As Princess of Wonderland Palace and the future Queen of Hearts, Dinah’s days are an endless monotony of tea, tarts, and a stream of vicious humiliations at the hands of her father, the King of Hearts. The only highlight of her days is visiting Wardley, her childhood best friend, the future Knave of Hearts–and the love of her life. When an enchanting stranger arrives at the Palace, Dinah watches as everything she’s ever wanted threatens to crumble. As her coronation date approaches, a series of suspicious and bloody events suggests that something sinister stirs in the whimsical halls of Wonderland. It’s up to Dinah to unravel the mysteries that lurk both inside and under the Palace before she loses her own head to a clever and faceless foe. Part epic fantasy, part twisted fairy tale, this dazzling saga will have readers shivering as Dinah’s furious nature sweeps Wonderland up in the maelstrom of her wrath. Familiar characters such as Cheshire, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter make their appearance, enchanting readers with this new, dark take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But be warned…not every fairytale has a happy ending. This is the story of a princess who became a villain.
The Queen of Hearts: The Crown (Queen of Hearts Saga #1) by Colleen Oakes
Narrator: Moira Quirk
My Rating: 4/5?
Goodreads Rating: 3.67?
Storygraph Rating: 3.45?
Length: 6hrs 55mins / 306pgs
Fiction | Fantasy | YA | Retelling
Pacing: Medium
Spice: None
Gore: Low
I picked this one as my ‘Q’ for my alphabet challenge and it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable retelling of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It was dark and delicious, full of a dysfunctional royal family, political intrigue, betrayal and murder. It has all the characters you know and love but in forms you probably wouldn’t expect and with motives you can’t be sure of.
Dinah is the future queen of Wonderland and she was born for the role. She loves her kingdom and her people and is determined to make her father and tutor proud. But as she grows older her father, the current King of Wonderland, becomes increasingly aggressive and paranoid towards her. Dinah needs to survive until her coronation so she can be a better ruler than her father has been of late. However, she continues to feel that something is amiss in her home and investigates with her childhood sweetheart.
I enjoyed the character work in this and I was suspicious of basically everyone. I was surprised buy how the characters such as the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat were introduced and the parts they played. I’ve got to add a note here that as usual Moira Quirk’s character work is fantastic in the audiobook and definitely added to my level of enjoyment. I loved all the references to the original story because it still felt fresh while interweaving so many clever little details.
The pacing was just right, I did not feel that it dragged along or was rushed at any point. I like to guess plot points along the way (I’m incredibly annoying to watch a movie with due to this trait) and I didn’t catch many. The writing was atmospheric and definitely gave that gothic feeling without bogging me down with too much world-building.
This is definitely going to be a series that gets better and better with each book (watch this space as I am going to get to the next book, Blood of Wonderland, soonish). So, as someone who generally avoids retellings/reimaginings, I was impressed. Definitely recommend.
Julia Kitvaria Sarene