*I received a physical copy from Square Fish Books via Hear Our Voices book Tour. All views are my own
I am on a mission of clearing out my Netgalley lists and getting my percentage to stellar numbers, and I started my quest with an anticipated backlog title: A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney. It's a mashup between today's (2018) timeline and the backward world of Alice in Wonderland. I don't know what it is about the children's tale that enthralls me in my adult age, but its cookiness has always made me want to see more from this dimension. I now have the chance to experience the world of Wonderland and do it under the eyes of Allison, a Black girl from Atlanta.
"The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.
Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she's ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head . . . literally."
I decided to experience this book uniquely through reading and audio, with Jeanette Illidge as the narrator. Her perspective added a new layer to the story; the 11 hours and 17 minutes it took to listen to the book were well worth it. Despite the challenges of work and exhaustion, I was determined to finish this title and did it with notes.
You would think hearing about a "black" version of Alice in Wonderland would have me jumping out the window championing this, but no. I liked the concept and idea of the story. It had plenty of potential to go anywhere. But what messed me up was that I thought the story would have underlying messages. For example, when I read Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, I felt and understood what she was bringing to the forefront without Spike Lee-ing it throughout the pages. She tackled today's topics and put them into a Dust Bowl/Zombie Apocalypse era, and the mashup made an exciting survival story. In A Blade So Black, certain areas sounded like the story would touch on racial topics, but McKinney never led the horse to the water. It took me a while, but I had to recognize the book for what it was, and that's a Fantasy tale featuring a POC Wonderland. There were no subliminal messages. No call to action. It was just a story, and that's fine.
Once I was able to accept this path of writing, the story is basically about a girl fighting the Kingdom Hearts fear shadows (created by human fear. See, this is where I thought these messages were going to come into play) with an otherworldly boy named Hatta from Wonderland. Hatta trains Allison to help slay these monsters and rid Wonderland of its terror, but of course, a monkey wrench is thrown in the plans, and a villain is trying to undo all the good the duo is doing.
The characters didn't do much for me except the mom. Illidge did a damn good job portraying the no-nonsense overprotective mother who doesn't care who you are and how old you are. She brought you into this world, and she will take you out. This is probably one of the most realistic Black mothers I've ever experienced in a book, and I loved her!
Overall, I rated this book 3-stars. I was expecting something else, but it was an alright read. I will always check out a twist on Wonderland, and the Nightmare-Verse series certainly delivered on that front. A Blade So Black eventually became background noise to me to get through the day, but I stuck around long enough to find out that the next book in the series, A Dream So Dark, continues where it left off in this cliffhanger, and I need to jump on that right now.
A Blade So Black is available now!
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