I was excited to get my hands on Seeing Redd so soon after finishing The Looking Glass Wars, but it left me a little disappointed. I had expected a book that had its own stories to tell, but its sole purpose seemed to be creating a path from book #1 to book #3.Which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it. Alyss's relationship with Dodge develops--at an almost painfully slow pace--and all the plot and subplot complications get beefed up; the last book in the trilogy might be an edge-of-my-seat read. Poor Alyss is learning painful lessons about putting her queendom ahead of personal affections. (I love this flaw of Alyss's, because she really resists this.) Hatter Madigan is perhaps the most developed character; he has a lot to do, and it's not all for Wonderland.
But I missed being delighted by surprises. Redd returns (although her return is kind of entertaining) and Arch wants to take over Wonderland--overall, it's pretty predictable. Dodge is still obsessed with The Cat (who has only one life left). Redd still wants to kill her niece and re-take control of Wonderland, which begs the question: Will Redd and Arch gang up against Alyss or will any cooperative relationship between Redd and Arch form fall apart before it can be useful to either of them?
So, the trilogy loses some steam in the second book, but it definitely builds up complexities that will need to be ironed out in the third book. Final verdict of Seeing Redd: Good, but not fantastic.
2 comments:
That's too bad, but I think that happens all too often in trilogies.
Sorry to hear that this one was a bit of a disappointment. Hopefully the next in the series will be a bit better. Very insightful review!
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