Thursday 28 May 2020

Review: Wonderland by Juno Dawson

What happens when you fall down the rabbit hole? The compulsive must-have follow-up to CLEAN and MEAT MARKET from bestselling author Juno Dawson
Alice lives in a world of stifling privilege and luxury - but none of it means anything when your own head plays tricks on your reality. When her troubled friend Bunny goes missing, Alice becomes obsessed with finding her. On the trail of her last movements, Alice discovers a mysterious invitation to 'Wonderland': the party to end all parties - three days of hedonistic excess to which only the elite are welcome.
Will she find Bunny there? Or is this really a case of finding herself? Because Alice has secrets of her own, and ruthless socialite queen Paisley Hart is determined to uncover them, whatever it takes.
Alice is all alone, miles from home, and now she has a new enemy who wants her head...
A searing exploration of mental health, gender and privilege, from the most addictive YA novelist in the UK today.

Review: Well this really was a wild ride into Wonderland. This Alice in Wonderland retelling is not for the faint-hearted and this definitely contains care warnings for Self harm, suicide, mental health, sexual assault and drug use. But this book fearlessly tackles issues facing young people today head on and its cast of characters is like no other. If you love books with diverse characters and not your cookie cutter YA contemporary characters then this one is definitely for you. 

I really found Alice intriguing as a main character and I think there is nothing better for an author to make me intrigued by their main character. She is a unique individual and fits the bill of unreliable narrator. She seems like she is snarky and wants to be unlikable but really she is going through a hell of a lot of things as well as just those issues facing every single teenage girl in the world and so it is impossible not to fall in love with her. As a teacher I felt very protective over her but as a reader I loved the adventures that she went on. I feel like I still don't fully know her as a person and I quite like that to be honest. 

I mentioned that this book contains drug use and it is that drug use that over exaggerates this particular Wonderland. I feel like this author sat down and thought, well what if Alice had a crush on the white rabbit and that's why she followed them, what if there was group sex in wonderland, where do Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee land on the spectrum of sexuality? I am just amazed by this world that Juno Dawson has built. 

Not every escapade and every drug fueled party was for me but boy could I appreciate the intricacies of the storytelling and the weaving of the plot and if you want to read something really different and completely daring then this book is for you. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

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