I was not able to finish this book. The writing is unpolished and from the beginning I simply could not get into the story. Everything felt overdone, but not in a good way. Specifically, Alice seems to just have her superpowers and fighting abilities from the beginning- we never truly see her struggle or come to terms with this, and so that tension that often results from normal-girl-turns-superhero is lost. Also, things are truly explained or described in a narrative way, rather much of the descriptions happen through dialogue, which simply seems forced.

I did not feel the characters, and especially Alice as the main character, were well developed. I also did not feel the relationships were well developed. The love interest was thrown onto the page right away, and I'm not a big fan of insta-love stories such as this

I appreciate the diversity in the book, and I think that's extremely important. The writing style and story itself did not, however, keep my attention.

I've read my fair share of Alice in Wonderland retellings and origin stories, but A Blade So Black stands out. The new twist in the world and characters make this book feel more like something completely original rather than a retelling.

I found the pacing of this work confusing with sudden shifts that left me wondering more than a few times if my ARC had missing pages (or, for that matter, entire missing chapters). I also didn't find the premise (it is effectively an Alice in Wonderland retelling) very interesting. Had I realized it was an adaptation of a story I already find unappealing I probably wouldn't have requested the book to begin with, perhaps Alice fans will find it more interesting than I did?

Thank you to Netgalley for supplying an advanced copy of this book for me.

Note: My rating has absolutely nothing to do with the author drama. I had no idea there was any drama going on until I decided to DNF this book and came to look at the other ratings here.

I was quite excited for this book! A WOC Alice in Wonderland retelling? And the cover? Hell yeah, sign me up!

And I tried, I really did.

But, I'm sorry to say that I won't be finishing this book, and I didn't get very far in. I understand that this is an ARC but the amount of mistakes I found in the first chapter really, really put me off. Sentences with words in the wrong order; sentences with words just completely missing, etc. The writing style was also not to my liking.

In the second chapter when Alice describes the Mad Hatter as a "punk rock Prince Charming," I knew this was not the book for me. Some people enjoy this kind of book, so if you do, have at it! But I, personally, do not.

I really enjoyed this book. I think we need more literature with strong Black female protagonists, and Alice is a wonderfully conceived character. I enjoyed the other characters as well. My only complaint with this book is that I felt the last part of the book was too rushed. I'm not referring to the pacing - that was excellent. I just felt that there were pieces of information that were missing. Now, some of that was intentional and reasonable - it's clear there will be a sequel (which I am looking forward to!). However, there were just a few things I wish I had a little bit more information about (like Alice's mom).

I was so excited to get this galley and now that I am at the end of it I’m just not sure what to think. My first thought is: was this the first draft? This story seems nowhere near finished. It does have a good, central plot, some character development, and a future to head into, yet it is littered with mistakes, is highly disjointed, and needs a ton of developing.

The first couple of chapters were very quick, yet immediately turned me off to this book. It was highly racially motivated and not in a good way at all. Although it is a popular subject nowadays and deserves to be talked about, McKinley addresses it in an angry voice and almost appears to be lashing out at and belittling others. This isn’t needed for the novel and seems like the author just wants to spark controversy. Luckily, this settles down and filters out after these first few chapters.

The characters were a fun bunch to follow. Alice was a great badass lead who had her faults and owned up to them nicely. Hatta and Maddi were great Wonderland characters that had their own brand of quirkiness that kept the humor alive. Alice’s friends, Courtney and Chess, played their parts as well by creating tension, hope, or romance when needed. . Most of these characters were quite one dimensional though. They had one or two traits that helped them stand out, but didn’t grow much.


Alice’s mom was one character that I think we could do without (and I’m usually huge on the mother/daughter relationships). She presents a barrier that we have to keep crossing and becomes frustrating in the end. Alice keeps breaking the rules, and probably will continue doing so for the foreseeable future, yet even though there are groundings and punishments put into place, they don’t deter or stop her. Rather than this show her determination and spirit, it takes away from the forward motion of the story (since we have to go through it over and over), makes Alice seem more of a bad kid, and creates a constant deterrent since Alice always stops to think about it

Part of this growth, especially with Alice, I feel was lost in the pacing and development of the novel. Alice meets Hatta in the first chapter. In the next, it is 3 months/6months? (says both in the same chapter) later and Alice is a fully fledged warrior (with a few fears left). We miss a huge battle at Ahoon which apparently defines her fears and a lot of development between her and Hatta that could be more important to their relationship. I think that those 3/6 months would be more suited for these first few chapters than what is currently present.

Once in Wonderland, the story has a great direction and plenty of terrific fights to keep most readers blazing ahead. I liked the references to the Wonderland we grew up with and all the new areas and histories to explore. I just wanted more. As before, more time developing and evolving this world and storyline will only make it better. Even the twists and reveals were present and surprising.

In the end, I think this needs to be edited, a lot. Facts (fictional or real) need to be rechecked as they are not consistent throughout (3/6 months/who can see creatures/time lines). The plot line needs to be developed into a more streamlined story and the characters need I little more dimension to them. This novel and series have a long way to go and show promising adventure, but are in need of some help to get there.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Alice In Wonderland - with a healthy dose of black girl magic - in a book that with absolutely fly off the shelves of YA collections.

This book was just okay for me. It might be that it's the unedited galley, but it felt very disjointed. The writing seemed rushed and sloppy. I mean, the first chapter is only a couple pages long, and afterwards jumps immediately into her already being a nightmare slayer, with no build up or character exploration at all. The explanations of the world were given in short bursts, like the author was rushing to get the difficult part (world building) over with. It ended up being so confusing in the beginning, I feel it can be a major turn off for what should be an excellent book.

**Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this title!**

Alice has been training to battle Nightmares - monstrous shadow-creatures that come from the dark depths of Wonderland - ever since she almost lost her life to one. Armed with deadly figment blades and a kickass attitude, she travels between worlds to slay the monsters, while trying to juggle friends, family, and high school at the same time.

Alice seems to be keeping up with everything fairly well, but when the handsome and mysterious Hatta gets poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before, teaming up with the hot Russian Tweedle brothers, and trying to keep her mom and friends both safe and not angry.

My notes: I love a good retelling, and I have always been a big fan of Alice in Wonderland, so I was super excited to read this one. Add in allusions to both Sailor Moon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I am totally sold.

Side note: It makes me positively bonkers that Alice's mom keeps going back and forth between calling her Alice, and Alison. They're two different names. Not taking off points for this, but still. Also, I must be super old, because I feel bad for the mother in this - who is described as "over-protective," but really is just wanting to make sure her daughter is safe in an unsafe culture, when she keeps sneaking out of the house and not responding to calls or texts for several days. For good reason and all, but still.

L.L. McKinney is an exciting author to watch. I'm very interested to see what they write next, after reading their debut.

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. - Goodreads

I am at the point in my life that I will read almost anything written by a Black (African American) author in the fantasy genre. I don't see enough of it, specifically YA, and so I jump at every chance to read it. I was excited for this book. Once I was approved for it, I started reading it instantly. I couldn't finish this book. It was just not for me and here is why:

The author tries way to hard to make Alice relevant to what is currently going on in the world. From the shootings, to White people and pumpkin spice, the author adds these things in the book and all I could think about was 



They didn't fit but I understand why the author did it. To me, she wanted to make the story realistic even though it is considered fantasy. She wanted Alice to be relate able to African American girls and I could get that. It just didn't work for me.

Another issue I had with this read was Alice herself. She was uninteresting. She didn't have any real spark or personality. She would have just been another around the way girl, if it wasn't for her connection to Wonderland. This is not to say that a plain girl can't do amazing and interesting things. It literally happens all the time in real life as well as fictional but as much as I feel for Alice about what happened to her in her personal life, I couldn't actually tell you who she is after that. 

Finally, Wonderland. The thing about authors, who do a retelling of Alice in Wonderland, is they try to lay on the crazy, the riddles as much as possible. Ms.McKinney is no different. I just feel like as I was reading the book. . . it wasn't captivating me. I wasn't interested and I kept trying since I was approved for the book.

I am not saying that others may not enjoy this book. This book has gotten rave reviews. Its just isn't for me. 

Overall, 

1 Pickle