Read History
2026 | Score: 6.5
Big nostalgia book for me. Not incredible on a reread, but I love fairy tale retellings and think this one still does a great job in that regard. Tying in the history of the real life Alice Liddell is something I did not know about until I researched it just now. I also know the trivia questions of Lewis Carroll’s real name and what a milliner is. Very fast paced, probably too much so, but a good book for middle school age. Arguably the softest magic system of all time just based on the nature of imagination which is interesting. I can’t remember what happens in the second and third book since there doesn’t really seem to be any plot left after the first one, so I will probably finish the series.
Format: Book
Days: 1
Date: 3/22/2026 -> 3/23/2026
Summary
The Looking Glass Wars
Frank Beddor
The Looking Glass Wars #1
The Looking Glass Wars Summary
Alyss Heart, Princess of Wonderland, is having her 7th birthday party. She and her mother, Queen Genevieve, are watching the inventors parade. Wonderlanders invent stuff and, if it is interesting, the Queen can send it into the Heart Crystal, and it will inspire people in other worlds. When Alyss gets bored she uses her imagination to affect the real world. It is a power of the royal family and Alyss has a very strong imagination. They are waiting for King Nolan to get back from meeting with King Arch of the neighboring kingdom of Boarderland.
Alyss is being trained to be responsible, since Wonderland is a Queendom and she will be it’s next ruler. The tutor Bibwit Harte, a large albino man, has trained the queens for generations. Alyss and her best friend, Dodge Anders, son of the captain of the guard, are often getting into trouble. While playing together Jack of Diamonds, a ten year old boy and heir to the Jack family, interrupts them and they run. They flee the city to the Pool of Tears, a magic pond/lake that anyone who jumps in is teleported somewhere else. No one has ever returned from it.
While King Nolan is coming home, he is ambushed by Redd, Genevieve’s vicious older sister who started a civil war 13 years ago and is now returned. Her and her card soldiers kill the king and advance on Wonderland. Queen Genevieve has retreated to her sitting room with her only guard, Hatter Maddigan, a member of the Millinery (elite special forces with a hat that can turn into blades). They meet the Blue Caterpillar, smoking oracles. He warns her something is wrong but it is confusing.
In a tea room, all the nobles are gathered when Redd attacks. Her best assassin, The Cat, who can transform between small normal cat and giant cat humanoid, attacks and distracts Hatter and kills Dodge’s father, Justice Anders. Alyss hides under the table and sees the cat scratch Dodge, leaving 4 scars on his face. The Queen, Alyss, and Hatter flee. The suit families immediately submit to Redd. Hatter kills The Cat, then him and Alyss jump into the Crystal Continuum, a portal transport system connecting most mirrors. Genevieve smashes the mirror behind them. Redd shows up, they fight with their imaginations but Redd is stronger and beheads Genevieve. The Cat comes back to life since he has nine lives.
Hatter and Alyss flee to the Pool of Tears and jump in, with The Cat right behind them. The Cat returns and tells Redd he killed them. Very few people escaped, those loyal to “White Imagination” vs. Redd’s “Black Imagination”, and they gather under general DoppelGanger (Who can split in 2 then 4), and some chess piece soldiers. They call themselves Alyssians in memory of Alyss.
Hatter and Alyss get separated in the water and Alyss pops out of a puddle in London and Hatter in Paris. Hatter begins a worldwide journey to find Alyss, learning how to use puddles to reenter wonderland via the pool of tears. Alyss befriends a local orphan named Quigly Gaffer and his gang, and makes money by using her imagination to make a flower sing. But the longer she is on Earth the less she can do and eventually they are forced to steal food. Alyss is caught and sent to an orphanage before being adopted by the Liddells. Mr. Liddell is dean of Christchurch college, and her adopted sisters make fun of her stories of Wonderland.
Dodge, General Doppelganger, and chessmen such as the White Rook continue to be an underground guerilla resistance, but Redd mostly controls Wonderland. She has turned it into a bit of a slum and forces Bibwit Harte to replace ancient books. Dodge is only set on vengeance against The Cat and has no regard for his own life.
Alyss meets Reverend Charles Dodgson, who seems to believe her story, but then publishes Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as Lewis Carroll, and she is so angry and distraught she vows never to think of Wonderland again. She becomes a standup young lady of England and makes her new family proud. Eventually catching the eye of and agreeing to marry Prince Leopold, youngest son of Queen Victoria. Hatter sees the book about Alice and now knows where to find her, but when he gets close a soldier shoots him, and he retreats to Wonderland to heal.
Dodge finds Hatter coming out of the Pool of Tears and helps him to the Alyssians base. Jack of Diamonds is trying to convince them to agree to a meeting with Redd. He has been a self serving double agent for both sides for years. The rebels are overjoyed to see Hatter and learn of Alyss. Jack hurries off to tell Redd. Since Hatter is hurt Dodge goes to retrieve Alyss. When Redd learns Alyss is alive she kills The Cat in anger and sends him and soldiers to finish the job.
On her wedding day to Leopold, The Cat and a group of robotic card soldiers called The Cut attack. Dodge rushes Alice to safety, and they flee to the Pool of Tears. They are pursued by The Cat but make it safely back to the Alyssian camp. Alyss is overwhelmed by everything. She had almost convinced herself Wonderland was not real, and her imagination does not work. Bibwit Harte also defects back to their side. Alyss and Dodge go to see the old Heart Palace, which is in disrepair. Redd senses them and destroys the palace.
While Dodge and Alyss are out, Jack of Diamonds leads The Cat and soldiers to the camp and they attack. Alyss and Dodge return, and them, Hatter, general Doppelganger, Bibwit Harte, the White Rook, and few others escape into the Crystal Continuum. Redd orders all mirrors smashed and the continuum begans to shrink, they barely escape out a mirror in the volcanic fire lands, where they are attacked by a Jabberwocky and forced to flee. They are headed to the Valley of Mushrooms to see the Caterpillar oracles.
The Blue Caterpillar tells Alyss where the Looking Glass Maze is in a riddle. It is the hereditary test of queens to make them ready to rule. Alyss has slowly been regaining her imagination powers. They head to Wonderland city and meet a young girl, Homburg Molly. Hatter dislikes her because she is a “Halfer”, half Milliner half civilian. They flee to a puzzle shop with soldiers on their tales and Alyss enters the Looking Glass maze.
She encounters visions of herself, her parents, and her worst memories. She is forced to fight and be a good person and eventually reaches a white scepter and is ejected from the maze. She is now mega powerful and kills all of the attacking soldiers at once. Her group plans an attack on Mt. isolation, where Redd rules.
Alyss summons a ton of tiny fake soldiers as a distraction and they all sneak in the back. Dodge races off to find The Cat and the others split up. Dodge ends up in a battle with The Cat and takes more of his lives. Alyss finds Redd and they begin to battle. It is fairly even but Redd is on the offensive. The Cat is about to kill Dodge, so Alyss summons an AR52 (card assault rifle) into his hands, but gets knocked out in the process. She wakes up back in London, her family saying she was dreaming, but Dodge makes her realize it is a trick. She snaps out and fights Redd, dominating her this time. Alyss’ team seems to have almost won, and they break Redds scepter. She jumps into the Heart Crystal, and The Cat, on his last life, follows. No one knows what exactly this means.
Alyss creates a duplicate of herself to go back to Earth and appease her family. And her and her group begin to try to rebuild Wonderland. THE END.