A Blade So Black | By L.L. McKinney | Book Review
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Title- A Blade So Black (The Nightmare-verse #1)
Author- L.L. McKinney
Publisher- Titan Books
Genre- Fantasy / Fairytale retelling
Links- Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads
My Rating- ★★★★★
A Blade So Black is an irresistible contemporary retelling of Alice in Wonderland... but it's not the Wonderland you remember.
Contents
Book Blurb
My Review
About the Author
Book Blurb
The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.
Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head . . . literally.
“So when Addison presented her with the chance to be like him, to kill monsters that crept across what he called the Veil, a border between the real world and the world he came from, a realm of dreams called Wonderland, well . . . she called him crazy. Then she apologized; that was rude. But she’d seen the monster. She’d smelled the damn thing. She’d felt its breath hot on her face…”
My Review
I loved this book! It is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland in a modern day urban fantasy. My favourite thing by far was the amazingly vivid world of Wonderland. I loved all the creatures, the colours, and quirky phenomenon that made it feel authentically whimsical. The characters were great as well. I would read this again just to hear about Alice and Hatta.
Plot
The plot doesn’t follow the classical tale. This Alice is older and getting trained in fighting Nightmares. We see how it all happened at the start and a bit of training, but the plot dives right into the action at a point where Alice is already capable of taking on monsters.
This is a classic hero’s tale and a great story to get caught up in. I loved the journeying through Wonderland, but also how the plot merged into the real world and still brought the magic with it.
Characters
Alice is, of course, the main character and is very much a protagonist you want to root for. She has pressure coming at her in all directions, but manages to keep going and try do what is right, even if it doesn’t always work out. I liked how Alice was shown dealing with problems in the real world that black American teenagers face, as well as the contrasting battles with magic and dark forces from Wonderland.
Alice is a well rounded character with plenty of flaws, but has a good heart and cares deeply for the people around her. I enjoyed how different sides of her were shown through the different relationships she had with her Mum, with Hatta, and her best friend.
Addison Hatta was my favourite character. He has an air of mystery and secrets around him, and has some sort of hidden dark part that you want to find out more about.
The side characters were great as well. I particularly like Maddi, another transplant to the real world from Wonderland, but she only speaks in riddles and is so much fun. Many of the characters parallel with the originals, but all have a twist.
Setting
Like I said before, the setting was my favourite thing. I could imagine being in Wonderland and wanted to see it all for myself. The tiny details make it magical and real feeling. Here’s one of my favourite descriptions.
“A meadow opened before them; a sea of tall grass—or what looked like grass—waved back and forth in the night. The color shifted in a gradient of pink and yellow. Purple clouds drifted overhead, rimmed in silver, and bloated from soaking up moonlight. Blue moonlight. The moon was freaking blue. “Wow,” Alice whispered, stepping forward. The grass brushed against her thighs. She could feel the tickle through her jeans. She was so focused on the sky, the moon, that when a luminescent blue blob bounced out of the grass, she yelped and stumbled back. Addison laughed. Alice puffed her cheeks, trying to ignore the burn in them. She slugged him in the shoulder, which only made him laugh harder. “It’s not funny.” “No.” He snickered, trying to breathe. “It’s hilarious. And these little guys are harmless. Frubbles. They just want to play.” She rubbed her arm as a few more Froo-bles, Frubbles, whatever, rolled around at her feet, shining different colors. “Play?” “Yeah. They’re like puppies. Round, glowing puppies. Just run, you’ll see.” He smiled, those dimples appearing again. “Go on,” he urged when she hesitated. “Fast as you can.””
Summary
I recommended reading this if you are a fan of Alice in Wonderland. It maintains the Wonderland feels but with a great plot for modern times, as well as great characters you’ll want to follow right through to the next book. I loved the magic and wonder, but there is also an underlying darkness that really made it for me. I can’t wait to read the next book!
A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney
“Humans were the source of everything, really. Wonderland was the literal world of dreams. Now-I-lay-me-down-to-sleep dreams. Good dreams made this world healthy. Bad dreams messed it up. Get enough bad in one place and poof! Nightmare. Maybe not poof. And nightmares . . . affected people. Folk might not see the monsters themselves, but they sure saw the end result. On the news, reports about someone snapping and killing their whole family, or shooting up their job for no reason? Yeah, people were still messed up, dudes not able to take no for an answer, KKK mofos, the “lone wolf” bullshit, all that mess . . . but sometimes? Nightmare. And she was here to face one.”
About the Author- L. L. McKinney
Author L.L. McKinney
Named one of The Root’s 100 most influential African Americans of 2020, Leatrice “Elle” McKinney, writing as L.L. McKinney, is an advocate for equality and inclusion in publishing, and the creator of the hashtags #PublishingPaidMe and #WhatWoCWritersHear.
Elle’s also a gamer, Blerd, and adamant Hei Hei stan, living in Kansas City, spending her free time plagued by her cat–Sir Chester Fluffmire Boopsnoot Purrington Wigglebottom Flooferson III, esquire, Baron o’Butterscotch or #SirChester for short.
Her works include the Nightmare-Verse books, Nubia: Real One through DC, Marvel’s Black Widow: Bad Blood, and more.
Check out L.L McKinney’s website
Buy A blade so black
About the reviewer- Jenny sandiford
Hi I’m Jenny. I am passionate about promoting new authors and sharing any amazing books I find with the world. I am a book blogger, bookstagrammer, YA fantasy writer and travel writer.
I’m also a lover of nature, hiking, Harry Potter, cats, fantasy lands and quiet places.
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