Hey ForeverBookers,
I’ve just finished “Unbirthday” by Liz Braswell. I know I said I was going to do a couple of rereads but I wanted to fit a new book in between. I’ve reread “GILD,” and I’ll reread “A Discovery of Witches” next. Anyway, I surprisingly enjoyed “Unbirthday” a lot. At first it was quite boring, but as I got about 100 or so pages in the story started to become more enjoyable with twists. Each “Twisted Tale,” “Unbirthday” is one of the newer ones of those, has a question on the cover. “What if Wonderland was in Peril and Alice was very, very late?” is the question here.
3 stars!
“Unbirthday” is set in a fictional English town called Kexford. Alice is an ordinary girl, who went to Wonderland as a child. When she goes back, what’s changed?
I read Unbirthday for a few readathons again. They were:
Reading Rivalry - A YA novel - “Unbirthday” is very much a YA novel so fits in here perfectly. The politics aren’t too much and the romance isn’t too heavy and there’s plenty of adventure!
Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge - A book by a new-to-you author! I haven’t yet read any of the other “Twisted Tales” by Liz Braswell.
Always Fully Booked - On the Cover Reading Challenge - A drink - there’s a filled cup of tea/coffee on the cover.
Always Fully Booked - Read through the ages challenge - 1960’s. The story is set in the 1960’s. Ten or so years after the original “Alice In Wonderland” story.
“Unbirthday” is a YA novel but there is a little political talk as mentioned above.
Spoilers Below
“Nothing is impossible in Wonderland,” this is the first significant quote, I believe. Before this Alice has gone back to Wonderland when she sees that her camera makes her friends and comrades in the real world into Wonderland characters. She goes to her aunt Vivian’s house to develop her photos. She gets on with her aunt much more than anyone else in her family. They are like two peas in a pod!
“He keeps trying. To be mad, I mean,” the dodo went on sadly. “It just doesn’t come naturally anymore.” The Mad Hatter isn’t mad anymore according to the dodo. The dodo is Alice’s second in command in “Unbirthday,” I’d say. He tries to help her succeed in her main task of defeating the Queen of Hearts. Does he make things even more confusing in Wonderland, though? You’ll have to read for yourself.
A character that I didn’t think was necessary was Mary Ann. She was never actually in the story, just mentioned here and there. “Mary Ann is dead.” I’ve read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Mary Ann isn’t in the original Wonderland tale. So I was thinking what was the point in her character or lack of character as she was, dead anyway. If Mary Ann had been removed from the story all together, I wouldn’t have minded as she wasn’t a necessary character, I feel.
I did enjoy the whimsy of “Wonderland,” however. In all Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland retellings there’s a certain amount of whimsy, I believe but here there was extra because it went back and forth between Alice’s real world, Kexford, where the people she knows are and Wonderland, the old place but new parts that she’s not seen before.
“The Queen of Hearts was involved somehow. . . . She had to be defeated. . . . Right?” This is when Alice realises that she has to beat the Queen of Hearts to save Wonderland with the help of her friends, the Mad Hatter, the Dormouse, the Dodo, and the Cheshire Cat. As in all Alice In Wonderland retellings, the Queen of Hearts is the antagonist. How bad is she in “Unbirthday?” Pretty bad as she’s murdering innocent creatures to get all the toys she can. I thought this was a pretty pathetic thing to kill for—toys. But then, I reflected that “Unbirthday” is a younger, YA novel, so there aren’t going to be any huge stakes. Can Alice beat her? Or does she run into trouble at every turn? I’ll let you read for yourself!
“Katz . . . On the other hand . . .
This was not, she told herself, also an excuse to see him (it was).”
There is a little romance in “Unbirthday.” This happens between Alice and Mr Katz who is revealed to be a Wonderland character, as are all the other significant characters from Alice’s home town, Kexford. Which one? I’ll let you read for yourself! It wasn’t focused on as a main point of the story or anything but Alice and Mr Katz do get closer towards the end of the novel.
The political machinations kind of went over my head a little. I don’t care for politics at the best of times so this might have been why. Also, “Unbirthday,” was definitely more focused on the magic and whimsy than the politics. They were probably quite easy to follow but I didn’t care for them and again I didn’t think they were necessary to the overall plot of the story. If anything, the Wonderland politics between the Queens was more necessary to the plot. I understood these, funnily enough, more than the Kexford politics, which added nothing to the story other than a little backstory for some of the unnecessary characters, Alice’s sister and her beau, for example.
Alice and her crew need to get support from all of Wonderland in order to get the backing of the Queen of Clubs support in defeating the Queen of Hearts. This felt like a fun political rally. Especially when Alice had to go into places she’d not been before to garner that support.
In the last section of Wonderland plot, we’re following Alice as she has to find the White Rabbit and defeat him to save Wonderland, it’s revealed. I didn’t like this as it isn’t in keeping with the original “Alice in Wonderland” story. The White Rabbit only helps Alice in the original Lewis Carroll tale. He doesn’t hinder her in any way. Here, it felt like the author was just adding literally nonsense, no pun intended, to increase word count. This was the only bit of “Unbirthday” that I really disliked and wish wasn’t there, as I enjoyed the overall whimsy of the story and characters, like I said above.
I didn’t really understand how the second question on the cover about Alice being very, very late pertained to the novel. She wasn’t very, very late I didn’t think. I don’t understand what the title has to do with the plot of the book, either apart from it being a song from the Disney movie of Alice In Wonderland, as I believe all the titles of the “Twisted Tales” are songs from the movies each tale is based on.
Overall, then I didn’t hate “Unbirthday,” but it wasn’t a seamless reading experience for me either. There were parts that weren’t necessary and even parts that didn’t happen, I feel. When a novel promises one thing and you get delivered something else or nothing in return, you or I at least feel/felt shortchanged. That’s why I’m giving “Unbirthday” 3 stars! Still a good rating but it could have been a 4 star read too!
Next I’m rereading my favourite book EVER, “A Discovery of Witches” by Deborah Harkness, so there won’t be another review for that as I have a VERY in depth one already on my blog! I might do another reread after that too, so you might need to wait longer for my next review, I don’t know yet. I’ll see you when I see you, I’m saying!
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