Teenreads.com -- THE LOOKING GLASS WARS by Frank Beddor

Books by
Frank Beddor

SEEING REDD

THE LOOKING GLASS WARS

THE LOOKING GLASS WARS
Frank Beddor
Puffin/Penguin Young Readers Group
Fantasy/Action & Adventure
ISBN-10: 0142409413
ISBN-13: 9780142409411
400 pages

• Read an Excerpt
• Author Talk -- November 2006

"The Queendom had been enjoying a tentative peace ever since the time, twelve years earlier, when unbridled bloodshed spattered the doorstep of every Wonderlander."

So opens the first chapter of THE LOOKING GLASS WARS by Frank Beddor, putting to rest any claims to dismiss this thrilling new novel as little more than a "re-imagining" of the Lewis Carroll classic, ALICE IN WONDERLAND. In many ways, Beddor's book takes the whole notion of "re-imagining" (made especially popular these days with the success of Gregory Maguire's wonderful WICKED) and sets it on its ear. What emerges is not a slightly askew glance into this well-known world but a daring incursion, darker and bearing the hallmarks of a deeper agenda, into wholly new territory.

Beddor's opening gambit is the familiar "Everything you know is wrong" tactic, asserting that you only THINK you know the true story. It's been long established that Carroll created these stories for young Alice Liddell as an entertainment, and it was at Alice's behest that he wrote them down for other children. Beddor asserts instead that it was Alice telling the stories to record them for posterity, but Carroll, on writing them down, twists them to his own tastes. Alice is upset because what Carroll wrote isn't what really happened, and she wants the real story to get out.

Though Beddor starts with an oft-used tactic, nothing that follows is nearly as predictable. You see, Alice Liddell is actually Alyss Heart, destined to be queen of Wonderland before a bloody coup sent her into a London exile. In her absence, Wonderland becomes a viscous umbra of its former benevolent pallor, ruled over by Alyss's sinister aunt, known only as Redd. Carroll's characters are introduced in their "true" forms --- the crafty Hatter Madigan; the feline, shape-shifting assassin, Cat --- and the stage is set for a counterrevolution when, 12 years later, a grown-up Alyss returns to Wonderland to reclaim her place as rightful ruler.

To say much more about the story is to deprive readers of the surprises that permeate every page of the book. Even if you haven't read Carroll's original, you probably know enough about the premise to be entertained by this book (although I recommend picking up ALICE IN WONDERLAND to fully appreciate what Beddor is trying to do).

What may be missing from the text are shades of subtlety. There are good characters, there are bad characters. Good and evil is too easy, which make the characters a little flat. But the story is first rate, and most readers will appreciate the well-plotted action and insidious scheming that keep the pages turning.

An entertaining cross between Maguire's WICKED and Steven Spielberg's Peter Pan movie, Hook, THE LOOKING GLASS WARS launches a promised trilogy about Alyss's new adventures. Beddor grabs the imagination and refuses to let go until the reader is pulled as deeply into the adventure as Alyss herself. The worst part, of course, will be the wait for the next book.

--- Reviewed by Brian Farrey

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