Escape From Wonderland

Well here it is: the final part to Calie's story. At the very end of Beyond Wonderland, Calie's newborn daughter was taken from her by her brother Johnny. Johnny has become the Mad Hatter and is serving the evil of Wonderland. They need Calie's daughter so that the evil can break free of Wonderland and invade the real world.

But this time, Calie is through with running and hiding. So she heads back to her home and storms Wonderland with the intention of saving her daughter.

Escape from Wonderland was an epic conclusion to the Wonderland story. As a quote on the back of the book from pendragonpost.com says: "This is very much a thrill ride from start to stop." The artwork through the whole series was fantastic and I am extremely happy to have read this story. Yes it is a darker version of Alice, much darker than pretty much everything I have encountered thus far. But it is a brilliant reimagining of the tale and well worth reading for yourself!

Beyond Wonderland

Beyond Wonderland takes place a few months after Return to Wonderland. Calie and Brandon have started a new life together in New York City. But Calie is suffering from nightmares of Wonderland. She tries to tell Brandon about what happened but he doesn't believe her - he thinks she's suffering from mental illness like her mother was.

So Calie attempts to go about her life but starts to question her own sanity. On top of that, Brandon goes missing (she believes he leaves her), then her best friend is brutally mauled to death in her apartment. And when her friends throw her a baby shower, a mysterious package shows up - with the dress she found in Wonderland in it.

While a little slow at the beginning, Beyond Wonderland really continued to draw me into the continuing saga of Calie Lidel. I can't wait to finish this trilogy off!

Return to Wonderland

For my birthday, a friend of mine got me the Grimm Fairy Tales Wonderland trilogy. Before reading it, I decided to reread Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and to read Through the Looking Glass for the first time. Now that I have read both of those (and watched both Disney versions of Alice), I was finally ready to start reading the Wonderland trilogy.

Return to Wonderland is mainly the story of Calie Liddle, Alice's daughter. Alice herself is mentally ill and attempted suicide as the story begins. To help Alice recover, the doctor recommends that her family get her a pet: a white rabbit.

Calie comes home to find the place a wreck. Her mother is in tears, hiding in a closet, with her rabbit missing. Calie follows it into the basement where she falls into a hole and ends up in Wonderland.

But this Wonderland is a gruesome place. She finds the Carpenter and the Walrus (or what's left of him). The Carpenter then tries to kill her too. Escaping, she continues on the path, following rather closely to the path of Alice in Alice in Wonderland but everything has a gruesome twist (and is trying to kill her). Luckily Calie manages to escape with the help of her mother, but she returns to a rather darker home life. The madness of Wonderland is starting to bleed through to the real world, and nothing short of a human sacrifice will stop it.

Yes, it is dark and rather gruesome. But Return to Wonderland had an excellent story and I can't wait to read about what happens to Calie next!