Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oaks was published by HarperTeen originally as The Crown in 2014 and then under the current title in 2016. It won the Next Generation Indie Book Award for Young Readers in 2014 and is the first book in the Queen of Hearts Saga. This is a YA retelling/prequel to Alice in Wonderland with the Queen of Hearts (obviously) as the main character. Trigger warnings for abuse, implied torture, executions, and murder.
Queen of Hearts takes place before the events of Alice in Wonderland while Dinah is the princess of Wonderland, awaiting the day she is coordinated and can take her mother's throne to rule over the kingdom, first with her father, and then with the boy she has loved since childhood. However, her life is thrown into chaos when the King of Hearts reveals the existence of an illegitimate daughter, one far more beautiful and charming than Dinah, to the royal court. Dinah is heartbroken that her father could be unfaithful to her mother who passed away while she and her brother, a prince born insane who has a fascination with making hats, were still young.
As she dwells on this betrayal and continues to prepare for her coronation while avoiding her wrathful father, yet still wishing for his love and approval, she discovers the dark realities of her kingdom in the form of the Black Towers, a prison that tortures its prisoners by driving them insane. One such prisoner knows more about the recently revealed princess and the King's plot to keep the throne all to himself. When it becomes clear Dinah will not survive to see the crown on her head, she is forced to flee from her kingdom and everything she's ever known.
Now, this description may sound enticing. It has many elements that could create a compelling story that could delve deep into the mind of the Red Queen or into the darker underbelly of Lewis Carroll's original story. Unfortunately, this book does little more than set up the backstory of Dinah and her plight for the second book. Characters don't grow or change much other than Dinah and the boy she likes getting into a situation that puts a strain on their relationship but this does not seem to alter their love and loyalty to each other. Dinah does become more assertive in her interactions with her father, but his years of emotional abuse has left her still hesitant to confront him. In all honesty, the reader becomes aware of plots moving in the background that directly affect Dinah and what she does within the story, but she herself never really discovers them or tries to investigate who is aiding her. It's a bit infuriating.
I did enjoy seeing Wonderland through the eyes of someone who lives there and some of the creatures and social norms are fascinating. Oaks does a good job referencing things from the original but also making more sense of the chaos. The crochet games, for example, are an important social event within the kingdom that easily become a power play within the royal family. The mallets are carved to look like flamingos instead of actually being the birds. There's also mention of another group whom the Wonderlanders consider to be less civilized and consistently go to war with. Execution day is a ceremony to cleanse Wonderland of any lingering evil by sacrificing several criminals.
While reading, I did pity Dinah and what she is going through but several characters tell her she needs to wake up and realize what is going on and I'm not convinced she ever does. At least not until the end. There is one scene early on where Dinah deals with some disrespectful Spade Card soldiers. They openly mock her, the term Recard is used, and one takes a toy from her that is meant for her brother. She begins by asking them to return it, ignoring the rest of the insult, but when they refuse and compare her to her half sister, she reminds them that her sister is a duchess and she is the royal heir. She then demands their name and warns them her position does give her the right to demand their execution. The cards apologize and go to return the toy. Dinah, however, tells them to return it to her hand that is in her cloak, forcing them to be careful not to touch her or be guilty of another crime. It's a simple scene but it shows a lot about her character, especially in handling situations that put others in their place without simply throwing a tantrum and resorting to the typical "off with his head" solution.
I do wish there was a little more going on in this book. It feels like a very long prologue to the rest of the story or pieces of Dinah's back story that could have been intigrated into sequences of her running away and trying to stay ahead of the soldiers sent after her, or even into the second book.
Queen of Hearts is a decent read but not a great book on its own. Perhaps I'll try the second book if I can find it at the library and see if it helps to improve the overall story. If you're looking for a quick read with an interesting look at Wonderland, you may enjoy this.
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