Hi ForeverBookers,
How are you doing? I’ve just finished “Alice In The Country Of Hearts,” a manga that I really enjoyed.
4 Stars!
I read this for a few readathons!
The Cardcaptor-a-thon - The Through - A book I didn't know the premise of before reading...I knew “Alice In The Country Of Hearts” was a retelling of “Alice In Wonderland,” however there are many differences that I didn't know, some of which I go into below...(#28)
Reading Rivalry (RR) - Illustrated Cover - It's a manga so the cover is illustrated, just as the insides are.
Fiction Feud Society (FFS) - Dark - This is a dark retelling of “Alice In Wonderland.” I say why I think this below...
The art style is very shoujo-esque, which I like, the story however is more shounen, I’d say.
Spoilers Below...
This was good, surprisingly good actually. When I started it, I didn’t know what to think but as I progressed through and began to know the characters, I ended up feeling for them.
This is basically a mafia story, set in a fantasy world—a world you’ll already sort of know if you’re at all familiar with “Alice In Wonderland.” There are differences of course between this manga version and Carroll’s original Wonderland, like the guns and an amusement park but the main characters from the original tale are still present — Alice, the White Rabbit, who’s called Peter, and the Cheshire Cat or a take on him anyway, in the form of Boris in this manga, specifically. Dee and Dum make an appearance too, as well as the Queen of Hearts, but she’s not really that present in this volume! I think she will be more so in the sequels.
It’s a character driven story, more than a plot driven story, I’d say. Yes, there is a plot but the characters are what pull you in. At least they did for me. There were some funny moments as well as the serious moments. “Alice...please confess your love for me soon...this teasing of yours is driving me mad,” is what the White Rabbit character of Peter says to Alice. They’ve only known each other what feels like a few hours at this point!
We follow Alice, an ordinary girl as she gets pulled into Wonderland by Peter, the White Rabbit character. She doesn’t want to be in Wonderland of course. She wants to be back home with her sister, like in the original tale. When she learns of the differences between that version of Wonderland and her home, she’s shocked. Also every male character seems to be in love with Alice, which I think is a more modern take on the original story.
There’s a dark mystery at the heart of “Alice In The Country Of Hearts,” literally! It surrounds clocks. This is the part that's changed from the original that I didn't know about before I started reading the manga. I don’t want to spoil it completely because if I do it gives the plot away but it’s good! “When the inhabitants of this world “die,” only a clock remains. Ace and those afterimages recover recover the clocks and gather them here,” is what a character says to Alice to help her understand how the world of Wonderland is different from her own. The afterimages are people that have died and are waiting to be put back into bodies, which a character has the job of doing. Ace is the helper of the character that I don’t want to name, due to spoilers.
You’re not meant to be sure of ANY character, I don’t think. It was exciting turning the pages to see what each character would do next! I’ll say the ending was shocking...you literally can’t trust ANYONE in “Alice In The Country Of Hearts!”
I'm giving volume 1 Four Stars because a few things didn't quite make sense to me. This might change when I read the sequel, which I’m now really excited to get my hands on and read!
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