Book Review: Heartless
**This is a spoiler free review**
Heartless is a re-telling of Alice of Wonderland, before Alice. (If that even counts as a re-telling??) Basically, it's an imagined origin story of the Queen of Hearts, Catherine. The story is creative and unique and learning about some of the classic characters lives before Alice in Wonderland was really fascinating.
The story is told from Catherine's, the future Queen of Hearts, perspective. Reading the book and knowing how it technically ends was a bit of a dramatic experience- you know the book is the origin story, but you still have no idea how each element of the story is going to play out. It certainly kept me on the edge of my seat and made the overall feel of the book a bit appealingly tragic.
In addition to appearances from beloved characters from Alice Wonderland (e.g. Cheshire cat, Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, etc.), there are new characters that add a fresh twist who you will no doubt fall in love with. Overall, the blend of classic and new characters is really seamless, and Marissa Meyer does an amazing job staying true to the original feel of Lewis Carroll while still infusing her own twist and voice as an author.
This novel is also a stand alone, so if you aren't looking for the commitment of a series, then this is a really great option. I would definitely recommend this book- if you're looking for a new book to pick up, this might just be one to start!
Overall rating: 8.5/10 stars
You'll like this book if you enjoyed: Hunted by Megan Spooner; Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge; Caraval by Stephanie Garber; The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern