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Alice by Christina Henry

Alice by Christina Henry is a dark and twisted retelling of the tale Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. This book is part of a three book series. Alice, Red Queen, and Looking Glass.

Alice was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award for Horror back in 2015, receiving 11,845 votes.

Summary
Alice starts off in the books locked up in a mental asylum, with very little memory of what had happened to her. The only thing she remembers is being covered in blood, and a man with white rabbit ears. While in the asylum she meets a man through a hole in a wall, called Hatcher. He is Christina Henry's more insane and unstable version of the Mad Hatter. He also has very little memory of what happened to cause him to be there, just lots of blood.

One night the asylum burns down and Alice and Hatcher escapes, and they are not the only thing to escape as, the Jabberwocky that was once trapped underneath the asylum is now free. They way through the Old City which has been split up by the different gangs that run the Old City. Hatcher leads the way, going off what seems to be instinct. They come across many different characters, some of which are from Alice in Wonderland, who have been rewritten for the world Henry has created, and the rest have been created by Henry herself for her retelling.

As the pair travel through the Old City they begin to remember bits of what happened to them, and it becomes clear to them that they are not safe in the city, but in order to leave they must regain their memories, find the man with the white rabbit ears and defeat the Jabberwocky.

Magic, although it has been banned by the officials in the New City, still runs through the streets of the Old City. There are only a through magicians left, most of which run the streets of the Old City as gang leaders, all owning a part of the Old City. Then there is the Jabberwocky, who is also a magician, and Alice. Alice is not aware of this, but the gang leaders are, and they want her because of this.

Alice is originally from the New City, but was lead astray by someone she called a friend, into the Old City and straight into the hands of the White Rabbit.

Mental Health
When is comes to mental health and how it was once treated, Christina Henry uses a mental asylum to show just how badly patients where once treated in them. Though the time period of the novel is not clear, it is safe to say that it would have been during a period where neglecting the patients would have been allowed and gone unquestioned. So when Alice appears from the Old city, covered in blood in down her legs, talking of a man with rabbit ears, instead of helping her, she is locked up in the asylum with no signs of ever being able to leave. They put a powder in her food that keeps her calm and submissive. They do not care for her personal hygiene unless her family was coming to visit, which became a rare thing. So by the time Alice escapes, she is dirty and has matted hair that is full of lice. This results in most of her hair having to be cut off once they are free.

There is no help for those that have suffered through some sort of traumatic event, they are just locked up and forgotten about instead.

Sex Slave Trade
In the book, one of the first things to happened to Alice once they escape, she is she is also sexually assaulted before being sold off into the slave trade, by a couple of men they come across. Thankfully Hatcher was able to fight off both men before anything could happen to Alice. Though it does become clear they walking around as a girl, especially without someone to help you, is incredibly dangerous.

In the scene where they are in the Inn. Men that work for one of the gang leaders, the Walrus, enter and try to take the girls with them. They do not succeed that time has Alice and Hatcher are they and they interfere, killing the men. Later on though, they come across one of the girls from the Inn, they find her dead on a pile of dead bodies, obviously been assaulted and killed.

There is also an establishment called the butterflies, where girls are on show, walking around naked ready to be used by any of the men in there. These girls have been put under some form of enchantment.

It becomes clear in the book that girls are taken off the streets and taken to one of the gang leaders who likes to use the girls for either personal use, or to sell of to other men for a short time.

Cannibalism
Cannibalism is something that is touched on in the book. As the Character, the Walrus, is hunting for a magician, and wants to consume their powers for his own, and in order to do so, is he to eat them. This is so that he can be on the same level as the other magicians who are the other gang leaders. He knows the last one is a female, so he eats those that is brought to him, that's if he doesn't make them work for him. He is trying to find Alice who had escaped him and the White Rabbit.

Magic
Like in most tales, magic is present in this retelling. In this version magic has been banned and those from the New City done away with all known magicians. Some managed to go into hiding and now use a little bit of magic to hold on to their territories and go about their business.

It is discovered that the officials in the New City may have missed someone when allowing families in. Alice's mother. She leaves in the New City. Alice reveals that her mother always had the most perfect roses in her garden. As though by magic. This also explains Alice and how she in a magician as well. She was always told to be careful when making wishes. Turns out Alice could make her wishes come true if she tried hard enough. Something she does by the end of the book.

Death
A lot of death is covered in this books, as Hatcher kills his fair share of people through-out their journey, and as the reader find outs, before then as well. It becomes the reason as to how he ends up in the asylum in the first place. Hatcher kills the men that sexually assaulted his wife until she expired. He also kills any man that becomes a threat to Alice or himself.

Alice has also killed a few people herself in the book, but only when she feels there has not been a lot of choice, unlike Hatcher who go to in murder.

They also both come across many that have been killed by some of the gang leaders, such the piles of dead bodies left by the Walrus.

Love
During the book Alice and Hatcher become close, which leads into a romance of sorts. This is something that is new to Alice and after everything she has been through, didn't know how to be in a relationship. As when she first came to the Old City she was only a teenager, when leaving the asylum, she was a young adult. Hatcher on the other hand was much older and had already been in a relationship, as he had been married, and had also had a child.

They gain feelings for each other through-out the book, this can be seen in the way they keep trying to protect each other and care for one another. Alice herself also questions her feelings for a man, who dreams of blood.

The theme of love may be in this book, but it is not a plot or is it really a sub-plot, but more of something that just happens between the two slowly.

Alice

 * The main character.
 * Has long blonde hair before the asylum. It became matted and covered in lice, so it had to be cut off after she escaped.
 * Met Hatcher in the asylum.
 * Her best friend was Dor.
 * Was assaulted in the Old City.
 * Killed the Caterpillar.
 * Is a magician, her wishes can come true.
 * Has a scar on her face, given to her by the Rabbit. Everyone knows her by this scar.
 * Has no memory of what happened to her.
 * She is hunted by the Walrus, Rabbit and the Jabberwocky.
 * She turns the Jabberwocky in a butterfly.

Hatcher

 * The second main character of the book.
 * Also known as Nicholas.
 * Ended up in the asylum after killing five men in a fit of anger.
 * Lost both his wife and daughter. His daughter was taken, and his wife was assaulted and killed by the five men.
 * He met Alice in the asylum.
 * He helped Alice escape when the asylum burnt down.
 * Can tell when the Jabberwocky is present.
 * Has seer blood.
 * Lives in the Old City.
 * Worked for the Rabbit.
 * Has fought the Walrus/Grinder.
 * Love interest to Alice.

The Rabbit

 * One if the main antagonists.
 * He is dark, twisted, and cruel version of the White Rabbit.
 * His own Master, a gang leader.
 * Would make honourable deals and never play dirty. That changed when Alice tore out his eye and stabbed him in the back. This caused him to become all about vengeance.
 * He met Alice through her friend Dor. Dor worked for the Rabbit.
 * He wanted Alice and stay in the Old City and be a slave.
 * He sold her to the Walrus after force feeding her cake.

Caterpillar

 * He is one of the main antagonists
 * He is brutal, sadistic, and evil.
 * He runs a gambling strip club named the butterflies
 * He is first mentioned as the man who might know where the vorpal sword is. This sword has defeated the Jabberwock in the past.
 * He holds captive a mermaid in a glass prison, along with a girl who has been broken so badly that she can't walk, she also has butterfly wings attached to her shoulder blades.
 * Alice kills him in a fit of rage.
 * Butterflies was held together by the Caterpillar's magic and fell apart once he died.

Walrus

 * One of the main antagonists.
 * Also known as the Grinder.
 * Was a wrestler.
 * Enemy of Hatcher.
 * Sent five men to Hatchers house.
 * Was wounded by Hatcher.
 * He would eat girls alive.
 * He held girl hostage.
 * He tortured animals, used potions to make them grow and forced them to fight.
 * After Alice healed one of the rabbits with a potion, he was attacked by the rabbit, killing him.

Jabberwocky

 * One of the main antagonist.
 * This version of the Jabberwock is more fearsome them Lewis Carroll's version.
 * He is a magician. One of the originals.
 * He went dark and evil consumed him.
 * His fellow magician saw this and set out to destroy him.
 * A blade was made just to end him.
 * This blade took the magicians magic.
 * He was put in a box, under what became the asylum where Alice and Hatcher ended up.
 * He escaped when the asylum burned down.
 * He could possess Hatcher.
 * He kills anyone who is in his way, or near him at the time, causing the streets to run red with blood.
 * In the final battle, Alice turns him into a butterfly and traps him in a bottle, to never been released again, and to be forgotten about.

Other books in the series

 * Red Queen - The story continues as Alice and Hatcher begin their journey out of the Old City to find Hatcher's daughter Jenny
 * Looking Glass - The end of the series. Split into four parts. Lovely Creature, Girl in Amber, When I first came to town, and The Mercy Seat.