is to survive and return to her homeland. Radu is more interested in deepening his knowledge and faith as well as his love. Both Lada and Radu make great friends with Mehmed who is the heir to the throne. The story continues by following their friendship and relationships with all the terror and drama that comes with being involved in the politics of an empire.

My Thoughts:

The story starts off a bit slow, but it completely necessary so we can get the background information we need. Because of this, we can now better understand how the politics work in this book and we can better understand our characters.

I absolutely LOVE how well time flows throughout this book. As we follow Lada, Radu, and Mehmed, we get to see them grow and we can feel them growing through the years. There is so much character growth that follows the natural characterization of these characters.
Lada is a prime example of a true feminine heroine. She is fierce and stays fierce. She doesn't change for anyone which is truly a characteristic of a strong female protagonist.

I completely recommend that you read this book. It has a little bit of everything which makes it easy to become engaged in.

The Land of Good Dreams by T.S. Thompson Review

Rating: 2/5

The Land of Good Dreams is a young middle grade fantasy read about a young girl, Samantha, whose parents were killed in a house fire. She lives now with her foster parents who mourn the loss of their baby girl. She struggles with nightmares until she gets a dog named Midnight who leads her to the Land of Good Dreams.

There are two major plots happening in this book. One is with Samantha and her journey into the Land of Dreams. This is a really good plot line for young readers. It had a lot of potential for this fantasy world, but it never really expanded to what it could be. It also has a second plot line that goes into depth of the foster parents recovery of losing their baby. This theme is too much for young readers and I felt it would have been better used in a completely separate book. I believe that a book should have one central plot. This book does not. It also introduces many other plot points that are never expanded on. One chapter in the middle of the book ends with a very ominous foreshadowing statement that is never brought up again or expanded on. The author also included a scene with the child’s therapist that makes it seem as if there is a major plot point that should be happening, but it is never mentioned again besides the one chapter. The author tries to create this fantasy world in the child’s dreams, but she just doesn’t create a believable world. It is too cliche and never expanded on. The book also ends with a chapter from the point of view of a character we’ve never had the point of view from before.

The writing style seems a bit choppy. It consistently tells more than it shows any details. This makes it really hard to become engaged in the story.The young girl, Samantha, is supposedly middle school aged, but does not act like it. Sometimes she is way too childish and immature for a middle school aged girl and is presented more as an elementary aged child and then other times she is presented with the maturity of an adult. It is inconsistent and not true to the age level that Samantha is. This led to a lot of cliche scenes and inconsistent characterization.

It should also be noted that this book poorly portrays therapy and portrays it very inaccurately.
I gave this book two stars because of the inconsistent themes. I think that this author would do very well in writing adult books and I would love to read more books of hers that are geared more towards adult audiences.