Hello, hello!
I’ve been a bit on the busy side lately, so I apologize that my posting has suffered! But I’ve been finding little bits of time to get some solid reading in, which means a couple more review to come soon. ๐
Today, my review will be a short one about the first book in The White Rabbit Chronicles series, Alice in Zombieland. Here is the Goodreads page where you can read all about it. Now, if you love Alice in Wonderland and scifi like I do, you’re probably thinking this book sounds like the bombest of the bomb. A retelling of Alice falling down a zombie hole? Heck yes! However, that’s not really what this book was about. I read in another review on Goodreads that your expectations of this book can make it or break it for you. And I think that’s pretty true. The synopsis of this book is fairly vague, so it allows your imagination to run away with the title and create a world where a new Alice falls into an undead world of zombies and mayhem. At least, mine did. What my imagination didn’t expect was a story about a new Alice who lives in a completely mundane world, until her family is killed and she begins seeing zombie “spirits” that only a few other people can. Now, it’s not that I didn’t enjoy this novel, it’s that the actual plot just didn’t line up in my mind like I thought it would. Which made the first bit of the book kind of disappointing, if I’m honest. So, if you are interested in this book, be prepared for more of an urban fantasy than a twisty scifi. But since I did enjoy this book, let’s get into the good parts!
To start off, I really enjoyed Alice’s character. She was sassy and pretty kick-ass, even in
the face of some serious mental trauma. I do feel that the book addressed her pain and grief pretty well though, which I also liked. I feel like sometimes books don’t want to be sad or just get to the action, so the characters basically have no feelings. ๐ That wasn’t the case here. Another thing I loved was the sidekick, i.e. Alice’s best friend Kat. She was super confident and would have been obnoxious with her self-flattery had I not loved her so much. Which, coincidentally, is I think exactly how Alice feels about her. Her character also takes on a much more serious dimension further into the book, which made her more relatable and believable as a character.
Now, the hot piece of book boyfriend! Cole was introduced as a badass, bad news, tough guy with a man-pack of equally tough friends. He is also described as undeniably sexy and Alice can’t resist. I’ve read in a few reviews that some people didn’t like the “instalove”. However, I didn’t see it as love. I saw it as instant attraction on a major level. Which is totally believable in my book. And in this book ๐ So don’t be scared off thinking this turns into a romance. Most of the romance scenes were more steamy than dreamy, and didn’t distract from the plot but I thought added to it.
The zombies were also interesting to me, because once I realized that this wouldn’t be a “down the rabbit hole” type deal, I was wondering how the world wouldn’t go to hell with zombies running around. ๐ Most of the zombie books I’ve read are dystopian, in case you hadn’t noticed. I liked the magic aspect and how the zombies and the “sight” worked. I thought some things could have been explained more fully, but I’m guessing that some information has been held back for later books. Which I’m okay with. I feel like my understanding is about par with Ali’s, and she’s out there kicking zombie ass. The fight scenes in this book were pretty good as well. I felt on the edge of my seat for a couple of them. Which is always the sign of a good action flick.
So, overall, I really enjoyed this book. Although it’s not what I was expecting, and honestly doesn’t incorporate many classic Alice in Wonderland ideals, it was a fun read that I zoomed through in a couple days. If you are able to get past the fact that it’s not much of a retelling, I think you’ll enjoy it too!
4/5 stars from me ๐๐๐๐
If you’ve read this book, what did you think? I’m starting the second book in the series, Through the Zombie Glass as soon as I post this review. Is it silly that I’m holding out hope more classic Alice will pop through in this second installment? Fingers crossed!
Great review!
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Thank you so much! ๐
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You’re so right on what you expected (what I would expect), Alice should totally go down the hole!!
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Right?? I guess she sort of figuratively goes down a hole. But it’s not really the same at all ๐
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Happy to hear you enjoyed this book, I couldn’t get into at all because the author mixes this a lot with Christian religion. I’m a ministers daughter so I grew up around this pretty much my whole life and the way the author just tried to mix paranormal with Christianity didn’t do it for me. It was a DNF. I hope you enjoy the rest of the series though =)
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Oh, I can definitely see why that might bother you. I’m not attached to any religion, so I was able to get past it. But it was mentioned a fair amount! I’ll update as I go through the series ๐
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I spoke to my friend about this book when I had read it and I know I would’ve enjoyed it if my life was different lol. I’ll be reading those future reviews!
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I totally get it, lol. I’ll let you know if the next books don’t mention it much, cause maybe you can just try skipping the first one ๐
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Thank you!!
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Expectations can definitely make or break a book because sometimes you end up disappointed if it doesn’t match up. Sorry that kind of happened to you with this one. But hey, you have now fixed my expectations so that I won’t end up disappointed when I eventually get around to reading it! (My library has the ebook, I just have to find the time because you know how TBRs are lol.)
That’s great that Alice isn’t emotionless, I can’t relate to emotionless characters. And I agree, instant attraction is believable. I’m also curious about the zombies now! I’m glad you ended up enjoying this one even though it wasn’t what you thought it’d be!
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I love your review๐
I read Alice in Zombieland Two years ago and I loved it. Alice and Kat were defiantly my favorite characters.
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They are my favorites too! I love their relationship ๐ And thank you! Did you read further into the series? They other two books are really good as well! I still need to write my reviews for them ๐
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No problem๐
Yes their relationship was defiantly BFF goals ๐ I did I read both Looking through the Zombie Glass and The Queen of Zombie Hearts. Did you like them? I still need to read A Mad Zombie Party. Have you read it?
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Yes, definitely agree about BFF goals!
And yeah, I really enjoyed the second and third books! I thought each once actually got a little better. ๐ But I haven’t read A Mad Zombie Party either! Sometimes I don’t love books from a different characters POV and this that one is all Frosty, I guess I’ve put it off. But I’ve heard it awesome, so I need to get it. ๐
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I totally agree they did get better as they went on๐ The third one was my favorite out of the three ๐ I honestly didn’t think the series needed a forth book and I don’t like how it’s not all from Ali’s POV myself, both are reason why I haven’t read it yet. The reviews are really good on Good Reads and I’m hoping to read it eventually. I really like Gena Showalters work.๐
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I love this review!! I totally agree and recommend this book, it has alot of actiona and drama with also a bit of Romance. I love your pictures as well!!
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Thank you so much! ๐ Yes, it’s such a good series!
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