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 Sight by David Clement-Davies Review

Rating: 4/5
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Summary:
Through the eyes of the wolves we are introduced to Transylvania. The wolves here run free in their packs. We follow Larka and her pack as they face a great evil coming to their forest. Morgra, a lone she-wolf that has the Sight, stalks the pack and tries to destroy them as she also strives to bring the great evil to the forest. The Sight is an ancient power that connects all of nature, and can also connect the living to the dead. Morgra knows that one of the pups in this pack will also be gifted the Sight and will have the power to either destroy her plans, or help her usher in this great evil. Can Larka and her pack overcome Morgra and her curses?

My Thoughts:
This is a great introduction book for the fantasy genre. Although the wolf behavior is unrealistic, it does a great job of helping a young reader ease into reading fantasy. There are many great uses of foreshadowing and symbolism. This is a very long book, but the story is easy to follow as the reader is constantly reminded of earlier scenes through easily flowing dialogue. This book is amazing at introducing lore and making it flow into the current happenings in the book as you read.
There are also many parallels to history and to Christianity. This is a great way of tying in some non-fiction elements.
The writing style is very young. It is definitely aimed at a younger audience. The dialogue tags are extremely repetitive and could have been given more diversity to allow for an enhanced understanding of the character's dialogue. It is almost constantly just 'she growled' or 'he growled'.
The plot moves very quickly and makes you want to keep reading just one more chapter.

I give this book a 4/5 rating because of how well it works for a younger audience.

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.