Book Review: 'Red Queen'

This is the second book to the ALICE series by Christina Henry. Click onto my profile to find the first book.

Before I get into the summary and review of the story, I do want to discuss the fact that the content that lies ahead can be triggering for some people. This story is centered on a sexual-assault survivor-based story, so approach ahead at your own discretion.**

If you are into Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, this is the second and final novel in the Chronicles of Alice series by Christina Henry. If you didn't read ALICE yet, you need to get your butt over to Amazon, order it, and turn some pages. So don't look below and get spoilers... unless you're a rebel, then do whatever you want.

RED QUEEN takes place right after the events of the previous novel with Alice and Hatcher on the hunt for his daughter. They have a bunch of new enemies, such as the White Queen, her goblin, and the Black King. Good. Great. Awesome.

Let me start with some positives. Henry has a magic touch (pun intended) when it comes to writing about Alice. She somehow encapsulates that seven-year-old girl from a thousand-and-a-half years ago, and remakes her into this survivor character, and it doesn't feel like a different person. Henry's Alice is about 26 years old, yet she is able to keep the quizzical and curious emotions and tendencies of Carroll's Alice still there.

As I have stated in the previous review of ALICE, Henry reuses the characters of Wonderland very well, as you can see she keeps a lot of the same base characters, such as the Red Queen, White Queen, Tweetledee and Tweetledum (as giants), and the Black King (the original Through the Looking Glass carried black and white pieces, not red and white). She also adds her own spice to these characters. These characters are no longer pieces to a chess game in shape. The Red Queen is a spirit and power through her crown, and the Black King is a shadow-like figure until his dark magic is released, and he is human. It is quite astounding how Henry recycles but makes everything seem new. Bless up, Mrs. Henry.

Now for the negatives. I love the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland series, and hold them close to my heart. For some reason, we like to put Alice in certain places, like Alice in Zombieland or The Looking Glass Wars, which takes Alice and filters her though things like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones​, respectively. That is fine and dandy... UNTIL you decide to ruin a series by running it through Twilight or Teen Wolf, where Hatcher just suddenly is turned it a wolf. It feels like a non-organic tie-in of Little Red Riding Hood, but dumb. Henry wrote a retelling of it, anyway, so I hope it wasn't some poor chumpish way of recycling...

What. The. Fork (for my The Good Place friends).

My girl Henry really messed up. I was livid. Why would she do that to me? It had to be the most ridiculous storyline. OH, HATCHER, I KNOW YOU WON'T HURT ME BABY. Come on... ugh. If I signed up for a toxic relationship, I would have stayed with my ex-girlfriend.

Lastly, I would like to touch on the overall conclusion to the series. Hatcher's daughter is killed, the Red and White Queens and the Black King are all vanquished. Alice and Hatcher leave the village, and he turns into a wolf and goes into the forest. Holding back the frustration I have for the whole wolf thing, I feel like the adventure is not over. Did the Jabberwocky every really die? Does Alice ever—you know—USE HER DAMN MAGIC TO MAKE HATCHER A NOT-WOLF? There are so many things Henry could have done to give her audience a better ending... and she did not. At the same time, by leaving it open, it allows for a Wonderland of endings for Alice. Damn Henry is good.

Cody's rating:

3 out of 5 white rabbits.

Purchase this book on Amazon here.

National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673