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Alice (The Chronicles of Alice #1) by Christina Henry

"A severely dark and twisted take on Lewis Carroll's classic, with Alice, and other characters from Wonderland, such as Cheshire, The Walrus, the Carpenter, the Caterpillar and of course, the White Rabbit. It was a unique and definitely a twisted and sadistic take on Carroll's story but it was enjoyable for what it was." 

2 Stars

Pros: It was interesting how Henry used various characters from Carroll's classic tale, such as the Walrus, the Carpenter and the Caterpillar as various Crime Lords interspersed throughout Old City/Cheshire was fun, chaotic neutral if you will, he's a hard character to read and you're not sure if you should like him or hate him but he does make things more exciting. 

Cons: Alice's constant questions of Hatcher and the dialogue between them was just...odd. It didn't have a good flow and felt awkward and was tedious after awhile. 

Full Review: 

Alice has only vague, broken memories of her time with the Rabbit. And what she can remember, are not pleasant. She dreams of blood and pain and screaming and she realizes, that it's the memory of her own screams that haunt her nightmares. She's locked away in an Asylum, a thing of shame to her parents, who are prim, proper and good citizens of New City. Whatever happened to her has left her damaged and broken and the only solace she can find is in the man in the cell beside hers, who speaks to her through a mousehole in the wall. 

His name is Hatcher and he's been locked away in the Asylum for having killed multiple people with an axe. As the story progresses, we learn more about Hatchers past and what led him to do what he did and how he and Alice's stories interweave. Their lives become entwined when one night Alice awakens to realize that the Hospital is on fire. Hatcher breaks his door down, rescues Alice and they flee the Hospital and into the Old City. 

Hatcher explains that when the Hospital burned, a creature that's haunted his own nightmares, the Jabberwock, escaped during the fire and he has to do what he can to confront and destroy it. Their journey brings them through the dark, twisted, degraded streets of Old City, all controlled by cruel, sadistic and violent bosses. But Alice has a hidden card up her sleeve that they'll have to use in order to not only survive but save Old City and all of its people from the terror and bloodshed of the Jabberwock. 

Overall, it was entertaining but severely and rather surprisingly dark. It was a unique twist with the characters of Carroll's classic and I enjoyed it for that, but overall, the flow of the story just wasn't all that impressive. I'll most likely read the sequel, just to see how the series wraps up but overall, it wasn't great, it wasn't terrible, it was pretty solidly "okay", right in the middle. 

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