On a recent trip to Barnes & Noble I caved and bought two books. Generally I try to keep my defenses up when I go to B&N because if I didn't I'd probably end up going into serious debt. It had been a while, though, so I decided to treat myself to something new in The Looking Glass Wars and Under My Hat: Tales From the Cauldron [an anthology of tales about witches and such].
I picked up Looking Glass Wars because I had heard a good deal about the series and I've developed a liking for most things Wonderland [Has anyone seen Phoebe in Wonderland? Awesome movie]. I really enjoyed the TV mini series "Alice" that aired a while ago as well as Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland so I figured Beddor's series would be a good pick.
While I can't say the book was terrible, because it wasn't, I was rather underwhelmed. The premise of telling the true story of Wonderland is one chock full of potential, most of which I didn't find to be realized. As one reviewer on Amazon wrote: "It's just that Beddor hasn't a clue who his audience is or where he wants to go with this series." This encapsulates how the book felt to me. As a new writer Beddor seems to have struggled with concrete world-building, designing a Wonderland that is fantastically advanced [all of our greatest inventions on Earth supposedly come from there] but at the same time historically quaint, which was hard for me to reconcile and really picture in my mind. Some of the terminology that Beddor invented also tripped me up a bit, again because I was trying to picture a fantastical Wonderland that also semi-resembled our, more demure world. It was hard for me to take some things seriously even though the characters took the existence of certain bizarre creatures and foods as a matter of course.
The feeling of the book kept oscillating between middle-grade and YA and I think the main cause for this confusion was the way Beddor approached and developed his characters. For the most part, I enjoyed all the characters. I think he created a good cast without any really unnecessary characters and there's something to be said for that. However, for me, a big difference between middle grade and YA is how in depth you get with characters, how intensely you feel their emotions and struggles. Beddor seems to have created YA worthy characters who hint at complex backgrounds, motives, and desires, but he treats them like middle-grade characters, only skimming the surface of their thoughts, actions, and feelings. I kept waiting to get more intimately involved in Alyss's grief over losing her parents and her world, her huge decision to shut that all away in order to survive on Earth, her reorientation to Wonderland, and how she finally accepted her role and strengthened herself to take back what is hers. There was just so much potential here for a truly compelling story with characters that you root for but, try as I did, I couldn't really get attached to the characters because it felt like Beddor just skimmed over everything. Nothing made me feel like the stakes were high or that characters were really struggling with their decisions, they just did 180s and moved on. Part of me wants to take this book and rewrite it, not to change the plot, just to flesh out the characters.
So I'm not really sure if I'll pick up the next two in the trilogy. I don't think I could read them if the characterization remains this two-dimensional.
In other news, Tim and I are going to the double feature for the new Hobbit release tonight. This will either be a wonderfully stupendous experience or a slightly suicidal one since we both still have to work tomorrow. The game plan is to go to bed once we get home and sleep for two hours in the hopes that we can mitigate the amount of sleep we'll be losing. I'll get back to you on whether that's effective or not.
In random-personal-experience-moment-of-the-day: It's amazing to me how many times personal trials have enabled me to connect with people who are struggling with the same thing. Most of the time these end up being struggles that are intensely personal for me and that I don't share with anyone aside from Tim. So this morning when a friend started telling me about something she recently learned and is struggling to figure out how to comes to terms with, I was blown away by how almost exactly similar her situation is to what I experienced about three years ago.
This was a topic that I had figured I would never talk to someone else about because you don't just start a conversation about that sort of thing but here I was, having found myself in a situation where this friend needed advice and assurances that most people wouldn't be able to give, but I could. I debated whether or not to tell her my experience because I could feasibly give appropriate advice without divulging my own story. But I could remember how much I would have appreciated someone telling me what I know now those three years ago and hearing it from someone who has been there - how things can work out - would have helped give me the strength and hope I may have felt I lacked.
I'm sorry if that made no sense to some of you, but I thought I'd share. It's such an amazing feeling and experience to see something that has been a trial for you turn into a positive influence for someone else.
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