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    Alice
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    Alice
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    Alice
    Ebook283 pages4 hours

    Alice

    By Christina Henry

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    In a warren of crumbling buildings called the Old City, a hospital echoes with the screams of the poor souls inside. Inside, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn't remember why she's in such a terrible place. Just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood…Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTitan Books
    Release dateJun 28, 2016
    ISBN9781785653315
    Author

    Christina Henry

    Christina Henry is a horror and dark fantasy author whose works include Horseman, Near the Bone, The Ghost Tree, Looking Glass, The Girl in Red, The Mermaid, Lost Boy, Alice, and Red Queen. She enjoys running long distances, reading anything she can get her hands on and watching movies with samurai, zombies and/​or subtitles in her spare time. She lives in Chicago with her husband and son and tweets @C_Henry_Author.

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    Reviews for Alice

    4/5

    289 ratings24 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Alice by Christina Henry

      We begin in a mental hospital, where Alice is alone, save for her next door neighbor, who she only sees through a small hole in the wall. Hatcher, so named because he killed using an ax, has been the only voice she hears for years. There is a fire and they escape. (He is also Hatter, as mad as Alice, after taking drugs the nurses put in her food for years, and being alone in her cell with her violent, half remembered thoughts of what happened during her time with Rabbit)

      Thus begins an adventure where Alice seeks to find the perpetrator of her downfall, Rabbit. Rabbit left her with a scar across half her face, but he did not escape the encounter with Alice unscathed. Along the way she meets the traditional but enhanced characters Cheshire, Caterpillar, Walrus, and Jabberwock. In this extended version of the Alice in Wonderland story, the bad guys are like gang bosses, controlling parts of The New City. The action starts after Alice's adventures down the rabbit hole are over. The traditional elements of the Alice tale, including roses, food stuffs that change your size, talking animals and such, are twisted into a unique story that sails along after a slow start. There is quite a lot of violence and blood, what with a character who favors an ax, but it is not too much to handle.

      There is enough story left at the end that I am expecting a sequel. I am looking forward to hearing Hatcher's story in the next volume.

      I received an advance copy for review.
    • 5/5
      I love a good re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland. This was a great version! It was definitely much darker than the original tale, but it kept the essence of Carroll's version while creating a whole new story to tell. I couldn't put it down and finished it in about 4 or 5 hours. Highly recommended!
    • 3/5
      An A for creativity for sure. I enjoyed this retelling of Alice in Wonderland and appreciated the creativity . . . it was good not great though. I lost interest a few times and wished for a little additional description - it was slightly rushed leaving some richness behind that would have made the book better.
    • 4/5
      I was expecting ALICE to be dark and creepy and it was dark and creepy. Creepy isn't something I usually go for, but Henry did a great job blending her dark and creepy into something I was able to enjoy and I was glad I was able to read it.Alice has been in a mental hospital for a while so her head is a pretty dark place. She has a rough past that we slowly learn about and she slowly remembers as the story develops. Hatcher is her neighbor that she has only talked to and seen through the mouse hole in her wall until they escape during a fire that kills all the other patients at the hospital. It took me a little bit to understand the relationship between Alice and Hatcher. You know they are friends, then they seem like more, then they don't. It's a bit confusing, but by the end I had an understanding of them and what they felt for each other and why it was an important relationship to the story. The character development and growth from beginning to end was really phenomenal. All the traditional Alice in wonderland characters are present, but in ways you don't expect. The story is well told and the characters really do make the book that much more. Some might have a hard time reading about the way that woman are abused and used in the story, so I want to make sure to put that warning in here. It can be hard to read about. With a great pace, a fantastically written world and the dark adventures the characters find themselves on, ALICE had me glued to the pages. Henry did a great job of telling us her version of Alice in Wonderland.* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      This dystopic future riff on the ideas of Alice in Wonderland is a delight from start to finish. A bitter commentary on the place of women in society, the story still allows Alice to have some agency, even as she runs as fast as she can to never quite get anywhere. Recommended for fans of Alice in Wonderland, transformative works, and dystopia horror.
    • 5/5
      As the time for Hugo Award nominations ends next Thursday night, I'm going through last year's list of things I've read to pull out my idea of the best. Some I've already reviewed here, but there are two that I need to get reviewed before the deadline. The First is: Alice by Christina Henry.

      I'm a sucker for anything Alice in Wonderland. On the other hand, a take-off on this classic work that falls short is sure to get me ranting and raving. I'm happy to report that Ms. Henry doesn't fall short, and in fact hits the mark beautifully.

      This surprises me because the descriptions of the book on the various retail sites left me a little wary. This is a dark and gritty take on Alice and her cohorts, with a feel I would call "Victorian Inner City." Normally, this is not the kind of thing I would go for, but in this case I'm glad I did. Prepare to have your ideas of the Alice stories go to a very dark place, but to still retain the feel of the classic characters. Alice still feels Alice. The other characters are far different, but still are recognizable as related to their originals. But let me be clear about one thing: this is not a book for children. If you read this to the little ones as a bedtime story, prepare to have them never sleep again.

      If I have any complaint at all it is that the final showdown near the end of the book wraps up a little too neatly. However, this is not a big enough issue to have me lose enthusiasm for the story. In fact, I have many unanswered questions and suspicions that have me anxious for the next book in the series: The Red Queen, which comes out in July. I'll be reviewing it here next year. If it holds up to this novel, then the series is sure to be on my all time favorites list. Christina Henry deserves highest praise for her work here.
    • 5/5
      Our review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Pack Alpha - Chelle:*Copy received in exchange for an honest reviewA dark, dangerous, and delightfully gritty trip through the looking-glass. Christina Henry absolutely enthralls with Alice! This is one dark fantasy that I will be returning to again and again.Once upon a time, there was magic in the world. Not only magic, but those lucky enough to wield it. Magicians. Things happened to change the world, and Magicians were thought to have died out. Mob-style bosses took over the quarters of the Old City, and utter depravity ran rampant. When two unlikely companions meet and set about on a journey of discovery and vengeance, secrets are revealed, and lives are forever changed.Alice is beautifully written, completely captivating, and utterly unique. Most of our favorites from Carroll's amazing tales are used as inspiration for the characters in Alice, but turned on their head to make it more of a dark fantasy versus the trippiness we all remember from Lewis's tales. I felt hints of dystopia, some connections to Once Upon A Time in Wonderland TV show (more so given what I am assuming book #2 will be about) and, most importantly--and above all else--the gripping and action-packed storytelling I've come to know and love from Christina Henry.This book has a little bit for everyone - there's danger, mystery, intrigue, suspense, a little bit of romance (subtly hinted at), action, magic, mayhem, and even a bit of a happily ever after, though there is plenty left to be resolved! If you like Alice in Wonderland and/or Through the Looking Glass even a little bit, give Alice a shot. But be warned, this tale is not for the faint of heart. It is dark. It is dangerous. It makes you take a look at some of the more tainted sides of the human psyche. But it is entertainment at its best, and I am honored to have had a chance to read it. I absolutely cannot wait for more!
    • 4/5
      A deliciously dark and twisty take on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that can read as both a retelling or a continuation, Alice by Christina Henry finds our heroine Alice locked away in an asylum after she is found wandering the Old City with no memory other than a bloody tea party and a man with long ears, like a rabbit would have. In the cell next to hers is Hatcher, a serial killer who lives in a world of lucidity followed by fits of madness. They form a bond, only able to communicate through nothing more than a mouse-hole in the wall. One night, the hospital catches fire, and Hatcher and Alice escape, just in time to watch the hospital crumble and something dark and sinister rise from the smoke.The world they escape into, the Old City, is run by mob bosses who each holds a portion of the city under their control. There used to be magic in this world, too, but the Magicians were long thought to be gone from the world. Now there is only the Old City, and the bosses that control it. But Hatcher and Alice know there is something else in the city now, something killing everyone in its path as it searches for the one thing that can destroy it, and Hatcher and Alice are the only two who can stop it. I love new takes on Wonderland, and thought this was an especially impressive re-imagining. Full of dystopian and noir elements, this Wonderland is certainly not full of wonders; instead it is full of dark corners and dangerous shadows, all under the control of the bosses of each district in the Old City, bosses such as Cheshire and the Caterpillar. This was something I particularly enjoyed, seeing familiar characters presented in entirely new renditions, yet staying true to their original essence. These are treacherous characters, though, and the lives of those living in their districts mean nothing to them. It is a precarious balance in the Old City, one that seems to be challenged by the bosses wanting to expand their territory, and whether they like it or not, Alice and Hatcher find themselves caught up in the disputes. Alice is not for the faint of heart. The world Henry created here is a dangerous one full of violence, and terrible things happen to the people inhabiting it. There are moments of light sprinkled here and there, but this is not really a happy book. Don't come in expecting a dream-like tale, jumping from one psychedelic adventure to the next; this is one giant psychotic nightmare. Of course, should Christina Henry ever revisit these characters, I'll be sure to find out what happens to them. After all, there are still plenty of characters from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There that we haven't met in Henry's world yet.
    • 3/5
      For a creepy quest story, I felt very little tension. I did like the echoes of Alice in Wonderland, many were very subtle (some were not). Wouldn't go out of my way to read this one, people.
    • 5/5
      4.5 ? A unique, interesting, unexpected and twisted version of the original story.
    • 4/5
      A darkly imagined retelling of Alice in Wonderland as a pretty steamy (and steampunkish) horror story. Lots of grisly scenes, plenty of sadness and implied sexual torment. Not for young people, and probably not for most older people either. But if you like like crazed retellings of classic children’s books and don’t mind some graphic violence, author Henry will take you on a wild ride that will creep you out. But don’t look for many endearing, or even tolerable characters.
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed the fast pace and dark tone of this retelling, as usual Christina Henry is just my level of dark and terrible. But also CW for a looot of rape and sexual assault references, body horror, etc.
    • 5/5
      Well, jeez. That was violent and grim and not at all what I would have planned on reading/listening to at this time of stress and anxiety and uncertainty, but dang, I really liked it. I also delayed reading this for five years because I knew this about the book and was a little afraid of it mangling one of my favorite stories, but--again--dang, I really liked it.
    • 4/5
      i've longed for a dark Alice in Wonderland story since the Madness Returns video game and this book gave the same atmosphere (minus the hallucinations). it was exciting, the villains creepy, and Alice's backstory... wow, poor thing. i'm starting the sequel right away!
    • 4/5
      Alice is a young woman living in an insane asylum in a city divided.

      She grew up in the New City, and at sixteen, she went with a friend, Dor, on an adventure into the Old City. The Old City is completely surrounded and contained by the New City, and contains all that the New City would like to deny. That includes dirt and poverty, but also crime and magic.

      The adventure did not go well, and Alice is returned to the New City talking only of a tall man with long rabbit ears. Soon she is hospitalized, and is fed powders with every meal that dull her senses and awareness.

      In time she starts talking to another patient through a mouse hole in the wall between their cells. That man's name is Hatcher, although it didn't used to be.

      One of his few memories is of killing a lot of people with a hatchet.

      Among their other topics of conversation, he tells her a terrifying tale of a creature he calls the Jabberwock. It's a creature of power and magic, and utterly destructive, and is currently imprisoned in the basement of the hospital they're in. He can feel it sometimes, when it wakes up.

      And then one night, the hospital burns. Alice and Hatcher escape, but so does the Jabberwock.

      Alice is plunged back into a nightmare she and Hatcher had both mostly forgotten.

      Alice was raised in the comfort and safety of the New City. She's been nowhere except the hospital for ten years. Now she's out in the Old City, hunting the Rabbit and hoping to kill or contain the Jabberwock, along with a man who tells her he's an ax murderer.

      What could possibly go wrong?

      This is a really impressive reworking of the Lewis Carroll's Alice stories, and a lot darker than I normally like. But Alice and Hatcher, and the people they encounter, including the Rabbit, the Walrus, the Caterpillar, and Cheshire, are interesting, complicated, compelling characters. I might not go on to read the next book in the sequence, but I don't at all regret reading, or rather listening to, this one.

      Recommended.

      I bought this audiobook.
    • 5/5
      This one gets all the stars! This was so good. I have read the Alice in wonderland book once and seen various versions of the movie. I can honestly say the only one I like is the animated movie. But this book took the story and kicked it in the butt!This book is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of violence and some gore. There is all manner of cruelty toward humans and animals and there is rape (although not graphically depicted). This is one of the books where you root for the protagonists and the characters don't make stupid decisions that piss you off and make you happy when it inevitably comes back the bite them.The story follows Alice, who is from the New City. She ventured into the Old (forbidden) City with her best friend Dor. When she returns she has been raped, her face is scarred, no one knows what happened to Dor, and Alice is somewhat mad (as a hatter). She is put into an asylum and meets Hatcher through a mouse hole in the wall between them. For years they keep one another company and help each other maintain a modicum of sanity. When a fire breaks out, Hatcher and Alice escape and thus their adventure to stop the Jabberwocky begins.This is just really great storytelling. We meet the characters of the original book, the Rabbit, Cheshire, Tweedle Dee and Dumb...only they're all very twisted and dark versions of themselves. The ending is actually satisfying, but also leaves the door open for the sequel, which I will be starting immediately because I need to know what happens next for Alice and Hatcher! This is an excellent retelling, which may even convince me to give the source material another try.
    • 4/5
      3.5/5 interesting read. Felt like the violence against women and descriptive gore was too much, too redundant and almost like shoving a political message down our throats regarding the objectifying of women. Loved Hatcher, great character development. Overall entertaining and quick read.
    • 1/5
      I found it rather trite and clichéd - couldn't be bothered to finish.
    • 4/5
      It recently occurred to me that over the years I’ve consumed a fair number of movies, games, comics, television shows etc. featuring retellings or re-imaginings of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – but never a novel. Huh. Suffice to say I was pretty shocked by this realization; after all, there are quite a few high-profile titles out there.Christina Henry’s Alice therefore had the distinction of being my first “Alice retelling novel”, and I’m actually quite happy about that. Of the many different versions of Lewis Carroll’s classic that I have experienced, my favorite ones were typically those considered “dark” or “twisted” – and to be honest, those are the types I’m mostly interested in. There’s just something about the original tale that lends itself to the creepy or macabre treatment.In any case, dark was what I wanted and dark was what I got. Henry’s retelling is definitely not for the faint of heart, and readers should also beware that themes of sexual violence and abuse feature heavily in this novel. This is Alice’s Adventures told through a horror lens, as vicious and sharp as a butcher’s knife wielded unflinchingly in your face, and all the whimsy and magical light-heartedness is warped here into a horrible nightmare of savagery and pain. If you enjoy close adaptations or would prefer to see the fanciful nature of the original story preserved, this book is not for you. But if, on the other hand, you know what you’ll be getting into and would like to see a refreshing new take on creative retellings, then this one could very well be right up your alley.Alice begins with an introduction to our eponymous protagonist, a young woman who has spent the last ten years in a hospital ward for the insane along with the city’s other undesirables. She can’t remember the events that precipitated her imprisonment, and only knows what she’s been told – that as a girl she went missing, and then was later found again beaten and broken, one cheek slashed open and blood running down between her legs, gibbering nonsensically about “the Rabbit”. Now Alice finds herself mostly forgotten by the world, and her only friend is another prisoner called Hatcher, a multiple murderer who talks to her through a mouse hole in the wall connecting their cells.One night, a fire breaks out in the hospital allowing Alice and Hatcher to escape, but the two of them are far from free. A shadowy monster known as the Jabberwocky is on the hunt, and it has their scent. The only way to be rid of the beast is to slay him with a magical blade, forcing Alice and Hatcher to seek it out in the heart of Old City where they will face monsters of a different sort – for this is where the magician crime lords rule, feeding off the fear and misery of the populace. Within their ranks are the men known as Cheshire, Caterpillar, the Walrus…and to Alice’s dismay, her old enemy the Rabbit.As I was saying, if you like your Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland retellings dark and twisted, you’ve come to the right place. Christina Henry doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to filling her world with brutal violence and death. Her protagonists are troubled and broken people, haunted by traumatic pasts and memories. It’s not a happy book. And yet, beneath all the horror and disturbing themes, I’m impressed by the author’s sheer imagination and creativity. I like how she’s taken the familiar elements from the original story and reworked them into her version, making Alice one of the most unique retellings I’ve ever read.Still, as much as I enjoyed this novel, I couldn’t help but feel like it was missing something vital. In spite of its relatively short length, Alice took me an inordinate amount of time to finish due to the numerous occasions where I got distracted or drifted off while reading. I liked the book a lot, but it just didn’t grip me the way it ought to have, even though the characters had purpose and the plot maintained a steady momentum. I wanted to stay connected but at times it was a struggle, almost like the darkness in the story was a massive black hole that sucked all life from its surroundings. To be clear though, it wasn’t the brutal nature of the story that affected me, but rather the hollowing effect it had on the characters. Both Alice and Hatcher felt distant to me, and whether or not this is by design, it had an impact on my experience.Nevertheless, I’m still a fan. Alice is unconventional and rather fascinating in its uniqueness. This book is certainly not for everyone, but I can see it scoring a hit with readers who enjoy strange and dark retellings. Themes like sexual abuse and psychological trauma makes this one a disturbing read, but I feel they are handled with a complexity that’s not just there for shock value and cheap thrills. While Alice features a self-contained story, the end does leaves things somewhat open for a future installment. If that’s the case, I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing more.
    • 5/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: A deliciously dark story of what happened after Alice returned.Opening Sentence: “If she moved her head all the way against the wall and tilted it to the the left she could just see the edge of the moon through the bars.”The Review:Alice is in a mental hospital in Old City, when she came back from Rabbit’s she couldn’t remember a thing. They have kept her drugged for years, but lately she has managed to meet a new friend, Hatcher. Hatcher has forgotten things too, although he remembers that he has killed people. He also knows about the Jabberwock. Even though Alice thinks it is made up, she listens to him because he believes her about Rabbit. One night she awakens to a fire in the hospital and Hatcher helps her escape.They begin their hunt of the Jabberwock, and both Alice and Hatcher begin to remember some of who they were before. As they try to avoid the people in power in Old City they begin to realize they must face the past in order to defeat the Jabberwock.In essence, this is a retelling because this isn’t just what happens to Alice after the going down the rabbit hole. In this world, Old City is broken up into territories and bad men run each section. Cheshire, Caterpillar, Rabbit and Walrus. As Alice and Hatcher visit each territory things are uncovered and they discover more and more about who they were before the hospital. I will be honest, I was more than a little nervous going into this book. I love retellings, I just don’t always love them, if you get what I mean. I can’t even pinpoint what it is that will make me love a story or hate it, but this is one of those genre’s that I love but I often experience a lot of let downs.That being said, I loved, loved, loved this book. I devoured it and when I realized it was the beginning of a new series I was extremely excited. I will say that there is violence and extreme violence or hints of violence against women in this book, so I would avoid it if you can’t read about that. While there is a small hint of romance, it isn’t even close to the main focus, but I will say that I adored the trust and relationship between Hatcher and Alice. At first I kind of wondered about it, but as the story goes on I totally got on board. I will say this story pays homage to Lewis Carroll’s book, but Christina Henry totally makes it her own. This a dark twisted book full of violence, hope, discovery, betrayal, and love.So if you are looking for a light hearted spin on the classic, keep looking because this book is not it. If you are looking for a retelling that is dark and brilliant than look no further. Alice is an amazing book and I for one cannot wait to see what book 2 brings!Notable Scenes:“She was a broken thing, and the New City did not like broken things.”“Hatcher was never scared, except when talked about the Jabberwock.”“I lost my way first.”“It seemed like an electric current ran from their joined hands up into her heart, which hammered in her chest.”“But there was a small place inside her that glowed with triumph, for they had all said she was mad, but she’d been right.”“They were bound together by love and need and other feelings she didn’t entirely understand.”“One day, long , she’d gone seeking an adventure and found terror instead.”FTC Advisory: Ace/Penguin provided me with a copy of Alice. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 5/5
      I picked this book up on a whim on my honeymoon and it's the best decision I've ever made. This is a dark twist on the Alice stories. I ended up reading it in just a few short hours because I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read more from Henry!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      I did not like this book. There was a lot of violence and rape.
    • 1/5
      DNF after 106 pages. Stuck in a rut of sexual assault, rape, and fear. Also, hated that it wasn't standalone and there was no way to know that before starting down the rabbit hole.
    • 5/5
      I got this book for Christmas and have been wanting to read it forever. I love Alice in Wonderland retellings and this was a very good (if very dark) one. Although it is more of an extension of the Alice in Wonderland story than an actual retelling.Alice has been locked in an asylum for years. Right before being institutionalized she was found raving about a Rabbit and something very bad happened to her...something involving tea-parties and a man with long ears and blue green eyes. Her only companion in the asylum is an ax-murderer named Hatcher whom she talks to through a tiny hole in her cell. When the asylum burns down Alice and Hatcher escape but they aren’t the only thing to escape...a deep dark violence escapes with them...a violence known only as the Jabberwock. Alice and Hatcher are determined to stop the Jabberwock before it wreaks too much violence on the streets of Old City. Alice is also determined to find the Rabbit and find the pieces of her memory she is missing.This is an interesting retelling of Alice. The book is set in a very dank and dark old London type of setting. There are a lot of gangs and much violence going on. This is definitely a book for adults the violence and gore is pretty explicit and there is quite a bit of sexual violence and discussion of rape.I loved how the different elements of the Alice in Wonderland tale are woven into this story. All the main characters from the story play questionably noble (Cheshire Cat) or very sinister roles (the Walrus, the Caterpillar, and the Rabbit). The book is more magical realism blended with horror than straight-up fantasy. At least in the beginning of the story you can’t quite tell if these characters are just dark and greedy gangster types or if they have some dark magic at their disposal.I absolutely loved both the characters of Hatcher and Alice. Hatcher is the Mad Hatter character and (as portrayed in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland) he is both noble and insane. He was a fascinating character and I really enjoyed his unpredictability and his respect and faithfulness to Alice. Alice was also intriguing; she undoubtedly questions her own sanity at times but she grows a lot in confidence as the story progresses. Both characters have the unshakable ability to do what needs to be done to protect otheres...no matter how awful or vicious that deed has to be.The story is well written and stops at a good place. I am incredibly eager to continue reading the adventures of Hatcher and Alice.Overall a very dark and incredibly well done extention of the Alice in Wonderland story. I enjoyed the characters a lot and loved the dark and dank world. The gore and violence does get pretty intense and there were quite a few scenes that had me cringing (so not for the weak at heart). I would recommend to Alice in Wonderland fans who enjoy horror. If you enjoy this book I would also recommend A.G. Howard’s Splintered series (which isn’t quite as dark but is delightfully creative) and of course the Alice in Wonderland movie by Tim Burton (which is absolutely stunning).