ARC, 306 pages
Release Date: May 3, 2016Published by: HarperTeenQueen of Hearts Saga, #1Source: Texas Library Association (TLA)For fans of: Re-tellings, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Romance, YA
As Princess of Wonderland Palace and the future Queen of Hearts, Dinah’s days are an endless monotony of tea, tarts, and a stream of vicious humiliations at the hands of her father, the King of Hearts. The only highlight of her days is visiting Wardley, her childhood best friend, the future Knave of Hearts — and the love of her life.
When an enchanting stranger arrives at the Palace, Dinah watches as everything she’s ever wanted threatens to crumble. As her coronation date approaches, a series of suspicious and bloody events suggests that something sinister stirs in the whimsical halls of Wonderland. It’s up to Dinah to unravel the mysteries that lurk both inside and under the Palace before she loses her own head to a clever and faceless foe.
Part epic fantasy, part twisted fairy tale, this dazzling saga will have readers shivering as Dinahs furious nature sweeps Wonderland up in the maelstrom of her wrath.
Familiar characters such as Cheshire, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter make their appearance, enchanting readers with this new, dark take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I first heard of this book I was so excited. I LOVE re-tellings. Especially if I’ve read and loved the original. And then the cover for this one was released and I fell even more in love. But unfortunately, the content just wasn’t for me.
“War is bloody and brutal, a thing that can rip through the very heart of men. War can make a man question everything he believes in, everything he holds dear .”
pg. 15 (ARC)
Dinah wasn’t always known as the evil Queen of Hearts. At first she was the princess and she spent her days going to royal tea parties and eating tarts. But then, as her coronation day approaches, things begin to reveal themselves. Things she was never expecting.
“A queen should know how to defend herself.”
pg. 52 (ARC)
Ok, I have to say I was a little disappointed with this one. It seemed like it was lacking plot for the most part. The synopsis is pretty vague (normally I love synopsis like that) but the book didn’t seem to go more into depth than exactly that anyways. And because there didn’t seem to be a plot, I was bored most of the time. By the last six pages I was convinced it would be ok to just mark it as read lol
“Sad, […] that madness and genius were always together.”
pg. 64 (ARC)
The thing that saved it and made me want to keep reading though were the characters. I loved seeing how Cheshire and the Mad Hatter and all the other Wonderland characters were depicted. And they were all so cool! Especially the Cards Army. It was pretty entertaining. Also, I LOVED the way Wonderland was depicted. I could see the Twisted Wood and the Black Towers and all. Oakes gave great descriptions and made me feel as if I was in Wonderland myself.
“All prisoners deserve their just punishment.”
pg. 185 (ARC)
But ultimately, this book wasn’t for me. And it’s unfortunate because I was really looking forward to it. Now I’m debating on whether or not I want to finish out the series or not because the were a lot of questions left unanswered in this one. I may look for spoilers to see if my theories are correct, but that’s all. Hopefully there are some out there that love this one more than me!
Overall, I give this
I'm hearing that this one is lacking something. It's sad because it does sound rather intriguing, but the more reviews I read, the farther away I'm getting from the book. I think she wrote another book involving Wendy and Peter Pan in a twisted manner, I might still try that one though! Nice review all the same!