The Looking Glass Wars (Looking Glass Wars)

An imaginative retelling of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Looking Glass Wars is the "real story behind the story." Many of the familiar characters are still here (Queen of Hearts, the White Rabbit, Tweedle Dee and Dum, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar, and of course, Alice herself), but Beddor has also cleverly imagined a host of new characters to flesh out his fantasy world. It's a fast and fun read, and I think not only will fans of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland find the re-imagined characters interesting, but those never having read the original will be able to enjoy this just as much.

This was a great book but a little misleading. Although talking about Wonderland as a real place and Alice really going there; this is not a cute retelling of Lewis Carroll's famous tale. It has many battle scenes and some graphic violence...which really surprised me considering it is supposed to be for kids ages 9-12. I would advise parents with kids 12 and under to read this book first before giving it to them. I am 24 years old and I thouroughly enjoyed this book, having been a fan of Alice in Wonderland since I was 3 years old. I needn't bore you with the details of what the book is about, since the description pretty much gives the neccessary details. I will say that after having done a little research on the "real" Alice who inspired Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Frank Beddor did his homework, cleverly working in facts with his fiction. I would highly recommend this book to adults even though you will find it in the young adult section. It kept me glued to my seat from the very first page!

After reading some of the other reviews I thought I was at the wrong site. They must not have read the Wonderful story I did. I absolutely love love loved this story. I have been an Alice fan for years and I have always searched out other artistic forms of her but when I encountered "Alyss" I was blown away. This book stands out on its own. If you truly love Alice in Wonderland as I do. You will love The Looking Glass Wars. The characters are outstanding! I loved how they could travel through the pool of tears into our world and back to Wonderland, how they could ride the crystal continuum all over wonderland, I loved how Alyss' imagination was her power and she could use it to conjure up anything she imagined. This was a world I was waiting to hear about for a long time. I could go on and on telling you what parts I loved but if I did that I might as well post the whole book here. Honestly, if you have a good imagination you will LOVE this book. This book will be #1 on my list for a long long time to come. Frank Beddor has a brilliant mind and I can't wait to read the next book!!!! LONG LIVE ALYSS!!!!!!!!!!

This alternate version of the classic story of "Alice in Wonderland" is a captivating read. Rather than the children's story we are all familiar with, it tells a story of a violent civil war in Wonderland. In Beddor's version of the story the Cheshire cat is an assassin, the hatter is the queen's bodyguard and looking glasses are a method of travel.

Frank Beddor's "The Looking Glass Wars" grabbed me in the first 20 pages, then never let me go. The premise is genius: What if Lewis Carroll (né Charles Dodgson) didn't actually create the story of "Alice in Wonderland", but was actually told the story by his muse (the real-life Alice Lidell), to whom these events all actually happened -- but he got the story wrong -- and here, at last, is the real tale. The way Beddor weaves his tale into the actual history of the writing of the book is nothing short of wonderful. His version of the origins of such classic characters as the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat are ingenious and ring with psychological truth. It's a classic hero's journey about Alyss, a little girl who is destined to be the Queen of Wonderland, but who most importantly has the most powerful imagination in the world; anything she can imagine is made real. When an evil Queen murders her parents, she is forced to flee to safety in our world, and once here, no one believes her tales of Wonderland. Lewis Carroll breaks her heart by seeming to believe her, but then turns the story of her life into a nonsensical mish-mash when we writes his book, killing her spirit and her belief in her own dreams in the book's most heartbreaking scene. Then, as many children do when they become adults, she shuns her imagination - she loses her power to make her dreams a reality - and becomes like everyone else - until a loyal friend from Wonderland finds her and reminds her who she is, and that her potential is greater than she could ever imagine. It's a very touching allegory to what happens to most people as they grow up and lose faith in their ability to believe in the dreams they once had for their lives. Beddor has created a world so vivid and rich it rivals the Star Wars universe in its breadth and complexity. I could not wait to see where this story was going from one moment to the next, and it continually surprised me, in its story, its imagination -- and foremost, in how emotional it was. It's ultimately a story about the power of holding onto your imagination and believing in your dreams, which the author has clearly done. But it's also just a great story, which is a rare thing to find these days. This is one of those rare pieces that had me thinking, "I wish I'd thought of that." Highly recommended.