Book Review: Arch Enemy

TITLE: ArchEnemy
Book 3 in the Looking Glass Wars Trilogy
AUTHOR: Frank Beddor
PUBLISHED: 2009
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fiction rewrite/mash up, fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: The war continues in Wonderland with Alice and Redd joining sides against Arch.
MY REVIEW: For some reason I wasn't as happy with this one as I was with the other two books in the series and I can't put my finger on why. The writing and characters were the same, nothing had changed. I think it may have had something to do with a rather predictable ending and not much focus on the most interesting characters to me: Molly and Hatter.
Overall if you liked the other two books, you know what to expect with these. The writing is average (and sometimes not good), the plot is fast paced so not much room for character developement, but that's not really why one reads these books. For me, at least, the appeal is this vast interesting Wonderland that Beddor has created. I would seriously LOVE to see all of this on screen, particularly if they get a fine actress to play Redd. I'm thinking Susan Suranden (who can totally pull off crazy diva queen, see Enchanted), Angelica Housten (see Ever After and Addams Family), or Helena Bartem Carter (I personally think Beddor modeled this character after all of her crazy lady performances such as the girl in Sweeney Todd, Bellatrix Lestrange, Corpse Bride and so on).
So while I may have been disappointed in the predictable ending. I do still like this series and recomend it to all Alice fans (who aren't purists and don't mind their characters messed with, otherwise you'll HATE it) and those looking for a good action series.
WHO SHOULD READ: alice in wonderland fans, action/adventure fantasy fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five card soldiers

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