Go beyond Wonderland with The Looking Glass Wars

All this week, we’re featuring goodies from Alice in Wonderland, leading up to Friday’s release of the new movie.

Today, we’re going beyond Wonderland to introduce you to another book series that offers a different twist on Lewis Carroll’s stories …

The Looking Glass Wars Trilogy by Frank Beddor

The three novels are: The Looking Glass Wars, Seeing Redd and ArchEnemy.

The trilogy begs the question: What if Lewis Carroll’s beloved story wasn’t fiction? What if “Alice” was real, but Carroll got the story horribly wrong? That’s the premise behind The Looking Glass Wars trilogy. It takes the story you know & love, embraces it, and then gives it an entirely, almost Dystopian twist. This Alyss isn’t interested in tea parties or croquet matches; and there is no Mad Hatter. Instead, the royal bodyguard Hatter Madigan will make you swoon. And the evil queen doesn’t just shout “Off with her head!” Instead, she sends a lethal cat assassin after her enemies.

Here’s the official synopsis for the first book:

The Myth: Alice was an ordinary girl who stepped through the looking glass and entered a fairy-tale world invented by Lewis Carroll in his famous storybook.

The Truth: Wonderland is real. Alyss Heart is the heir to the throne, until her murderous aunt Redd steals the crown and kills Alyss parents.

To escape Redd, Alyss and her bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, must flee to our world through the Pool of Tears. But in the pool Alyss and Hatter are separated. Lost and alone in Victorian London, Alyss is befriended by an aspiring author to whom she tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life. Yet he gets the story all wrong. Hatter Madigan knows the truth only too well, and he is searching every corner of our world to find the lost princess and return her to Wonderland so she may battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.

Beddor and his publishers have also released a series of trailers for the books. Here are some of our favorites:

In addition to the three books in the trilogy, Beddor has also written a spin-off graphic novel series — the first two volumes titled Hatter M and Mad with Wonder: