I wanted to love this continuation of such a beloved story. I gave it so many chances but in the end I had to skim read to get to the twist others had mentioned.
The issue with the book for me is that the tone and imagery jars with what I already know and expect of Wonderland.
This final shift would normally work if the plot and characters offered something new, however it’s been done before with Alice, Dorothy and even Buffy.
The book will find a willing and eager audience; fan favourites a back and relatively well written. Some of the book is told from the perspective of the Queen of Hearts and it is here where the narrative is at its strongest and kept me reading.

Loved this take on an old fairytale! Very imaginative and sequel like! Can’t wait to encourage my students to check out this Alice novel!!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderfully absurd take on Wonderland.

Alice is scheduled to be lobotomized after being institutionalized for talking about her adventures in Wonderland.

The White Rabbit rescues her and the adventure starts as Alice is tasked with killing the Queen of Hearts.

I loved Ever Alice. This is probably one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. The whole idea behind this book was so unique and fun that I think it would be difficult for anyone to dislike this story. All of the characters were well developed and likable. The book itself was told from the perspectives of three people, two of them being Alice and Rosamund (the dreaded queen of hearts). The third POV character was a doctor and we only heard his thoughts for a page or two near the end. His knowledge of affairs concerning Alice was very cleverly woven in to clear up a question or two the reader might have had. Or perhaps to raise a few, if they hadn’t been preceptive enough to catch the clues sprinkled throughout the story. The plotline was paced well and fantastically crazy. I constantly found myself dreading the approaching ending yet unable to stop reading at the same time. Anyone mad enough to pick this book up won’t be disappointed.

This book is so hard to rate because on one hand it was just okay but that ending turned it into something else entirely that I really enjoyed but is that enough to save it?

“Ever Alice” finds our infamous heroine trapped behind the walls of an asylum and with a new treatment threatening to take away her memories of Wonderland she finds herself thrown back into the looking glass and on a secret mission to kill the Queen of Hearts.

So this book sets up an interesting idea that’s been played with in other works of fiction and the one that stands out most in my mind is an episode in season 6 of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” where the lines between fantasy and reality blur and you’re left wondering which world is real.

Wonderland was just as maddening as it’s original interpretation though there were some choices that left me scratching my head, most notably was the random Marilyn Monroe character. I got her as someone who was supposed to play that role in the story but what was with the very on the nose similarities between the two? It felt really strange especially since the author was going for a bit of a Wizard of Oz “it wasn’t a dream it was a place and you were there, and you were there...” type feel only with Monroe being born well after the year in which this takes place. I don’t know that was too sharp of a contrast for me and I found myself snapping out of the world whenever she made an appearance.

Like I said above this book is just okay and it’s not until the last few chapters that it became something I really enjoyed and maybe I need to reread it and see how much or little foreshadowing is in the book leading up to the reveal but as of now I’m sticking with my rating.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review!**

This book was received as an ARC from Red Rogue Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I always love renditions of my favorite fairy tale Alice in Wonderland. This one however took kind of a dark twist where society has labeled Alice as insane and admitted her into an insane asylum. Her friend that helped her escape to Wonderland in the first place the White Rabbit escapes her again from the Asylum and she is ordered now in the Queen's court and ordered again to kill the Queen and reign as the new Queen of Wonderland. This out of all the renditions I have read in my career has to be my favorite because it had so much action and conflict that it became edge of your seat excitement and not want to be put down.

We will consider adding this title to our YFantasy collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.