Death of the Mad Hatter

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. 

I was really excited to read this book, as it was about Wonderland and I am always intrigued by Wonderland stories.  The Death of the Mad Hatter is written by Sarah J. Pepper. 

The book revolves around a prophecy given by the Jack:
"If the king loses his head, then the Queen with a Bleeding Heart would rule the Red Court until Time ceased to move forward. When a second carried on for infinity, every creature in Wonderland would tip their Hat to the misfit girl with a Boy’s name (or was it a boy with a Girl’s name?) who’d end the Reign of Terror. However, it all hinged on the One-Eyed Hare being able to convince an uninspirable Heir that the impossible was indeed possible—like stopping time—and that Love was worth a Beheading."

I loved the opening of this book, at first I thought that my Kindle was acting up but then I realized I was reading it correctly, it opens with a nice bit of lunacy, that has you already feeling the Wonderland effect on the story.   Sarah did a great job of adding her own twist onto the characters and paying attention to a lot of little details.  I was loving the lunacy and brilliance in the attention to the clothes that Alice Mae wore and especially her nail polish.  

I loved the concept of the rabbit holes and the candy, and I felt like I could picture a lot of the world of Wonderland.  The main characters were well described and came to life, but I wish I could have seen more of some of the ancillary characters.  It would be awesome to see a prequel story to delve more into the lives of some of the Wonderland characters and get to know them better.  

The feelings are well described and the the raging torment between love and self perseverance comes through to the reader very well.  I have read some negativity about the shifting views between Alice and Ryley and I personally loved being able to see things from the different perspectives.  I also loved the flash backs to Wonderland to slowly unfold how things got to be where they are now. 

The thing that really stood out to me to take away from this being a really stand alone novel was a lot of the high-school aspect.  The petty high school drama and immature conversations and bickering really distracted from the story.  I would have rather seen a lot more of Wonderland and had a lot less of high-school drama.  I also found that there were a few major questions that really never felt filled in, again I feel like with a prequel book being written it could really fill in the background better, or even if this was a 2 part book.  

Overall I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars, and would love to read more of the Wonderland that Sarah has brought to life, and get to know more of the Wonderland characters more.  If you are into Wonderland, or Fairy tales, fantastical, and loony, fiction, young adult and struggle, this book is for you.