About the Book
Book: The Wonderland Trials
Author: Sara Ella
Genre: YA Dystopian Fantasy / Alice in Wonderland retelling
Release date: July 12, 2022
Solve the clues. Face your fears. Survive the Trials.
All Alice Liddell wants is to escape her Normal life in Oxford and find the parents who abandoned her ten years ago. But she gets more than she bargained for when her older sister Charlotte is arrested for having the infamous Wonder Gene—the key to unlocking the curious Wonderland Reality.
Soon, Alice receives a rather cryptic invitation to play for Team Heart in this year’s annual—and often deadly—Wonderland Trials. Now she has less than twenty-four hours to find her way into Wonderland where nothing is impossible . . . or what it seems.
The stakes are raised when she discovers players go missing during the Trials each year. Will she and her team solve the clues and find the missing players? Or will betrayal and distrust win, leaving Alice alone in a world of her own? Follow the White Rabbit into this topsy-turvy fantasy where players become prey, a sip of the wrong tea might as well be poison, and a queen’s ways do not always lead one where they ought to go.
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My Review
This novel is an interesting play on the century old story by Lewis Carroll. I haven't read that story in decades but noticed various plays on aspects of it. Alice finds herself in a very unusual world with a multitude of adventures.
I liked the exploration of reality, imagination and dreams. What is reality? Might dreams actually be memories of another reality? “How is the world inside your mind any less real than the one outside it?” (813/4817) There is a scene inside a building where one can make changes to its appearance. Alice tries to wrap her mind around the idea that a mere thought changes how she sees the world. (2309/4817) And several times we are faced with the possibility that there is nothing impossible with faith. Thought provoking ideas indeed.
World building is a difficult skill. The world building for this novel is a bit rough. While we know of the separation, the reason and results are not given until nearly forty pages in. I would have preferred that information earlier. I did not understand all of the complex plot. There were so many deceptions and less than full disclosure by so many of the characters, even the positive ones, I was frequently lost. There was much by which to be confused. This book is long, well over three times the length of Carroll's. I felt this novel was repetitive for the plot.
This is a novel for readers who love everything Alice and fairy tales and imaginative games. There will have to be a sequel as we are left hanging at the end of this one. I'll be watching for it, wondering where Ella's imagination will take us next.
My rating: 4/5 stars.
About the Author
More from Sara
Welcome to Wonderland!
When I started this journey down the rabbit hole, I had no idea where it would lead me. From switching publishers to signing a book contract during a pandemic, this writing journey has certainly been an adventure for the books!
As with every story I write, life handed me a few trials along the way with this one. I didn’t know how it would end until a few weeks before deadline. With that time crunch came an epiphany that altered a good portion of the plot—an idea that had me scrambling to rewrite entire scenes right up until the final hours before I turned the story in to my editor. It was difficult, but the book is better for it—I am better for it.
It could be said that an author shapes the story, but I personally believe it’s equally true that the story shapes the author. Every book I have written has changed me in some way. With The Wonderland Trials, I can pinpoint three takeaways that helped me grow in ways I never expected.
I learned to not take life so seriously.
We all have to do the adulting thing. We have bills to pay and homes to clean and deadlines to meet. But in the midst of all that chaos and craziness is a time to laugh. To play. To make a mess on the living room floor building Legos with my toddler or take a walk to the park.
I found myself often rushing through time with friends because I had to write or work or check more boxes off my task list. But feeling stressed and cutting friend and family time short didn’t accomplish anything. It didn’t get my book written faster. I’m not saying to put things off that need to be done—it’s important to be responsible. I am saying I learned that I have to balance work and play, and most importantly, I need to be present for those in my life.
It’s not only okay to sit back and relax now and again, it’s necessary. I need to let go of the constant to-do list and invest my time in things that bring me joy. That way, when it’s time to sit down and pound the keys, I’m filled and inspired, rather than tired and anxious.
I learned to see the beauty in found family.
They say you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family. I disagree. As a girl who was raised by a stepdad who has loved me unconditionally as his own from the time I was two, I think there is something truly special about family that you find and make your own.
There have been times I’ve felt jealous of my friends who still have their biological parents around. I lost my mom in 2012 and my birth dad in 2020. I have maybe a handful of blood relatives left. I love them to bits, and I’m so grateful for them! But my family extends beyond the boundaries of blood. When I really think about it, I have family coming out of my ears and then some.
I have besties who became my soul sisters and women who stepped in as moms and grandmas. I have big brothers who would protect me with their lives and nieces and nephews I get to spoil on holidays and birthdays. As Alice says in The Wonderland Trials, “Sometimes family isn’t the one you’re born with. It’s the one you find. Or the ones who find you.”
I learned to believe in the impossible.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m the pessimist in my family. I try to see every worst-case scenario when making a decision. I ask all the what-ifs in the book. I’m like MJ in the Spider-Man movies— “If you expect disappointment, then you can never really get disappointed.”
My husband, on the other hand, has the faith of a child. When I’m lacking in faith, he’s there to remind me of all God can do. And God almost always surprises me with how He goes about doing those things. In a world with drive-thrus, mobile bank deposits, food deliveries, and every other form of instant service we can think of, the call to be patient and wait on the Lord is often forgotten.
I want answers now. I want my family member to be healed now. I want the baby we’ve been waiting over a year to adopt now. God can do the impossible, right? So why doesn’t He hurry up and do it already?
Because God is not a vending machine. And just because He chooses not to perform the miracle I want when and how I want it, that doesn’t mean he isn’t working. In fact, it’s the waiting period when God tends to do His best work on me.
More often than not, I am the impossible one, the impossible heart that needs changing. The stubborn clay that needs molding. The cracked tea cup that needs to be fixed and filled with rivers of gold. What I see as impossible to fix or change, God sees as an opportunity to help me grow. So I’ll keep believing in the impossible. After all, God took me, an impossibly helpless sinner, and made me into something new.
Thank you for taking time to read my thoughts and for giving this little book a chance. Happy reading, Wonders! The impossible awaits!
Sincerely,
Sara Ella
Blog Stops
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, July 30
Rachael's Inkwell, July 30
A Reader’s Brain, July 31
For Him and My Family, July 31
Debbie's Dusty Deliberations, August 1
Texas Book-aholic, August 2
Where Faith and Books Meet, August 3
Inklings and notions, August 3
Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, August 4
deb's Book Review, August 5
Live. Love. Read., August 5
Locks, Hooks and Books, August 6
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 7
Mary Hake, August 7
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, August 8
Because I said so -- and other adventures in Parenting, August 8
Library Lady's Kid Lit, August 9
Tell Tale Book Reviews, August 10
Melissa’s Bookshelf, August 10
Wishful Endings, August 11
Blogging With Carol, August 12
Rebecca Tews, August 12
(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)
8 comments:
Thank you for sharing your review of The Wonderland Trials, I am a fan of both the dystopian genre and fairy tale re-tellings so this book should be an enjoyable read for me
Thank you for the review. Sounds like a good book.
Thank you for the feature!!
Thank you for the feature!
This sounds like a fascinating story! Thanks for the helpful review.
It is an amazing book!
Looking forward to reading this book!
I'll have to say I'm probably more like Sara. I'm the pessimist in the family and my husband is the optimist. lol Looking forward to reading this story!
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