Saturday, November 26, 2016

Heartless by Marissa Meyer - ADVISABLE

Meyer, Marissa Heartless, 449 pages.  Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan), 2016.  $20.  Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (some).

Catherine’s dream is own a bakery and fill the souls of Wonderland’s people with beautiful, delicious desserts.  Her mother, however, is forever thrusting her under the nose of the King of Hearts.  This particular night, Cath barely eludes becoming betrothed to the King.  Escaping into the gardens, she meets the King’s intriguing new Fool – Jest.  His dark looks and unpredictability attract her – much more than the foppish King.  Everyone around her seems determined to marry her off to the King, However – including Jest.

Meyer has written a prequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, focusing on the path of the Queen of Hearts towards evil.  Fans of Alice-based stories will certainly enjoy this return to Wonderland – Meyer includes many familiar characters and creatures, bending some of them in interesting directions, but mostly seeming to just use Carroll’s work unchanged.  The love story is a bit trite – the age old trope of the young girl being swept off her feet by the dark, mysterious newcomer.  And if you don’t really like books about the motivations of evil (which I don’t) this will be harder to read. It will be popular, if just because of the Cinder series.  My favorite Alice books are still the Splintered series by A.G. Howard.

MS, HS _ ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library Teacher

No comments: