The Wonderland Trials

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Five Stars

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.”

This was enthralling, splendid, and awesome!
I wasn’t sure if this would contain any faith content, yet surprisingly it did have the remnants of an allegory between us and Christ. I found that to be excitable. I am wishing I could give you examples, however those would be considered spoilers and I refuse to give you any.

**SPOILER** There is a King of the real Wonderland. The Queen of Hearts rejected the King’s love, only wanting power. So she left Him, the King being broken hearted. Eventually the Queen found herself in want of the King’s love again and desperately tried to make her way back to Him. (Not a confirmed theory, nonetheless it reminded me of Christ Jesus and us, his children.)**SPOILER DONE**

This was a clean read for sure. Some light romance. It was really neat how Mrs. Sara Ella connected this with the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. She had clever names for various characters. Chess Shire, Madi Hatter, and Blanche de Lapin to name a few. (Did you know Blanche de Lapin is French for White Rabbit? I just now figured that out, after reading the whole book wondering how to pronounce the name! Ha ha.😂) There were also many hints to the original, like croquet with the hedgehogs and flamingos, plenty of playing cards, and ‘Drink Me’ tea. I am so glad I completed the original story before reading this!

Quotes:

"Love has a way of driving out fear. Maybe the King's love is powerful enough to save us all."

“I have always believed it is far better to be late to where you are going than to be early by always staying where you have been.”