The Looking Glass Wars

This article is about a fantasy novel series. For the spy novel, see The Looking Glass War.
The Looking Glass Wars
Author Frank Beddor
Country United States
Language English
Genre Fantasy, Novel
Publisher Dial
Publication date
 2004 (UK) 2006 (US)
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Audio
Pages 384 pg (Hardcover), 400 pg (paperback)
ISBN 0-8037-3153-1
OCLC 64442735
LC Class PZ7.B3817982 Lo 2006
Followed by Seeing Redd

The Looking Glass Wars is a series of novels by Frank Beddor, heavily inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. The basic premise is that the two books written by Lewis Carroll are a distortion of the 'true story' portrayed in these novels. It features twists and turns on the original story, such as the white rabbit really being Alyss's (Alice's) tutor, Bibwit Harte, and the Mad Hatter is really a very agile, somber bodyguard called Hatter Madigan.

The Looking Glass Wars is the first book in a trilogy by the same name. It is currently going through further developments in a variety of fields, such as a spin-off comic book series entitled Hatter M. First released in the United Kingdom in 2004, The Looking Glass Wars was released in the United States on September 26, 2006. The second book in the trilogy, Seeing Redd, was released on August 21, 2007. The third book, ArchEnemy, was released on October 15, 2009.

Inspiration

In interviews, Beddor claims he wrote the book after seeing an incomplete deck of cards as part of a display of ancient playing cards at the British Museum. The images on these cards resembled Wonderland characters, while the cards themselves seemed to be illuminated by an unusual glow. He later went to a playing card collector who claimed to have the cards missing from the deck and told him the story of the Looking Glass Wars. The Looking Glass Wars is thus supposedly a faithful recording of this story.

Plot

The premise of the book is that Lewis Carroll's novel Alice in Wonderland was fiction, but that the character Alice is real, as, indeed, is the world of Wonderland. Carroll's novel is said to have been inspired by the images, ideas, and names related by Alice to the author, whom she had requested to make a book of her personal history. The theme of this book is loss of innocence.

The book's prologue tells of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson showing Alice Liddell (who claims her name to be spelled 'Alyss') the manuscript for Alice's Adventures Underground. Alyss is shocked by the book's contents and refuses to speak to Dodgson ever again.

The story then begins many years earlier, on Alyss' seventh birthday in the Wonderland of Alyss' memory, which is ruled by imagination and is the source of all imagination for all other worlds. Wonderland features a class system similar to that seen in England during the 17th century, though on a far more minimalist scale. The government is a Queendom with an advising Parliament dominated by a playing card based hierarchy, with the Heart family at the top of the proverbial stack (i.e. the Wonderland Queen is a member of the Heart family, and the parliament is composed of reigning members of the Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds). Females are the dominant sex in Wonderland, as the ruling families are matriarchies.

Wonderland, ruled by Queen Genevieve Heart, is still recovering from a bloody civil war between "White" and "Black" Imagination which ended twelve years prior to the beginning of the story. Enough time has passed for those in the middle echelons of government to forget the day-to-day horrors of war and focus once more on the petty intrigues of a land at peace. Alyss' companions in her final hours in Wonderland include tutor Bibwit Harte (whose name is noted by Dodgson as being an anagram of "White Rabbit"), the Queen's bodyguard Hatter Madigan, Alyss' best friend Dodge Anders, childhood troublemaker Jack of Diamonds, and military commander General Doppelganger.

During a bloody coup d'état led by Alyss' murderous Aunt Redd, the enemy of White Imagination, Alyss is forced to flee Wonderland in the company of Hatter Madigan, with Redd's top feline assassin (called only "The Cat") in pursuit. Queen Genevieve and Redd clash against one another in a final battle as Alyss barely manages to escape from the palace; Genevieve is killed by Redd. During this bloody battle, Dodge's father, Sir Justice Anders, is murdered by The Cat.

The two fugitives, Hatter and Alyss, enter an inter-dimensional gateway called the Pool of Tears, from which they emerge into Earth through an exit portal: a puddle. Alyss is separated from Hatter during the journey and she arrives in London, England, and Hatter in Paris, France. Lost and alone, Alyss spends some time with street orphans, then finds herself adopted by the Liddell family, whereby she is given the name "Odd Alice" for her tales about Wonderland and the way she insists her name be spelled. When Dodgson plagiarizes her stories for his own imagination rather than write them verbatim, she shuns her imagination and resolves to believe Wonderland false and lost to her forever.

Meanwhile, Hatter is searching every corner of the world to find the lost princess. Believing that men dealing in headwear are men to be trusted above all others, he stops in every hat shop he can, inquiring the whereabouts of Princess Alyss Heart. Along his search he also trails people alight with the glow of White Imagination, knowing that Alyss would most likely glow the brightest. In the process, he becomes a mystery to people on Earth, who catch glimpses of him and create legends of a blade-wielding man on a strange quest leading him to headwear merchants around the world. After thirteen years of searching for the lost princess, Hatter finds Dodgson's book; he uses this to track down the author, and in turn, find Alyss, who is now twenty years of age. Upon arrival in Oxford, Hatter discovers that the princess is to marry to Prince Leopold. Before Hatter is able to rescue the princess, he is unexpectedly wounded and driven back to Wonderland. Dodge himself goes into the Pool of Tears, and rescues Alyss.

For thirteen long, hard years, the people of Wonderland have suffered under Redd's dictatorial reign of Black Imagination. The Wonderlanders still loyal to White Imagination have gathered within the Whispering Woods and have been surviving on their own, led by military leader General Doppelganger and Bibwit Harte. Named after their long lost princess, they are called the "Alyssians" and stage battles and skirmishes against Redd's forces, attempting to weaken her grip on the throne with no avail. After thirteen years of no sign of Alyss ever returning home, morale within the camp is low and the Alyssians are considering turning themselves in to Redd.

However, Alyss returns to Wonderland and she is immediately taken in by the Alyssians, who rejoice with a wave of new hope and promise. Dodge Anders has become obsessed with avenging his father's death and becomes a bitter, nihilistic individual. With the assistance of the Alyssians, Alyss is able to find and locate the Looking-Glass Maze, which is the manner by which all future Queens obtain their full strength and power necessary to rule Wonderland. When Alyss passes through the maze, she finds her intended Heart Scepter and moves on to fight against, and defeat, Redd. While Alyss and Redd battle, Dodge fights against The Cat; Dodge kills The Cat three times, leaving The Cat with one more life left; Hatter, Genevieve and Redd had all taken previous lives from The Cat's original number of nine. Redd, seeing her imminent failure against Alyss, throws herself into the Heart Crystal, who is followed by The Cat.

Alyss, having defeated Black Imagination, is crowned as the true Queen of Wonderland.

Characters

Main characters

Supporting characters

Spin-offs

Hatter M limited series

Hatter M is a spin-off comic book limited series, written by Frank Beddor and Liz Cavalier with art by Ben Templesmith. The series follows Hatter Madigan's search for the missing princess thus working into the continuity of 'The Looking Glass Wars' by following the virtually unseen thirteen-year (1859–1872) search. The four issue mini-series is now complete and has been collected into a trade paperback.[1]

An additional special issue (numbered 2.5) was given away at summer conventions in 2006. This special issue contained answers to frequent questions, a preview of 'The Looking Glass Wars,' and other supplementary material. A scanned copy of this issue can be viewed at IGN Comics[2] as a part of a Hatter M-centric story published September 1, 2006.

In the second Hatter M graphic novel named Mad With Wonder was released October 15, 2009. Finnish artist Sami Makkonen takes Templesmith's place with a frenetic and dynamic approach to the storytelling. Hatter finds himself exploring America during the Civil War and is committed to an asylum. In Volume 3, The Nature of Wonder, Royal Bodyguard Hatter Madigan follows the Glow of the setting sun into America's wild west in search of Wonderland's lost princess. Hatter's adventures will include a shamanic vision quest in the Grand Canyon and tracking Black Imagination through San Francisco's Barbary Coast where he discovers an astounding clue to his own haunted past.

There is currently a 5th book in the series being supported through kickstarter: HATTER M: LOVE OF WONDER, vol. 5

Writing

Beddor commissioned Doug Chiang to help him write the novel by creating art work of some of the places and peoples in the novel based on Beddor's descriptions. "I had my concept artist on this shoulder and Lewis Carroll on this shoulder, so I had a lot of helpers," said Beddor.[3]

Character References

Most of the characters featured in the book and its sequels are based on the original characters from Lewis Carroll's novels.

As yet, the Wonderland characters that have no Looking Glass Wars equivalents include the Dodo (although Dodge is based on Dodgson, who is also the basis for the dodo in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), the Duchess, the Dormouse (though mentions are made of people feasting on roast dormouse), the Carpenter (although Walrus has appeared as Queen Alyss' butler), the Mock Turtle, the Gryphon (eaten by Jack of Diamonds in King Arch's tent, in Seeing Redd), the Gnat, and the Lion and the Unicorn.

Humpty Dumpty is featured in the third book in the series, ArchEnemy, as a character named Mutty P. Dumphy, described as "[a] diminutive hairy-cheeked man....[with] a single eyebrow...[and a head] which resembled the rounded point of a gwynook's egg...."

The Eaglet is referenced in the third book in the series, ArchEnemy, as a character with the anagram name of Mr. Taegel, a gifted weapons inventor that provides Alice with "spy gear" and is credited with having invented the special mirror barrier that once hid the Alyssian camp. He is described as having white hair that blows atop his head like steam coming out of his skull and having eagle-sharp eyes.

In the UK edition, Alyss accuses Lewis Carroll of turning General Doppelganger into Tweedledee and Tweedledum while reading Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. This was removed in the US edition as the Tweedle twins originally appeared in Through the Looking-Glass, rather than the first book.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Review of the Hatter M volume, Silver Bullet Comic Books
  2. ↑ Hatter M, at IGN
  3. ↑ Horn, Steven (2005-04-25). "Exclusive Interview: Frank Beddor (Part One of Two)". IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-11-05.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, March 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.