I had seen a lot of talk about this one, but didn’t realize it was an Alice in Wonderland retelling until recently and I was so excited for it.

I liked Alice well enough. She’s loyal and she means well, but she came across as bratty and ungrateful. Yes, yes, classic teenager attitude, yet when you’re legit never home and your mom is extra worried due to a neighborhood girl had been recently killed, maybe don’t be a dick. There is a pretty large cast of characters here, but I wasn’t really drawn in by any of them.

Plot wise it was meh. The world building and aspect of Wonderland I was looking for were both non-existent. There were a lot of clunky sections of prose and I just couldn’t settle into Alice’s inner monologue. It seemed like a lot of telling, no showing.

Overall, it was an interesting idea with an ending that had me intrigued, but the execution didn’t work for me. If this turns into a series, I’m not sure I’ll be continuing.

**Huge thanks to Imprint for providing the arc free of charge**

McKinney's debut introduces readers to a Wonderland-like world filled with dark, nightmarish monsters and to 17-year-old Alice Kingston who finds herself battling these dreamscape creatures while trying to balance an overprotective mom, school, and a social life.

The summary reads like an exciting cross between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Alice and Wonderland, with a modern-day Alice whose mission is to seek out and destroy Nightmares.

Being a fan of anything related to "Alice" and the fierce kick-butt heroine Buffy, I immediately knew I had to try this book.

Unfortunately, despite wanting to love this story and my anticipation for reading it, overall it ended up being a disappointment for me.

The main reason why it ended up being a disappointment is that of the writing style. The dialogue between the protagonist Alice and the other characters reads choppy and uneven. I found myself re-reading sentences because there seemed to be missing words or incomplete thoughts.

It just may be that the copy of an ARC I received needed a serious final run through the editing process to clean up all the inconsistencies, rather than the author's way of writing. Normally, I prefer more lyrical writing and dynamic dialogue, and unfortunately, I just could not settle into the writing style.

Although I loved the idea of fierce, warrior-stylized Alice fighting monsters—the plot seemed like it was trying to balance two different stories. An Urban fantasy with an inspired retelling of Wonderland. Instead of something cohesive and unique, it just ended-up feeling all over the place with big time gaps between the prologue, the first chapter and fighting in Wonderland.

The book finally hit its stride for me once Wonderland became the focus of the story with Alice on a quest to find an antidote for the poison inflicting “the madness" on her mentor, Hatta.

There are riddles to be had and familiar characters from Alice in Wonderland finally make an appearance. Magic and dangerous battles are fought. I only wished that it all could have come sooner.

In the End

Overall, despite not loving the story, I did find enjoyment in Wonderland's descriptions and characters. I found myself connecting most to Alice's mom and really appreciated the positive relationship portrayed between the two. The cover is gorgeous and blurb definitely compelled me to pick this one up

~ARC provided by NetGalley~

I liked and didn't like this book at the same time - lol. I definitely liked the whole modern day Alice in Wonderland spin, but for one thing it took a while for the story to reach it's climax. The beginning sort speeds you through Alice becoming a Dreamwalker and her relationship with Addison Hatta who is a gatekeeper from Wonderland. Then it sort of tumbles you in and out of Wonderland. It flowed a little chaotically at times. The interchanging of the Wonderland characters names in sentences or paragraphs tended to get a little annoying. I did get more interested as the story went on, i'll probably read the sequel - no rush though.

Alice is a Dreamwalker whose job is to prevent the Nightmares from getting to Earth from Wonderland. Soon her Dreamwalker duties start to interfere with her relationships on Earth. Think Alice in Wonderland meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer and you have A Blade So Black. You have a teenage girl fighting monsters while trying to balance her warrior activities with dealing with her friends and family, which sounds a lot like the earlier seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The earlier chapters focus on world building as readers get some background on Alice, (Mad) Hatta, and their mission of fighting Nightmares. Once that's established the story really begins and the stakes are high and its also personal as one Alice's missions hits close to home affecting her lives in both Wonderland and on Earth. Alice is a spirited hero who is strong and brave but she is not perfect, something which she confronts throughout the story. The supporting cast are lively and distinct, and multi-ethnic. Other characters include her fellow Dreamwalkers Dem and Dee, potion maker Maddie, and best friend Courtney. A Blade So Black is a fun story featuring an African American heroine whose is looking to save the day. McKinney sets up a few mysteries throughout the book, not all of them are resolved (of course) but this novel is compelling enough to look forward to the next book in the series. Personally, I'm looking forward to more YA fantasies with protagonists of color, written by authors of color.

Review:

This is an engaging reimagining of the Alice story, chock-full of fun (and, yes, heartbreaking) elements. There are several wonderful characters to meet, and McKinney smartly introduces the greatly appealing Hatta right from the start, who pulls both Alice and the reader into the adventure of the book. I have soft spots for the book's version of the Doormouse and Alice's friend, whose costume choice for a birthday party, handled subtly by McKinney, KILLED ME. (I don't want to give anything more away, but THE SWEETNESS. IT BREAKS ME.) But in Wonderland, the fierce female characters we meet (and the love stories among them!!! Yes, f/f rep!) take this to the next level. Add in a strong, highly-relatable voice, the Buffy-style issues Alice deals with with her mom and friends, and the final twist, and this is an exciting debut lovers of all things Wonderland will enjoy. Moreover, the connections McKinney makes between the threats in Wonderland and very real threats in our world add a layer of meaning to this book that will make it all the more important to get into the hands of teen readers. And as someone who enjoyed Alice as a child and Buffy as a teen, I can only imagine what this story will mean to young Black readers today. It's an unbirthday present for everyone (unless your birthday is September 25th, then sorry!).

I really enjoyed this Alice in Wonderland re telling. Not my typical read but I really enjoyed it. I’m for any book with a strong female lead and this book didn’t disappoint. Thank you to MacMillan for my advanced copy.

I received an advanced e-copy of this title and I can honestly say it surprised me. While I love the classic 'Alice in Wonderland' I am not usually a fan of revisitations or reincarnations; so when I read the synopsis I thought: "Oh well, let's get this over with..."

I was wrong! I actually read this title in a single day--in around 8 hours (and I am not a particularly fast reader)--but it was just that compelling. I truly enjoyed the dialogue and natural banter between characters; the diversity of the cast absolutely reflected our society today without feeling forced or for the sake of political correctness alone; plus the manner in which the author adapted the classic characters into modern and relatable individuals was unique, fun and quirky (absolutely in keeping with Carroll's original); and honestly, I just wanted to live in Wonderland, the descriptions and histories shared about this landscape made it almost a character in its own right.

That all said, it is still not perfect. Due to the size of the cast (I count 12 key characters), not all were fully developed and many remained somewhat one-dimensional. I am crossing my fingers this is, as stated above, due to the size of the cast and the fact that the author focused on balancing exposition with action to maintain the momentum of the story. Hopefully this is addressed further in the sequel (because this is definitely the beginning of a series and in no way complete unto itself).

SPOILER ALERT!!! Do not read past this point unless you are willing to face a potential spoiler:

What ultimately tainted this book for me--do not get me wrong, overall I still considered it a truly enjoyable read and will definitely pick up the sequel--was the Epilogue. The 'twist' introduced in this final portion was a play on a trope I am not overly fond of to begin with (resurrect the truly good character in love with the protagonist as a weapon of evil) and left one of my favourite characters in peril. At which point I responded with: "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Arrrrghhhhhhhh." Why?!?!

And these are my thoughts! I am definitely excited to read other reviews and see what the community as a whole thinks--it has definitely prompted some interesting feedback on our Indigo Discussion Board already!

After being attack by a Nightmare on the night of her father’s death, Alice is recruited to become a Dreamwalker, a person who fights off these monsters trying to enter the real word from Wonderland. With it’s roots in Alice in Wonderland, A Blade so Black is the story of a young African-American woman’s fight to help stop the evil of the other world from spilling over the Veil into ours.

Alice fights to balance her obligations with her high school friends and her grieving family with her allies in Wonderland. She’s been trained to fight and when her apprentice is mortality injured she needs to enter the fantasy realm to battle the monsters and some especially caustic royal politics.

L.L. McKinney’s work is a solid addition to the YA fantasy genre. The teenage friendships are realistic and up-to-date, and the magical fight scenes are dynamic and fast-paced. There are some issues with jumbled worldbuilding in the second setting, but overall, this is a good read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, and L.L. McKinney for an advanced copy for review.

From Atlanta rather than England, this Alice volunteers to bounce back and forth between Wonderland, protecting both from "Nightmares" born from human consciousness. By making this Alice an African-American teen girl living in the South, it gives the story an opportunity to touch on racial tensions that bring about some of the biggest evils Wonderland has ever seen. Unfortunately, the main plot takes precedence and this isn't explored as fully as I would have liked. And the main plot was slightly predictable and ended on a cliffhanger, which isn't really my favorite. Still, the characters are fun and remind this old-timer of Buffy -- between slaying monsters, a hot British mentor, snarky co-fighters, risking life, limb, and grounding to keep a worried mother in the dark, it's a nice romp through familiar worlds that I thoroughly enjoyed. Bonus points for diverse cast -- both racial and sexual orientation.

How do you rate a book that is only good by the halfway point? This is my dilemma for writing this review.

The beginning is atrocious. There are two weird time jumps. Conflicts seem to come from the parts that happen during these jumps. She decides she wants to quit because it's been hard on her mother during the year she's been fighting. Her civilian life is extremely boring and something I've already seen and grown tired of in other media. The romance is built during these jumps so what I've read doesn't add to the passion that happens are the end. When Alice thinks of Hatta's good traits I wonder when was I shown any of them and then remember the missing year. This is a major problem. The book does get very interesting with Wonderland but how many readers will still be reading by then? The sloppiness of the beginning upsets me so much because there is so much potential for the series as a whole and the parts that deal with Wonderland does show that the author is talented.

Let it be known that if you write a re-imagining or re-interpretation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, I will read it.

BUT. It either has to be completely original (like Christina Henry's Alice--a shocking, violent romp that leaves a lasting impression) or REALLY good (like Marissa Meyer's Heartless--a prequel story about the Red Queen that is PERFECTION).

Which is why this one was so disappointing. It has original going for it, for sure: Alice is trained by Addison Hatta to hunt and kill Nightmares in Wonderland. She's African American.

Unfortunately the original wasn't enough to overcome the boring, convoluted plot.

There are lots of inconsistencies...and while I suspect some of them might be fixed in the final editing process, there are some things I just did not enjoy. Like...what, exactly, is the point of having the first chapter take place several months after the prologue and then EVERYTHING else happens a year later? At first you think it's going to be about Alice's training but...nope. We get to see NONE of it. Then there's the weird "Alice tries to balance real life and Wonderland" story line that is just so boring--every time Court and Chess were on the page I just wanted them to go away so we could get back to the magical stuff. And the end "battle" was so anticlimactic...even with the twist thrown in in the epilogue. I mean...I literally didn't care.

Finally, one of my favorites things about reading New Alice stories is finding familiar characters who maybe show up in different ways/forms. But other than Alice and the Tweedle twins (who here are a pair of handsome Russian Nightmare slayers like Alice), I didn't particularly like how any of the characters were handled. Some of them (like Chess) seem to share a name and nothing else...which is fine, if they're interesting. But they aren't.

Honestly, the only reason this wasn't a DNF for me was because of my love of the original. I kept waiting for a character or scene I would love, but it just didn't come.

This was just bad. It throws you into a plot with no build up or explanation, the writing is clunky and cringe-inducing, and most of the characters have little to no development. I was so excited to read a take on Alice in Wonderland with a POC has the MC and, while this is ostensibly presented as that, it doesn't really have the qualities you expect from Alice in Wonderland. The setting is barely described, she doesn't spend enough time in Wonderland to make it work, and the majority of her time is spent dealing with her whiny best friend and her mom (who is rightfully concerned that her teen daughter is literally never home). I related more to her mom than to her. I think the worst part, though, was the clunky dialogue. The random swear words that were supposed to make her seem tough, but really just made her sound like a little kid getting away with something. The words that were either not something kids say (she calls someone a goober. No kid does that.) or were painfully "this is something the youths say, correct?" The covered lulled me into a false sense of badassery that didn't come to fruition.

When Alice is called upon to assist Hatta in Wonderland, things are not quite as we remember. First of all, Addison Hatta isn't wearing a top hat, quoting nonsensical poetry, or hosting tea parties. He's a handsome warrior training Alice to become a Dreamwalker who fights monsters that cross over from the Veil and Wonderland is filled with Nightmares that can actually kill you.

First, I absolutely LOVE the cover of this book! It's seriously giving me that 70's bad-chick flavor from Coffy and Christy Love!

However, I had two minor issues with this book. <spoiler> First the author made a comment about POC not being able to blush. Well, I am a fair-skinned POC and I do blush. Also, I thought the continuous mention of the incident with Brionne throughout the story was unnecessary. It didn't detract from the story but I kept wondering what it had to do with the plot. Her mother was afraid for her safety and super strict because of what happened. We get it but that never stopped Alice from disappearing for days. </spoiler> Other than that, I enjoyed this story. This unique twist on the classic tale is filled with action, drama, and a multitude of twists that will keep you glued to the pages.

I was not able to finish this book. The writing is unpolished and from the beginning I simply could not get into the story. Everything felt overdone, but not in a good way. Specifically, Alice seems to just have her superpowers and fighting abilities from the beginning- we never truly see her struggle or come to terms with this, and so that tension that often results from normal-girl-turns-superhero is lost. Also, things are truly explained or described in a narrative way, rather much of the descriptions happen through dialogue, which simply seems forced.

I did not feel the characters, and especially Alice as the main character, were well developed. I also did not feel the relationships were well developed. The love interest was thrown onto the page right away, and I'm not a big fan of insta-love stories such as this

I appreciate the diversity in the book, and I think that's extremely important. The writing style and story itself did not, however, keep my attention.

I've read my fair share of Alice in Wonderland retellings and origin stories, but A Blade So Black stands out. The new twist in the world and characters make this book feel more like something completely original rather than a retelling.

I found the pacing of this work confusing with sudden shifts that left me wondering more than a few times if my ARC had missing pages (or, for that matter, entire missing chapters). I also didn't find the premise (it is effectively an Alice in Wonderland retelling) very interesting. Had I realized it was an adaptation of a story I already find unappealing I probably wouldn't have requested the book to begin with, perhaps Alice fans will find it more interesting than I did?

Thank you to Netgalley for supplying an advanced copy of this book for me.

Note: My rating has absolutely nothing to do with the author drama. I had no idea there was any drama going on until I decided to DNF this book and came to look at the other ratings here.

I was quite excited for this book! A WOC Alice in Wonderland retelling? And the cover? Hell yeah, sign me up!

And I tried, I really did.

But, I'm sorry to say that I won't be finishing this book, and I didn't get very far in. I understand that this is an ARC but the amount of mistakes I found in the first chapter really, really put me off. Sentences with words in the wrong order; sentences with words just completely missing, etc. The writing style was also not to my liking.

In the second chapter when Alice describes the Mad Hatter as a "punk rock Prince Charming," I knew this was not the book for me. Some people enjoy this kind of book, so if you do, have at it! But I, personally, do not.

I really enjoyed this book. I think we need more literature with strong Black female protagonists, and Alice is a wonderfully conceived character. I enjoyed the other characters as well. My only complaint with this book is that I felt the last part of the book was too rushed. I'm not referring to the pacing - that was excellent. I just felt that there were pieces of information that were missing. Now, some of that was intentional and reasonable - it's clear there will be a sequel (which I am looking forward to!). However, there were just a few things I wish I had a little bit more information about (like Alice's mom).

I was so excited to get this galley and now that I am at the end of it I’m just not sure what to think. My first thought is: was this the first draft? This story seems nowhere near finished. It does have a good, central plot, some character development, and a future to head into, yet it is littered with mistakes, is highly disjointed, and needs a ton of developing.

The first couple of chapters were very quick, yet immediately turned me off to this book. It was highly racially motivated and not in a good way at all. Although it is a popular subject nowadays and deserves to be talked about, McKinley addresses it in an angry voice and almost appears to be lashing out at and belittling others. This isn’t needed for the novel and seems like the author just wants to spark controversy. Luckily, this settles down and filters out after these first few chapters.

The characters were a fun bunch to follow. Alice was a great badass lead who had her faults and owned up to them nicely. Hatta and Maddi were great Wonderland characters that had their own brand of quirkiness that kept the humor alive. Alice’s friends, Courtney and Chess, played their parts as well by creating tension, hope, or romance when needed. . Most of these characters were quite one dimensional though. They had one or two traits that helped them stand out, but didn’t grow much.


Alice’s mom was one character that I think we could do without (and I’m usually huge on the mother/daughter relationships). She presents a barrier that we have to keep crossing and becomes frustrating in the end. Alice keeps breaking the rules, and probably will continue doing so for the foreseeable future, yet even though there are groundings and punishments put into place, they don’t deter or stop her. Rather than this show her determination and spirit, it takes away from the forward motion of the story (since we have to go through it over and over), makes Alice seem more of a bad kid, and creates a constant deterrent since Alice always stops to think about it

Part of this growth, especially with Alice, I feel was lost in the pacing and development of the novel. Alice meets Hatta in the first chapter. In the next, it is 3 months/6months? (says both in the same chapter) later and Alice is a fully fledged warrior (with a few fears left). We miss a huge battle at Ahoon which apparently defines her fears and a lot of development between her and Hatta that could be more important to their relationship. I think that those 3/6 months would be more suited for these first few chapters than what is currently present.

Once in Wonderland, the story has a great direction and plenty of terrific fights to keep most readers blazing ahead. I liked the references to the Wonderland we grew up with and all the new areas and histories to explore. I just wanted more. As before, more time developing and evolving this world and storyline will only make it better. Even the twists and reveals were present and surprising.

In the end, I think this needs to be edited, a lot. Facts (fictional or real) need to be rechecked as they are not consistent throughout (3/6 months/who can see creatures/time lines). The plot line needs to be developed into a more streamlined story and the characters need I little more dimension to them. This novel and series have a long way to go and show promising adventure, but are in need of some help to get there.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Alice In Wonderland - with a healthy dose of black girl magic - in a book that with absolutely fly off the shelves of YA collections.