Henry never believed his older sister, Alice’s, fantastic tales about the world down the rabbit hole. When he’s whisked away to the bizarre land, his best chance for escape is to ally himself with the person called the Mad Hatter. Hatter—an odd but strangely attractive fellow—just wants to avoid execution. If that means delivering “Boy Alice” to the Queen of Hearts at her Red Castle, Hatter will do what he has to do to stay alive. It doesn’t matter if Henry and Hatter find each other intolerable. They’re stuck with each other.
Along their journey, Henry and Hatter must confront what they’ve always accepted as truth. As dislike grows into tolerance and something like friendship, the young men see the chance for a closer relationship. But Wonderland is a dangerous place, and first they have to get away with their lives.
Listening Length: 7 hours and 8 minutes
Narrator: Joel Froomkin
I loved, loved, loved this audio-book! Not only did I love it, but I could only listen to it when my 14 year old daughter was around as she overheard part of it and loved it too. it's a thing to be treasured, I think, a story that crosses generations and enjoyed by different age groups. The Harry Potter books are a great example of this, and whilst this book is very different from Harry Potter it has that same generational appeal.
A sequel to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, Dakota Chase captures the eccentric nature of Carroll's writing whilst retaining a fresh uniqueness that is all her own.
Many familiar characters appear as Henry, Alice's younger brother, falls into Wonderland and starts his own adventure. The voices of the previous characters feel very authentic despite the new aesthetic to this story, the burgeoning romance between Hatter and Henry. Caterpillar, the Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire cat, Tweedle-Dum and Dee and of course Hatter are all completely recognisable as Carroll's character's but they aren't tired flagging copies, they are just right to bring this story to life.
The adventure was fun, the narration excellent - in fact I have only one point of dislike about the book. When Henry and Hatter come back into our world, it is a modern day world and this felt out of sync to me. I also wished that Henry and Alice had remained English rather than becoming American - but that's the English in me coming out! These two points would have retained a little bit more truth to the story, but neither were enough for me to knock off a heart.
If you like quirky well written stories then please, please read this one. Actually - the narration is so good, don't read it listen to it! One of my top audiobooks for narration and content, definitiley and all time favourite.
A copy of this audiobook was given in exchange for an honest review.
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