The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

[professionalkass]

If you have read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland then this is a book series that is a must. Beddor takes the world of Wonderland that is known so well and reinvents it into something original and mesmerizing. Instead of being an imaginary world, brought to life in a dream by a young girl, Wonderland is a real place and Alyss is actually a citizen of this world.

In this series, Wonderland has four ruling classes, known as the Suit Families: Diamond, Heart, Spade, and Club. At the moment, the Heart family holds the monarchy and young Alyss is next in line to inherit the throne. Alyss, however, is even more special in that her Imagination is one of the strongest seen in Wonderland in ages. Imagination is a magical force in Wonderland that allows the inhabitants to bring to life anything they can think or "imagine" which is then presented to the monarch to approve. Once approved, it is sent into the "Heart Crystal" where it will manifest in other worlds in some way.

However, Alyss's Aunt Red is intent on taking what she believes was denied her and launches an attack on the kingdom. In an attempt to save Alyss, she is whisked away here to Earth. Unable to find her way home and slowly losing the power of her Imagination, Alyss is soon adopted by the Liddel family who refuse to believe her stories of Wonderland. Soon, she meets a young professor who is intrigued by her stories and writes a book about Alice and her Adventures in Wonderland under the surname Lewis Carroll. However, the professor does not take her seriously, instead he perverts her story into the one we know and love today. Completely distraught by what this professor has done, Alyss decides that she is going to stop her tales of Wonderland and completely integrate herself into this new world she has found herself in.

While Alyss is on Earth, Redd Heart has completely taken over Wonderland and is attempting to remake it in her own image. Those still loyal to Alyss and her family form a rebellion and learn of where Alyss has been hiding all these years. This series tells of the struggle to rid Wonderland of Redd and how Alyss finds her way back to Wonderland to fulfill her destiny of becoming the reigning monarch.

While inspired by the beloved tale by Lewis Carroll, Frank Beddor finds a way to make such a well-known tale into its own original story line to captivate readers of all ages. It takes the innocence of childhood and combines it with the hardships and trials of adulthood to make an easy to read series that makes you never want to put it down. I give this book a 3 out of 4 star rating and a shout out that this must be the next series you read.

[KitKat_Reader]

The Looking Glass Wars was definitely much different than I expected, but in a good way. On one hand I don't like how Alice became a bit of a completely serious and brooding character, but it kind of makes sense for that to happen considering the situations she thrust into. It was a very interesting take on the original book and I love the roles he gave to all of the original characters.

[millerkre]

I have read the first book but I wasn't sure if this was becoming a series or not.

I absolutely loved the twist that Frank Beddor put on the classic tale of Alice and Wonderland. If there are more books please let me know because I would love to read more of his work!

[Ericaflowers6238]

I have recently read this book and I agree that it is a must read! I am a fan of anything Wonderland themed, but there are few books that truely portray Wonderland as the strange and slightly frightening place that it is in my mind. This novel does a wonderful job of that, and the imaginative powers that Alyss possesses gave the story a good foundation on which to build all of the action. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good action and suspense novel because you never know what to expect next with this novel.

[michellebkane]

I have recently read this book and I agree that it is a must read! I am a fan of anything Wonderland themed, but there are few books that truely portray Wonderland as the strange and slightly frightening place that it is in my mind. This novel does a wonderful job of that, and the imaginative powers that Alyss possesses gave the story a good foundation on which to build all of the action. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good action and suspense novel because you never know what to expect next with this novel.

One of my absolute favorites!!! I teach this to my 8th graders and every time I read it, I appreciate the books cleverness and uniqueness even more. The whole series is great, but the first is the best!

[Jinx1991]

I have read the first book but I wasn't sure if this was becoming a series or not.

I absolutely loved the twist that Frank Beddor put on the classic tale of Alice and Wonderland. If there are more books please let me know because I would love to read more of his work!

He has 2 more and a comic series! It's wonderful!

[Jinx1991]

I absolutely love his work! Frank Beddor did wonders with the imagery, and he even gave it a simplistic essence in how he carefully chose each word.

The looking glass wars website keeps saying that they are planning on a movie in the future, but still no actual film yet. I'd love to see how it gets brought on the big screen!

[Vscholz]

I ADORE this series! When the final book came out, I worked at WaldenBooks and we only ever got in a few copies of newer YA books. Another employee and I were going to Rock/Paper/Scissors to see who got the copy first if we didn't get multiple copies.

I absolutely love Hatter Madigan. He is such a tough character and I highly recommend his graphic novel series.