Follow the White Rabbit (Beautiful Madness #1) by Kellie Sheridan - Paul's REVIEW

***I received this novella as an eARC from Patchwork Press on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

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Title: Follow the White Rabbit (Beautiful Madness #1)
Author: Kellie Sheridan
Year Published: 2013

Ashley's REVIEW

Synopsis: For centuries, Wonderland thrived as the domain of beautiful bedlam and unapologetic madness. It was a place like no other. All it took was one girl slipping in through the cracks of the universe to start chaos spiraling toward order. In the 150 years since Alice’s visit, the realm has become tainted—almost normal. Rabbits in waistcoats and playing card minions are little more than creatures of myth, and Wonderland is literally falling to pieces.

For Gwen, Rose, and Lucky, Wonderland is home, and yet they know little of its former glory. When the Alice prophecy resurfaces, they’ll have one chance to use Wonderland’s own legends to bring a little mayhem back into their reality. For she who controls Alice controls the fate of Wonderland.

Review: I always love Alice in Wonderland retellings. There are so many ways the story has been told. Many times new characters take the place of the traditional ones. In this instance, the characters know they will represent the classic characters. I like that these characters are self aware of the original story. I think it leads for a better story. Often times, the characters in a retelling don't know anything about the source material. It is just the same story in a different time and/or place. This story leads to an even more meta feeling. 

I liked the shortness of this novella. It was only the beginning of the story, but I look forward to reading the next novellas. It was a nice introduction to the characters. I have some ideas of who they will represent, but I think they will end up as unexpected characters. There are a lot of different POVs in this novella. At first, I was unsure what was happening, but I got sucked into Wonderland pretty fast. I always liked the side characters more than Alice anyway so I liked that Alice had a small part in this novella. 

This was a great start to an interesting retelling of Alice in Wonderland. I look forward to the next novella in this series. I give this novella a 4/5.


-PAUL