For years Alice’s older sister, Dinah, has looked after her. But now that Dinah is sick, Alice has to venture out beyond the safety of their commune, into the ruins of Phoenix, in order to hunt for a cure.
The main part of the novel follows Alice through what remains of Phoenix, renamed Wanderland, after what is essentially a zombie apocalypse. As she searches the city and does her best to avoid people infected with the momerath (a portmanteau of moment and wrath) virus, she encounters a number of characters and items analogous to characters in Alice in Wonderland. Some of these are immediately obvious, some less so; but part of the enjoyment of Alice is spotting the references. And I really enjoyed Alice.
The pace of the novel is fast, moving Alice from one dangerous situation to another. Along the way she makes allies and enemies in equal measure and becomes more self-reliant. She handles the events with a believable mixture of fear and determination, all while maintaining a degree of sassiness. Many of the other characters have less time to develop but we’re given everything we need to know about them, at least within the context of this novel. There’s still plenty left to explore in a sequel and the ending certainly leaves things open for that possibility.
If you like zombie novels, you’ll like this.
If you like re-imaginings of classics, you’ll like this.
If you like spotting references & in-jokes, you’ll like this.
Chances are, even if none of the above applies, you’ll still like this.
The Scribblings 
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