Cover Image: Unbirthday-A Twisted Tale

Unbirthday-A Twisted Tale

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

I’m a big fan of “Alice in Wonderland” and this was a neat modern version of the story. I really liked the idea that Alice is a photographer, because it sort of added a new level to the idea of the looking glass.

Was this review helpful?

This series is truly amazing!! It shows how even though these stories are classics they can still get a twist put on them! Liz Braswell has become one of my favorite authors and truly knows how to make older stories that we love come back to life! Unbirthday strikes a cord with me because Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite books and this puts a great spin on it in every way!

Was this review helpful?

I’m a fan of anything Alice in Wonderland but I found this very disappointing. The writing was middle grade level at best and the story was just plain boring.

Was this review helpful?

Unbirthday
4 stars
Okay I loved this take on Alice in Wonderland! This grabbed my attention right away and held it through the whole book. I loved the time I spent in wonderland. It was wacky and weird but I didn’t want to leave! This book was so fun! I want to read the other retellings by this author.

Was this review helpful?

This was a fun, timely continuation of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. 11 years have passed and Alice is no longer a little girl. She goes about her days taking photos, ignoring her sister, and spending time with her eccentric, artistic Aunt. She doesn’t seem to remember her adventures in Wonderland is real. That all changes when she develops some photos and finds that the subjects are not quite the usual English people. It seems that Wonderland is plunged in war and the Queen of Hearts as tormenting her people. Her friends are real, and they are in peril. Her escapades in Wonderland parallel her life in England. She’s at a crossroads - time to be an adult. Will she follow her heart and help those in need? Will she believe in herself and her convictions?

It was nice to see so many beloved characters and their counterparts. The conflict in the real world is timely, as we look at the state of race relations in this country. There are xenophobic, bigoted people who are trying to come to power in Alice’s town. A hate crime was committed against her friend and she can speak up for those who are not being listened to. There is a little bit of romance and it’s very cute. Overall, I enjoyed this twisted tale and diving back into Alice’s world.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review your titles.
I do appreciate it and continue to review books that I get the chance to read.
Thanks again!

Was this review helpful?

I wanted to love this book. But i struggled with the pacing a bit and was not super invested in the story. I thought this book was very long and it was very complicated. I did liked alice going back to wonderland as adult. It was enjoyable read. I also liked the fact the Alice had to save the day again. it was fun read, but not my favorite.

Was this review helpful?

I haven't read any of the other books in this series, so I'm not sure if they're all like this.

Alice is 18 now, not the child she was the first time she went to Wonderland. She doesn't really remember it, mostly thinks its a dream, but is a quirky weird Victorian girl. She takes pictures, and sees the Wonderland characters in the people around her town.

Trying to merge the two worlds, and Alice going back and forth, didn't work for me. It felt disjointed and I just couldn't get into it.

Was this review helpful?

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The twisted tales are probably my favorite of any disney retellings. So great!

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

Was this review helpful?

3.5☆
Not my favorite in the Twisted Tales series but I enjoyed reading it. At 500 pages+ Unbirthday is longer than the others in the Twisted Tales series before it - wordier as well - I definitely think it is intended for an older audience as younger readers might feel overwhelmed by the challenge. Braswell's descriptions are fantastic and the dialogue crisp. If you do Disney and read fantasy, this is a book for you! I can't wait for the next one! Thanks to #netgalley for the opportunity to preview #unbirthday by #LizBraswell

Was this review helpful?

honestly, i'm not that big of an Alice in Wonderland fan. like, i've never really seen the movies or read the books, and i mean, my most of my Alice in wonderland knowledge comes from the Disney Parks, and like that is pretty slim. but, i mean, this book had so much potential, but this was just so boring and just was a mess of a book. like, Alice was pretty much 'i'm not like other girls" kind of girl, which got to be so annoying. and like i said, this had potential, but it was just kind of bad

Was this review helpful?

I think this story is definitely an acquired taste. Alice in Wonderland was never one of my favourite stories, and it seems that this hasn’t changed as an adult.

I found the writing slow in spots and some of these slow moments were unnecessary (in my opinion). It took me a while to get into the story, and I really hoped I would like it more. Objectively, I can say that the slow parts would probably not have bothered me at all if I loved Alice in Wonderland.

This is a 3 star story for me, based on the slow parts and the difficulty immersing myself in the story. I hope that others who love Alice find it to be a 5 star story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for providing a copy of this ARC for review.

Was this review helpful?

This wasn't a bad a book! I wanted to love it more than I did. I love Alice in Wonderland retellings. I enjoyed reading the book while I was reading it but it did take some time to get through because I didn't find myself solely focusing on the book. I am glad to have the book and would possibly reread if I was rereading them all and will continue on with the other books in the series!

Was this review helpful?

This alternate story of Alice in Wonderland was not as thrilling as I thought it would be.
I think the premise is interesting, and the general storyline leads it to be a good book, but I think the way the story was told did not do it justice. I found the plot to be a boring at times, and the pacing was not very good at all. There was a lot of pages spent developing side characters unnecessarily, and it all became a bit boring for large chunks of the story.

I was expecting an exhilarating story, and I was left disappointed after many, many pages.

Was this review helpful?

The Twisted tale series are always a fun read. I love when classic fairy tales are retold in a fresh inventive way. I was apprehensive about UnBirthday at first because there have been so many "new twisted takes" on Alice some I liked some atrocious. In this book I did enjoy seeing an adult Alice dealing with Wonderland and the darker perspective plus the way her photography played a part in getting her hooked back into Wonderland. Overall it was fun take but entirely too long! As an adult I can deal with length but YA never needs to be too long. For fans of Alice in all its incantations they will definitely see this book as a treat!

Was this review helpful?

Unbirthday by Liz Braswell is one of the Twisted Tales series. I love the facts that the fairy tales that we knew as children have been reworked and we are given a different perspective. This book was a new look at Alice in Wonderland.

I found the writing to be very much like Lewis Carrol’s original tale. It was imaginative and full of quirky characters. I did find, however, that it began to feel really long. There were times where I wasn’t sure I would finish it. Because I’m not one to DNF a book, I continued. The last 15% of the book made it worth it. It was a slow start but the ending finally made me want to pick the book up to see what happened.

I think I would have enjoyed the book more if it had just stayed in Wonderland and didn’t flip back and forth between Alice’s real world and her fantastical one. Overall, it wasn’t a bad book but I was hoping for more.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me a copy of the book to read in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I absolutely loved this book! I had no idea what to expect as Alice in Wonderland wasn't my favorite story growing up but I always liked it. But adult 18 year old Alice was so relatable that I actually felt connected to her a lot in this story. I had quite a few chuckles at her sarcasm and short temper at times (relatable). The politics going on in this story was also extremely relatable to the current political climate. It was a darker trip to Wonderland with quite a few twists. It was a fun read.

Was this review helpful?

I absolutely love this series. I have read almost the whole series, and have liked all of them, but this one fell just a little flat for me, and I think that had more to do with the fact that I felt like I was reading two separate stories rather than one cohesive story. That being said, I thought that this was a really fun return to the world of wonderland that I know and love.

Was this review helpful?

Unbirthday is a fun and twisted retelling of "Alice in Wonderland". Alice is just as quirky but we get more of a deep dive into her life as a lady. This story takes place after her return to the "real world" from Wonderland and she has a hard time connecting with Wonderland and has to face real-world problems such as potential suitors and being a smart girl in a man's world.

There's extensive travel which brings in bright and colorful worlds, along with the return to Wonderland which its-self is the most fun!

I love retellings and this was certainly a fun one (even though its more of a sequel..).

Was this review helpful?

This book took me a moment to get into - I think because I thought it was going to be more of a modern retelling. It was an enjoyable read and I would recommend!

Was this review helpful?