The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor is the first book in the Looking Glass Wars series. It tells the "true" story of Alice in Wonderland. Alyss Heart is the daughter of Queen Genevieve and King Nolan. She had lived a relatively happy life in Wonderland, until her 7th birthday. On that day, Alyss's Aunt Redd, scorned after being denied the crown in favor of her sister, decided to take over the kingdom. Redd and her army of card soldiers killed both the kind and queen and were ready to kill Alyss as well, until Hatter Madigan saved her. They jumped through the Pool of Tears and ended up in separate places in our world, in the year 1859. Alyss ends up in England, while Hatter Madigan finds himself in France. Alyss, through a series of strange experiences, ends up adopted by a family. After years of trying to convince everyone about her past as princess of Wonderland only to be mocked, she begins to forget. That is, until Madigan finds her and sends her old friend Dodge Anders to bring her home. By this time, Alyss is an adult and about to be married to royalty in England! She doesn't know about what her people have had to endure under the dark imagination reign of her Aunt Redd. The Alyssians, people who still serve the Heart family, have gone into hiding, determined to bring Alyss to her rightful place on the throne. Redd has terrorized everyone she suspects of being loyal to Alyss and white imagination - the kingdom is in turmoil. Will Alyss be able to defeat Redd and return the kingdom to its former glory?This was an exciting adventure. I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy and adventure! It reminded me of The Mirror's Tale by P. W. Catanese (another excellent adventure). At the end of the book there is a time line which shows the connections between what happened in the story and what was happening in the "real world" during the same time period. It was really interesting to see how the author mirrored the events.
