Heartless by Marissa Meyer
| Heartless by Marissa Meyer | |
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| Category: Fantasy | |
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Reviewer: Sophie Diamond
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| Summary: A witty, magical and imaginative take on one of Carroll's classic characters.This fits wonderfully into the Wonderland cannon and I hope it will be read for many generations. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 464 | Date: February 2017 |
| Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1509814138 | |
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How did the Queen of Hearts become the monster we know from Alice's story? Welcome to Meyer's Wonderland and the peaceful kingdom of Hearts, where a young Lady called Catherine's heart's desire is to be … the best baker in all of Hearts. But while her mother tolerates her hobby, Catherine knows she will never consider it as a serious path for her daughter, unless Catherine can convince her. However, Catherine's dreams start to get that much more complicated once a mysterious stranger appears, a royal suitor materialises and deadly beast starts stalking the once safe Kingdom. What is Cath's destiny? To be the dreadful queen we all know or to be a dedicated bakery owner?
I was intrigued, and quite honestly, a bit apprehensive about this book. Any writing back of classic or well loved tales is tricky; it's very easy to be too true to the original story and lack any originality, or held up so closely to the original that it can be found a paler imitation. Meyer does not fall in to any of these traps. Heartless is a modern, imaginative take on this story which Meyer successfully puts her own stamp on, whilst being sensitive to her source material. From that perspective alone, this is an excellent story and wonderful, wonderful writing.
It's a slow starter, but once you get into it the story is well thought out and unfolds with perfect pace. Meyer's writing has a stunning visual quality and I could see the landscape and the characters as though she had drawn them. I would love to see an illustrated copy of this book one day.
Everything about this world Meyer writes about it simultaneously new and exiting but with a familiar look and smell. And of course, there are lots of characters we're all familiar with: the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat. The only character we're not familiar with is the queen. Meyer establishes a stunning identity for Catherine, she is not what we think we know and her journey is magical.
The allusions to other literature are also well placed and very funny. I especially liked the nod to Austen's Pride and Prejudice but I'll let you pick that bit out for yourself. The layers to this story took a lot of planning and leave you thinking about them for a long time. As an Alice fan and a book lover this was an absolute treat for me and I'll definitely be picking up more of this talented author's work.
If you would like to read more work by Meyer, pick up The Lunar Chronicles: Cinder.
Thank you to the bookbag and the publishes for my review copy. We also have a review of Renegades by Marissa Meyer.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Heartless by Marissa Meyer at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Heartless by Marissa Meyer at Amazon.com.
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