Alice

Through a hole in the wall, Alice makes her only friend, Hatcher, in the hospital. After days, months, years the two form a bond.  Then one night Hatcher is frantic, the hospital is one fire and he urges Alice that a creature under thr hospital will escape. A creature he feels connexted to, one he calls the Jabberwock.  The two escpae their confinement and emabrk on a quest to find the object that the Jabberwock is searching for.  Their quest takes them throughout different territories of Old Town to Chesire, Caterpillar, The Walrus and ultimately to the one place Alice never wanted to face again, the Rabbit.  They make alliances along the way and Alice learns secrets about herself and Hatcher that strengthens the belief that only they can stop the terror of the Jabberwock.

This book is a retelling of Alice in Wonderlan, a morbid, grotesque version.  Christina Henry has a way of writing some of the most horrific scenes in an utterly beautiful way.  There are topics that might be a trigger for some such as rape,  but Henry does it in a way that gives strength to Alice.

I lived every character in this novel, they dit their roles perfectly and contained aspects from Carrol's characters as well.  I couldn't get enough of them and simply fell in love with Hatcher (a variation of Hatter, which could be why I love him so.) 

Alice is great she starts out weak and unsure of herself and begins to grow into a badass character.  Hatchet was already a badass from the beginning.  Cheshire i wanted to both hug and kill him.  The others...made me crimge and hate the roles they were given, but interested to see them in those roles.  I was able to picture them each as Henry described them. I love how Henry integrates some of the characters like the white rabbit, Dormouse,  and March Hare.

 

I am completely fascinated with retellings especially Alice in Wonderland.  Some have been well done while others have not.  This novel was very well done and had an American McGee's Alice in Wonderland feel to it, and I love that feel.  I couldn't get enough of this book once i began to read it.  Some parts did seem a little bit slower than others but i still flew through it in about a day.  I did not want to put it down, I have read a lot of different Alice in Wonderland retellings, but honestly nothing come close to this one.  This may be my favorite retelling thus far, and I know there is more to the series.

I highly recommend it for those who enjoy retellings or want something a bit different from the normal or thise who enjoy a horrorish (not really horror but grotesque if that makes sense) either way i recommend it.  Rating I would give is a large 5 out of 5.  I cannot wait to pick up Red Queen, the next book in the series and see where Henry decides to take this story.