3/5 stars
Synopsis
Warning! This section contains spoilers, if you would like to avoid these spoilers, jump to the review below.
The book started with the main character, Ace, preparing for her wedding. At the wedding ceremony, she was going to marry in front of a gate to the Rift. Before she could get married, however, the gate opened and out came a handsome male.
Monsters came out of the Rift too, and killed several people, before grabbing others and returning to it. Ace ran into the rift, following them. She fell into a pit, and came across a manor with some intriguing people in it.
Ace was taken to talk to someone about what was going on and her role, and was told she would start training. She had to train with Kain. After training, Kain took Ace to a library.
Ace discovered a prophecy about her, about how she will defeat the Red King.
Ace and Kain were walking, with Kain telling her to access her magic. She was not able to, so he bit her. She then got mad and suddenly had access to her power.
Ace had a nightmare, then randomly ate a mushroom, and then she started feeling dizzy, with reality warping. She came across a man wearing a crown. He told her to follow, and she did. Ace woke up after eating the mushroom to discover she was being hunted. She started running, but then came across a black hellcat. She realized that it was Kain, who was a shapeshifter. Kain fought the creatures hunting her.
There was more training.
Ace found out that she was related to the people in the manor she was staying at. She got a potion from the librarian to help her magic grow. She was hesitant to take it, but then she finally did.
They got an invitation to participate in the Games put on by the Red King, so they had to travel. They got to the castle, and the king put them in rooms in the castle. A tailor came and made a dress for Ace. Then there was a dinner between the king and the other competitors for the Games. A male started talking to Ace and Kain got mad.
The first game started, a race through a maze. Ace was attacked by creatures in the maze, and used magic instinctively to kill them. She was severely injured.
Ace and Kain were intimate, even though it was against the rules.
After that, they were captured and taken to the Red King and Red Queen. The king was mad that they had been intimate. Ace made a deal with the Red Queen in order for Kain to not be killed for being intimate with her.
The second game began. She completed it easily. Then there was an execution of people who failed to complete the second game.
Ace and Kain were intimate again.
The third game started. It was a game of cards. She won the game by flicking the cards (which had sharp edges) at her competitor’s throat, killing her.
Review
This book was a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. Clockwork kingdom, insane friends, something labeled “eat me”, and the Red Queen or the Red King shouting “off with his/her/their head!” throughout the book. I wasn’t aware that it was intended as an Alice in Wonderland retelling when I started reading, so I was a little confused throughout it.
This book was…okay. I didn’t feel like it made a whole lot of sense? I didn’t understand the point of the Games. The way the Red King was portrayed made me really doubt why he would even do the Games in the first place. If a person won the Games, they would be able to ask for anything, anything at all, from the Red King. Why? What was his motivation for giving people that option?
Within the first chapter, there were two lines that really captured my attention. “Oh, she did love to fight, that carefree soul trapped within the mirror. A soul I had stuffed down, down, down until it couldn’t be seen.” I loved this line. It really highlighted how the main character felt about her situation. She was someone who was forced to not be true to herself.
The characters confused me. The interactions between characters didn’t make sense, and the way the relationship between Ace and Kain developed was confusing. She loathed him apparently, but would flip flop between loathing him and being attracted to him. Same thing with Evandor, but it was even more extreme. She would go from liking him to despising him to liking him again within a few pages, with little reason for the sudden shifts.
I don’t understand why Kain called Ace “Little Witch.” He just started calling her that out of the blue. Why? What had she done to warrant that nickname?
Ace didn’t really feel like someone who was able to stick to a goal. As a result, the book’s plot line seemed to wobble and double back on itself.
Ace kept thinking about how dangerous Kain was. However, I never really got the feeling he was dangerous. He seemed like a weak character.
Throughout the book, it was mentioned that the people were cursed. However, it was never really explicitly said what the curse put on the people was. It was frustrating. Two people would babble nonsense. Another person was cursed with lust. Apparently Kain was cursed too, but I have no idea what his was. The book never explained what the curses were, or why it was different from person to person. I felt like this was a failure with world building.
Ace won the second and third games far too easily. She was literally handed the knowledge and tools to win the second game, and was able to win the third by flicking a razor sharp card so hard it embedded itself into her opponent’s jugular and severed the artery. A little nitpicking: the jugular is a vein. Not an artery. I did think that her action was clever however. She was told she had to use the cards to win the game, so she used the cards to kill her opponent. I did feel like the king should have argued against it more than he did.
There was roughly a 17 page sex scene in the middle. I thought that was absolutely absurd. I don’t like sex scenes in books, and skip over them. 17 pages was absurd. Especially because I didn’t feel like their relationship was developed enough for it. There was another long sex scene towards the end of the book, about 14 pages.
The book was okay. I felt like it would have been much better if it had more complete world and character building, and if the characters had more defined goals. Another thing that would have helped this book is a more coherent plot.
Fireheart Books 