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June 10, 2007
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
Readers Group Review
The premise of this book is both intriguing and audacious, with a hint of healthy disrespect. Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was, it seems, a lie. The girl of the title, Alice Liddell, was actually Alyss Heart, a princess of Wonderland and heir to the throne. The Looking Glass Wars, we're told, is the result of five years research by the author, who has unravelled the literary and literal conspiracy, to present the world with a tale of identity, revenge and revelation. No white rabbits, no tea parties, just an epic battle for power. It is the first in a trilogy. Debut author Frank Beddor says the idea to rework the original came to him when he saw a pack of old playing cards with Wonderland-esque figures during a visit to the British Museum. His grandmother and mother had made him read Lewis Carroll as a child, and he'd thought it 'a terrible girl's book.' So rewriting it was also an act of revenge.
It is perhaps a contemporary American trait that any such reworking should involve conflict. The plot eschews the opportunity to reimagine Alice in a strange and whimsical manner, in favour of straightforward Hollywood violence. Clearly writing with the movie and game versions in mind, Beddor dispenses with complexities like characterisation and devious plot twists. Instead, what is presented is a tale where everyone is exactly who they seem. Black and white, good and bad with no shades of grey to trouble readers. Even within these self-imposed limitations, there's invention worthy of note. The Mad Hatter is replaced by Hatter Madigan, a cross between the most recent incarnation of Van Helsing and the Scarlet Pimpernel. There's also Dodge Anders, a Wonderlander boy in love with Alyss, The Cat, a shape-shifting feline assassin who has, quite literally, nine lives, and a suffocating Wig-Beast brought to life by the mad bad and dangerous to know Queen Redd. Alyss, cast out of Wonderland during a Coup by her evil auntie, ends up as the adopted child of the Liddells. Her tall tales about her homeland are watered down and misrepresented in books by the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson -- Lewis Carroll's real name -- Meanwhile, Hatter Madigan, who has also escaped Wonderland, arrives in a different country, and then spends years trying to track the princess down. By the time he finds her, she is in her mid-twenties and about to marry. Over the years, Alyss has forced herself to think of her past as a dream. Until it comes crashing back into her life, and she's dragged through a puddle, to emerge in Wonderland's Pool of Tears. Will she regain her kingdom? You’ll have to read the book and see!
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