James Riggs is a guy letting his boss and his fiancé boss him around. One evening his fiancé gets upset about a chess set he purchased when he promised to give up the ‘silly game’ and then his boss calls to tell him he has to cancel his planned vacation to come into work and cover for him. She kicks him out and he walks to his old friend’s apartment to stay the night there. However, just after he gets there a strange man comes to the apartment, murders his friend then chases James out to the street where a yet another strange man in a white suit grabs him and sends him down a hole into Wonderland. That’s when things get even stranger.James is now in Wonderland, but in a very different one than Alice was in. The Knave of Hearts has taken the throne, conquered the other kingdoms and is mass-producing stream-powered machinery. Steampunk Wonderland has emerged, but James arriving from Otherworld has thrown a massive spanner in the works.I haven’t read Alice in Wonderland in um, *cough* many many years (let’s leave it at that) and I haven’t watched the Disney® movie since the kids were little, so many of the references to the original book were probably lost on me. However, I do remember enough to know that this book is a clever take of a favorite tail. Well-written and fast-paced, with a twisty plot, interesting world and likeable characters, I enjoyed this book very much.*Many thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy. Please see disclaimer page on my blog. I absolutely loved this book!!! When I heard the synopsis of the book I thought it was going to be some kind of modern retelling of the old Alice in Wonderland story. That wasn't the case at all. Instead of a new twist on an old story it was more like a continuation of the original story. Anderson did a great job getting my attention and I was emotionally attached to the story immediately. I thought that the main character, James, was a wuss and couldn't stand his fiance or his boss and couldn't believe he would let them push him around like he did. I was getting very irritated and looked down to discover I was only 1% of the way into the book. I knew right then that I was going to really like this book. I was glad to discover that it didn't take James long in Wonderland to grow a backbone and start figuring out what he wanted from life.It was fun to see the old characters from Alice's adventures and see how they played into the new story. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good story. It's even clean and has no bad language or behavior. I am going to recommend it to my 9-year-old daughter. I think she would like it too. Not very many books that can interest both the child and the adult. :)
What do You think about Gears Of Wonderland (2011)?
Somewhere between a 2 and a 3, closer to 3 though? Could have had a lot more steampunk to it...
—brandi90
Disappointed. After all those 4 star reviews, you would think it was a masterpiece. Think again
—jaimeh
tha it was a book full of twist and turns an uptable down book
—starrystars
