#ever alice

[bookishlyvintage]

What's in a Name Stack: Titles that feature the name of the main character ~

[brightbeautifulthings]

Ever Alice by H.J. Ramsay

"All ways were her way, and whatever way she wanted, she generally got, even if only in the end."

Year Read: 2019

Rating: 3/5

Context: I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Red Rogue Press. Trigger warnings: death, decapitation, violence, surgery, body horror, blood, poison, mental illness. Spoilers will be clearly marked.

About: When Alice returns from Wonderland, her parents find her stories charming for a while, but as she grows older, they eventually land her in an asylum. Just before undergoing a cutting-edge new procedure, Alice escapes to Wonderland with the White Rabbit, where things are worse than ever. The Queen of Hearts has beheaded the king and anyone else who dares to cross her, and she's convinced that her entire court is trying to betray her. Alice finds work as one of the queen's attendants, where she tries to make her new life work, but a group of underground rebels urges her to put an end to the mad queen once and for all.

Thoughts: Alice in Wonderland is my favorite fairytale, so I might be overly critical of its adaptations. I can never pass one up, but Ever Alice isn't one of its better incarnations. A writer can take all the nonsense words and Wonderland references they want from the original tale, but the best adaptations take ownership of that source material and make it into something new. While Ramsay is clearly well-versed in the original stories, with plenty of nods to Carroll's writing, there's very little being added to the Alice mythology here. Combine the original story with the Tim Burton movie, plus some Return to Oz (1985) vibes in the beginning, and you'll get Ever Alice. There was never a point where I felt fully immersed in the world or characters.

And that's the second major issue. The chapters alternate between Alice and the queen, Rosamund, but neither feel like fully developed, three-dimensional people. Rosamund's chapters are almost pure nonsense in a blend of paranoia and self-centeredness (a near-perfect imitation of Burton's Queen of Hearts, I'll admit), and Alice doesn't seem to have any particular qualities. She doesn't want to go back to the asylum or lose her head, but she doesn't do a lot to prevent either of those things. Her romance with the vapid prince is fairly silly, as is most of the plot, though the ending in Wonderland is funny in a morbid, slapstick kind of way. I enjoyed the portrayal of the loyal White Rabbit, but other than that, the characters are shallow copies of the source material that never have a chance for real development. I didn't care for the ending twist (more after the spoilers mark), which was really just a coffin nail. Recommended for diehard Alice fans, but not much else.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. TURN BACK BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

In terms of bad endings, probably the only thing worse than "none of this is real" is "I gave my main character a lobotomy", and Ever Alice, unfortunately, has both. I've never met a story where this strategy worked (Shutter Island? Definitely not. Sucker Punch? Maybe, but only if you're following the main character's motivations really closely.). It mostly just made me feel like I'd wasted my time with the rest of this story. Alice in Wonderland often walks the edge of was it real or was it just a dream/hallucination, but more work needs to be done to make that a satisfying conclusion rather than a cheap plot twist.

[bookishlyvintage]

Stack Challenge: Scavenger Hunt edition x

Scripty Title: Ever Alice

Face on the Cover: The Forest Grimm

Book by Favorite Author: Warrior of the Wild

Still on the TBR: Death of Jane Lawrence

Flowers on the Cover: Keeper of Lost Things

Letters of my First Name in the Title: Summer of a Thousand Pies

[poisonbooknerd]

Ever Alice by HJ Ramsay review

Ever Alice by HJ Ramsay review

Ever Alice by HJ Ramsay Ever Alice

A YA Retelling Fantasy novel published by on August 1st, 2019

Rating:

goodreads bookdepository

Alice’s stories of Wonderland did more than raise a few eyebrows—it landed her in an asylum. Now at 15 years of age, she’s willing to do anything to leave, which includes agreeing to an experimental procedure. When Alice decides at the last minute…

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Ever Alice  A Novel by H.J. Ramsay

Ever Alice  A Novel by H.J. Ramsay

                                            Ever Alice                                                                                 A Novel                                                                                   H.J. RamsayWho remembers reading ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking Glass’ by Lewis Carroll? Have you ever wondered what happened next? Alice has always been one…

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Read my review of Ever Alice by H.J. Ramsay here.