Review: Unbirthday

Celestial Blackrose

Jul 31

Ｔｉｔｌｅ： Unbirthday

Ａｕｔｈｏｒ： Liz Braswell

Ｓｅｒｉｅｓ： Twisted Tales Series (Can Be Read as a Standalone)

Ｒａｔｉｎｇ： ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

＊Ｎｏｔｅ： I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What if Wonderland was in peril and Alice was very, very late?

Alice is different than other eighteen-year-old ladies in Kexford, which is perfectly fine with her. She'd rather spend golden afternoons with her trusty camera or in her aunt Vivian's lively salon, ignoring her sister's wishes that she stop all that "nonsense" and become a "respectable" member of society. Alice is happy to meander to Miss. Yao's teashop or to visit the children playing in the Square. She's also interested in learning more about the young lawyer she met there, but just because she's curious, of course, not because he was sweet and charming.

But when Alice develops photographs she has recently taken about town, familiar faces of old suddenly appear in the place of her actual subjects-the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar. There's something eerily off about them, even for Wonderland creatures. And as Alice develops a self-portrait, she finds the most disturbing image of all-a badly-injured dark-haired girl asking for Alice's help. Mary Ann.

Returning to the place of nonsense from her childhood, Alice finds herself on a mission to stop the Queen of Hearts' tyrannical rule and to find her place in both worlds. But will she able to do so . . . before the End of Time?

"Trust in yourself and Wonderland."

As far as retellings go, this wasn't exactly my favorite. I also wouldn't really call this a retelling. It's more of a sequel/companion to the series because the events take place now that Alice is an adult. I think it was just difficult to get into the story because there seemed to be two very different agendas in place.

Alice is now an adult and her memories of Wonderland feel very far away compared to the issues and politics playing out in her world now. She's of an age where she finds people around her (her sister in particular) constantly trying to pressure her into growing up and settling down. Alice, unfortunately for them, would rather spend her free time indulging her passion for photography. It's while developing some of the films that she discovers glimpses into Wonderland--but it's not as she remembers. Wonderland is in trouble and only Alice can save it.

I was actually hoping that I would enjoy Alice's time in Wonderland but ended up feeling very disconnected from the story overall. When I remembered what was going on in her real world (or when she traveled back), it was always jarring. If the entire story had taken place in Wonderland I think I might have enjoyed it more because the switching back and forth really threw off the flow of the story. I actually ended up enjoying the real-world sections more because they seemed interesting. The Wonderland passages were too nonsensical (I mean... it's Wonderland but when you put them side by side it's just dizzying). They had the whole silly, whimsical feel from the Disney movie but tried to put it alongside the violence and social commentary in the real world, and... it just felt out of place.

I also didn't really feel connected to the characters. They all felt like props rather than people. Alice was probably the most interesting of them all but it's not like she had much competition. So, overall, this was not one of my favorite retellings. It was an okay read but I think as far as the Twisted Tales go you're probably better off skipping this one.