Reviews

The Looking Glass Wars: Underfire by Frank Beddor, Curtis Clark

thebookedpath's review against another edition

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4.0

This book just kept reminding me of the SyFy movie Alice. I don't know how I felt about the imagination magic. It felt kind of juvenile for the book. It wasn't enough for me to hate though. I absolutely love the hatters. They are awesome. I am also a big Dodge Anders fan and hope for more romance between him and Alyss in the rest of the series.

gigireadswithkiki's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I will always hold a special place in my heart for this series and the way it brought me and my brother together BUT WOW IS THAT WAY MORE FATPHOBIC THAN I REMEMBER!! The entire storyline with the Jack of Diamonds was painful to read, of course this white male author made the fat character the two timing evil one! 

Also the quick line with Queen Genevieve being like “wow I wish magic were powerful to make me look young again” and that being the forefront of her character before she dies! 

Not really a criticism but also not really a compliment, the pacing lf this book was absolute BREAK-NECK. It felt like at the snap of the fingers Alyss was 7, 11, 18, then 20, altogether a symptom of a more plot-based story but I wish there had been more time devoted to character development. 

For what it’s worth, I do think the world building is still really strong and fascinating, I just wish this series hadn’t been written by Frank Bessie specifically.

So while I’ll hold on to the books for nostalgia sake I WILL NOT be returning to this future at all in the future. 

beachybookstack's review against another edition

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2.0

I think that I found the premise more interesting than anything that happened in the actual book, which is disappointing. There was just a lack of....I don't know, color? I don't mean that in a red, blue, green sort of way. The characters are one-dimensional, the plot was a slow roll. Nothing was funny or unexpected, it just went on and on in a summary-like fashion with painful dialogue.

The author's use of sound was irritating as well---I never checked to see what age group this book was "for" but it read fast and those little sound effect words felt juvenile. I don't really need to have CLANK SWOOOOSH BANG written out. Use your imagination for godsakes, this book is a fight between White & Black Imagination lol *cough blatant copy of Jedi vs Sith cough* Even Babwit Harte (wtf kind of name is that? Did he throw Scrabble pieces at the wall?) was a physical copy of JK Rowling's Doby the elf with supposed unending knowledge of Wonderland. I had to look at the drawings in the middle of the book in order to grasp his description. Beddor fails to give much more than, oh yea Bibwit has ears bigger than his head....as if that is a valid description at all.

I wanted to like this book. Really, I did. I thought it might be a fun twist on the source material but it hardly resembled any of it. Too bad I didn't even like Lewis Carroll's Alice stories....needless to say, I won't be continuing the series.

trin's review against another edition

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3.0

Sort of like [book: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland], steampunk-style. In this revision, Alice Liddell was really Princess Alyss of Wonderland, who was forced to flee to 19th Century England when her aunt Redd staged a bloody coup. I quite enjoyed the set-up before Alyss goes into exile, and the parts with her adjusting to her very different life in England and how it changes her. The glimpses of Wonderland technology and the background characters are fun—General Doppelganger who splits into Generals Doppel and Ganger when threatened or agitated; Hatter Madigan, Alyss’ deadly bodyguard, who keeps blades in all sorts of places. For the first two-thirds of the book, the pace was quick; the writing, while far from stellar, seemed vibrant and punchy; and the whole thing felt quite creative for a necessarily derivative work.

The last third, however, comprising Alyss’ return to Wonderland and her confrontation with Queen Redd, kind of fell apart. The pace slows, and there are quite a few not-terribly-exciting battles. Worse, Beddor abandons creativity and lifts a long sequence not from [author: Lewis Carroll], but from George Lucas. Y’see, Alyss has to prepare herself to face Redd, so she enters a maze and is confronted with visions. She sees her aunt and is warned by the spirit of her dead mother not to attack with weapons—for they are practitioners of White Imagination, see, and anger leads to Dark Imagination!—but Alyss, enraged, beheads Redd, and then sees in the mirror—gasp!—Redd’s face instead of her own! Yeah, I bet Yoda was pissed.

Entertaining enough for my bus ride, but nothing very special. I’ll probably read the next book in the series if I stumble across it, but I won’t put too much effort into hunting it down.

roxnn2000's review against another edition

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5.0

An amazing read. If you like Alice in Wonderland, you have to read the Looking Glass Wars. It isn't your typical story about a girl who fell down a rabbit hole, in fact it has nothing to with it at all.

Alyss Heart, the inspiration for Alice, is actually the princess of Wonderland and is forced into hiding in an alternate world on the other side of the Pool of Tears to escape her Aunt Redd who is trying to kill her to take over the throne.

For the first of a series of three this book pulled me in and kept me there. I didn't want to put it down, each chapter got more exciting and fantastic. The characters developed and changed over time due to the situation and everything worked out beautifully.

It was perhaps one of the most interesting books I've read in a while. As someone who is not a huge fan of science fiction or fantasy, I have to say that this book took me to a place that I never imagined and made me care about the characters, the world, and the situations that were occurring.

Most of the characters were recognizable and seemed to connect with Alice in Wonderland. It is a great read.

oxlabyrinthxo's review against another edition

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4.0

I really liked this book. I found the first book in my library's book shop for 1$ and bought it. It was amazing. It took the story of Alice In Wonderland and made it MORE AWESOME. How is this possible? Read the friggin' book.

nightwillowfox's review against another edition

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4.0

I am giving it a 4.5/5 stars. Well if you like the Alice in Wonderland story and want a grown up version I would recommend this . But this is the first book on the series which is 3 books all together. But it can be a stand alone, it finished off like the story ended. But I will say don't hold the old Alice book in mind as you read this one because they are different but to m e in a good way.

uglyburrito's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

cloudwings's review against another edition

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4.0

The author did a really nice job of incorporating real facts and historical events into this book. It makes the story more understandable and overall a bettes read. The romantic side-story with Alyss and Dodge adds to the drama and greatness of the book.

goobdiddy's review against another edition

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4.0

I quite enjoyed this one, although I'm always up for a twist on a classic. I wouldn't recommend reading this unless you've read 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass' since the whole premise of this book is based on those two childhood classics. (I had to quickly read them after getting a couple of chapters into this book and realizing that I was missing out on too much of the assumed universe of this story).

This has a bit of the demented flavor of the American McGee's 'Alice' video game, which I had fun playing ten years ago, which is probably another reason I liked it.

Alyss was a reasonably likable heroine, Hatter Madigan was cool, and the other twisty reflections of the characters from the Carroll books were fun as well. Sigh, yet another series I'll have to follow.