One of the characters can only speak in very cryptic sentences because of their powerful magic. A Poet (mage) can use Verse to cast spells, but the use of nonsense language also effects them, meaning that they become a little nonsensical themselves. While the descriptions of Wonderland scenery was amazing, my favourite part of the world McKinney builds was the magic that exists there.
McKinney’s take on Wonderland is very unique and original. She’s also a cosplayer and Sailor Moon fan! By far my favourite quirk of her personality was the way she did little magical girl anime flourishes during battle. She knows she can handle herself in a fight, and definitely seemed to prefer practical situations where she could use her skills without having to overanalyse anything as she would in her personal relations. She felt like a believably outgoing but still somewhat insecure and uncertain teenager. I really loved Alice’s narrative voice and her entire personality – someone who is calm and assured in her abilities, but personably a little more uncertain without being the standard YA wallflower. The struggle between the mundane and the Chosen One duties is not exactly unique, but it’s handled well in this story, and every character from Alice’s real-world life and Wonderland felt fully fleshed out and interesting. The black protagonist Alice is a super-powered nightmare fighter who can kick ass, but who like Buffy struggles to balance her fighting-alter-ego life with the demands of being a teenager, having to lie to her mom about where she spends her time.
This is an urban fantasy Alice in Wonderland, with dark moments, but none of the edgelord qualities of some other urban fantasy retellings. The author describes her book as ‘what would happen if Buffy fell into Wonderland’, and honestly, that was a pretty accurate description of A Blade So Black. If you like both those fictional things, you’ll definitely enjoy this story. I wouldn’t say it was the most unpredictable story, but it was super fun, well-paced, and kept me on the edge of my seat as I was reading. Why did I want to read ? The author is part of the D&D podcast Spell Check, and when she described her book as ‘ Alice in Wonderland if Buffy had fallen down the rabbit hole’ I was pretty much sold.Ī Blade So Black was a great, nerdy urban fantasy, that follows a lot of the tropes of the genre (and obviously the original Alice in Wonderland) but with an emphasis on diversity, offering some interesting and enjoyable twists on the original subject matter. And she’ll need to use everything she’s learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head. When her mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before.
Now she’s trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life.
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