Comment

Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Nelson Public Library.
Jul 20, 2017RebelBelle13 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I was not expecting this book to be done so WELL. I've read the first two books of the Lunar Chronicles by Meyer, and really enjoyed the story and the writing style. I'm really not a fan of Wonderland or Lewis Carroll, but thought this book might be fun since I was familiar with the author. This is genuinely a prequel to Alice in Wonderland- as such, you know where the story will end. That's somewhat of a relief to me, as I don't like surprises and enjoy the journey much more than the destination. Here are the things I truly enjoyed: -The character of Jest. His magic, his connection with Hatta, and his flirtations with Cath made the story much more interesting. - The depiction of Wonderland. As I've previously stated, I'm not a huge fan of it, but I remember watching Alice in Wonderland, and reading the Jabberwock poem. Everything seemed very true to Carroll's world, and the characters all fit into place nicely. - Cath's turn to the dark. No spoilers here, because you know where the story is going to end up. As the story progresses, you see how she is slowly becoming the Queen of Hearts that you see in the stories with Alice. I love how she starts out with innocent dreams of becoming a baker and falling in love, only to end up where she does- a far cry of how she expected her life to turn out. What I didn't like really only boils down to Cath's character. She's a coward. She doesn't stand up for what she wants and doesn't speak out until the very end, when it's almost too late. She's too worried about what her parents and the King think. She does WANT the bakery, and makes attempts to gain it under the radar, but never truly speaks up for what her heart wants. Then, there's that CHOICE that she makes at the end that dooms them all. (I won't say what it is, those of you who read the book know what I'm talking about.) I was yelling at her while reading because I knew the second she made that choice, it was all over. I knew it couldn't have turned out any differently, but I abhor characters that don't speak out for what they want, and then stew and feel sorry for themselves about their lots. She had so many opportunities to be with Jest, to run away with him, and she just didn't- and that made my blood boil. Also, the world and characters are rather silly, but that comes with the territory of Wonderland. All in all, Heartless is an extremely well done add-on to the Wonderland world. It is a little frustrating wading through the Victorian era niceties and parties (those parts were rather slow) but as a whole, the story was well written, well thought out, and mostly well executed. And, apparently, there is more than one answer to the riddle "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" Who knew?