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 Dinah's 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. But be warned...not every fairy tale has a happy ending. This is the story of a princess who became a villain.
Overall Rating: 4/5
Plot: For the most part I thought this book was far more character driven than plot driven. Yes, we deal with Dinah, the Princess of Hearts, as she goes through her lessons and prepares for her eighteenth birthday where she will join her father on the throne as Queen of Hearts until the day she marries and her father will have to step aside to let the couple rule Wonderland. The beginning of the story starts when Dinah is only a child, her mother has not been dead for very long, and her father brings a bastard daughter to the Palace and bestows upon her all of the affection he doesn't show to his other two children, Dinah and her brother Charles. This obviously creates a great deal of tension between Dinah and her father as well as Dinah and her half-sister. Throughout the story it seems that everything is becoming more difficult for Dinah and that there may be plots to keep her from taking her place on the throne. As she pieces together the clues she sees the villainy of certain people, and after a great tragedy that is used to try and convict Dinah of treason, she has no choice but to run away from her home. But we know she will become the Queen of Hearts, so really, now it is just a matter of seeing how she does it.
Characters: We all know the big characters within the canon of Alice in Wonderland, and a great many of them make appearances in this book. Cheshire, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter are actually fairly large roles, but I also recall Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum being mentioned in a scene. I very much enjoyed the twists of these characters. Cheshire was a character I did not like at all, because I could tell that he was scheming and plotting and that he was not on Dinah's side. I imagine he will continue to play a role in the next two books as well. Though never called the White Rabbit, it is obvious that Dinah's teacher has certainly filled that role. He is constantly mentioning how Dinah is going to be late for practically every event in the Palace, but he was a good-natured caring man and I adored him as much as Dinah does.
The Mad Hatter was a twist I hadn't expected but I absolutely loved it. In this book The Mad Hatter is the Prince of Wonderland, but madness will forever keep him from taking the throne. Charles is still basically a child and is tended by two servants at all times. The reason for his moniker of Mad Hatter is firstly because he is quite insane, but also because his madness leads to the most wild and beautiful hat creations in Wonderland. People go to extreme lengths to own a Mad Hatter creation. I also found Charles to be sweet when he wasn't rambling on about hats and such. It is clear that Dinah loves him very much, and I would kind of like a short story from his point of view. I think it would be quite interesting.
Then we have the Knave of Hearts, Wardley, with whom Dinah is in love and often dreams of one day ruling Wonderland with him as her King of Hearts. Wardley is being trained to lead the Heart Cards and has proven to be quite capable at his tasks. The King of Hearts approves of Wardley, even if he does not care for Dinah at all. The romance between Wardley and Dinah is cute and you can tell that they've been friends and companions for most of their lives. It will be nice to see how their relationship progresses and changes through this trilogy.
Okay, I guess I've talked about Dinah a little, but I was drawn into the story quite quickly by our protagonist and narrator. After the story jumped ahead a few years I felt like everything slowed down a bit and was a little dragged down by description and exposition and of course character development, but Dinah was still an intriguing character. She had an inner strength to her while at the same time being vulnerable. She cares about her brother and her servants and Wardley, and wants to be a good Queen of Hearts for Wonderland. When everything starts to happen, even when she doesn't have all the pieces together, Dinah tries to fight back, and though she doesn't completely win and is currently on the run, I know she will be able to find the strength and courage she needs to take back her rightful place in Wonderland and remove her father from power. I look forward to her journey. It'll be bumpy and possibly bloody, but I think everything will become more intense now that the plot and characters have been laid out.
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