Alice - Review & Rating *SPOILERS*

Title: Alice (Chronicles of Alice)

Author: Christina Henry

Pages: 291 pages

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Synopsis: In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinder block walls which echo the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place. Just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood… Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago. Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful. And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice

When approaching this book in Waterstones, I expected some dark rewrite of Alice in Wonderland but it was so much more than that, when reading this book I got so much Alice: Madness Returns vibes! If you don't know what that is, its a video game based around the Alice in Wonderland story, its dark, bloody and amazing artwork. But the story from that is different to the book, but I'm not comparing video games to books.

I didn't expect The Rabbit to be the bad guy, in the original story you see the Rabbit as a helpless character? It's kind of like that in this book as well but on the other hand he caused Alice so much pain, grief and memory loss. So much pain, she ends up being taken into an asylum where she meets Hatcher, a lost and damaged soul. I felt... Lost when the Jabberwocky was in and out of the book but I hope it gets more explained in future books? That is if they carry on. I read somewhere that the books Christina Henry has written are mainly standalones, I thought that when I saw she wrote about Peter Pan and The Little Mermaid. I reckon Red Queen is related to the Alice book in someway because they come from the same story, I could be wrong. I've still got to read Red Queen.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I hope the others don't disappoint!!