THE LOOKING GLASS WARS

Frank Beddor’s imaginative tale is definitely not your grandmother’s ALICE. Herein, Wonderland is an alternate universe, the source of all creativity in our world. On Princess Alyss Heart’s seventh birthday, her Aunt Redd seizes power in a bloody takeover. Alyss escapes to Victorian England. Outstanding as always, Gerard Doyle mirrors Alyss’s fury at the Reverend Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) when he turns her life into a silly children’s story. Doyle also delivers her desperate confusion as she begins to doubt her memories of Wonderland. Beddor’s neat twists on the original clever weaponry, innovative solutions, a host of entertaining (if groan-producing) puns, and Doyle’s use of onomatopoeia through the numerous battle sequences guarantee that listeners of all ages will enjoy this first in what promises to be a wild and wondrous trilogy. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 07]