A review by jameyanne
A Wonderlandiful World by Shannon Hale

3.0

I am of two minds on this book, hence the only average rating. On the one hand, as a story by itself it was fabulous. I loved learning more about Cedar and Lizzie and Wonderland, and I loved the character arcs, watching everyone grow and discover themselves and their destinies was such a joy. The jabberwock is a fabulous villain. Finally, I adore everything to do with narration and storytelling. That was really clever. On the other hand, I feel like parts of the ending (I won't give spoilers) invalidated that journey and the fact that the same results came out of it felt like a cheap trick to me. Also, while I enjoyed Cedar's and Lizzie's stories, I feel like we weren't done with Raven and Apple, like they were left hanging, and I can't tell if there is or there's going to be another novel or if this was supposed to be the ending. (I kbnow there's a show this series is based on but I haven't seen it yet.) So on the whole, I'm really torn about how I feel about this book, even though I'd probably recommend the series and even just this book.