Seeing Redd part 2

I am on page 214 in the book Seeing Redd. A lot has happened in the last 100 or so pages. Molly, Alyss's loyal bodyguard has been kidnapped by the king of Boarderland and it appears that he is trying to use Molly to bring Alyss down in some way. The mystery keeps the book suspenseful because it is unclear in what exact way the king, Arch, is going to use Molly to try and destroy Alyss. The reader also finds out that Hatter Madigan is actually Molly's father. Apparently, Hatter Madigan and this woman named Weaver were in love and when Redd came into power and Hatter fled, Weaver had been pregnant and gave birth while Hatter was away. After giving birth Weaver apparently left and no one knew what happened to her. When Hatter returned he found Weaver's diary and learned about his daughter. While that was happening, Arch sent an army into Wonderland, under the disguise that it was Redd who sent them. Alyss and her army defeated them and then Hatter returned, only to find that his daughter had been kidnapped and he went off to Boarderland to get her back. While that was happening in Wonderland, Redd and her assassin, the Cat, arrived an Earth and started gathering forces to later use against Alyss.

I think Frank Beddor's style of writing is very interesting. It is in third person, but occasionally the reader learns of the thoughts of some of the characters. This allows the reader to learn more about the characters and understand them better than when, as with McCarthy's writing, the reader can only understand the characters through their actions and the reader doesn't know their thoughts. I also like Beddor's descriptions I think they allow the reader to understand the scenery, but it is not overboard and it doesn't distract from the story. Although, I think that Beddor could explain some things better, for example the Milleny, I believe that they are a race of people who are trained fighters, but I am not exactly sure. I think Beddor could have described them better because it is not until the second book, long after the Milleny are first mentioned, that I was able to understand a bit of what they are.

Seeing Redd

I have read the first 90 pages of Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor. This is the sequel to the book The Looking Glass Wars, and I am excited to continue in this series because I have really enjoyed reading them. Seeing Redd starts off with Alyss just having been put on the throne and becoming Queen of Wonderland. However, her rein is rather rocky because she is ruling after her Aunt who destroyed much of Wonderland. Early on we find out that the King of Boarderland, Arch, is plotting against Alyss and wants to overthrow her. Arch, who is a sexist idiot, believes that he should be the supreme ruler of Boarderland and Wonderland, and he eventually wants to take over Earth as well. He plans to destroy Alyss through Molly, Alyss's trusted bodyguard. Molly is very loyal, unfortunately, she is rather impulsive and not very bright at times. She is also very young and inexperienced and thinks that she is treated differently because she is not allowed to go on many military adventures and she thinks that is because people do not understand her fighting skills, so she is desperate to prove herself. In the story there is also a side story of Hatter, Alyss's old bodyguard who went on leave to mourn the death of his love. So far, we do not know if he can overcome his grief and return to his post or if he will just continue mourning. Also, in the story there is the issue of Queen Alyss being in love with Dodge, her captain of the guards. She and Dodge were childhood friends, but Alyss's love may get in the way of her duty as Queen and Dodge is sort of obsesed about revenge for the death of his father.

I really hope that in this book Alyss doesn't forget about her duty as queen because she loves Dodge. I am fine with romance novels, unless the people get stupid because of their love. I think that Alyss needs to focus on being Queen and securing the peace in Wonderland, before she thinks about dating Dodge. I also hope that this book keeps the series good, because a lot of times sequels are not nearly as good as the first books. One thing that I really like about this book is how the people are realistic and have many flaws. Alyss is in love with Dodge and is rather inexperienced. Dodge is rather obsessed about revenge against Redd and the Cat and that tends to make him do stupid things. Bibwit, Alyss's advisor, is wise, but not very brave and in times of battle he can be a little cowardly. Molly has the flaws of being inexperienced and not thinking things through, and is rather conceded and overestimates her own skills. Hatter is realistic because he fell in love with this woman who died and now has left his duty to mourn for her.

The Looking Glass Wars

I was planning to read for my outside reading book The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. It is 358 pages and I ended up finishing it. So, instead I am planning to read the sequel to The Looking Glass Wars, the book Seeing Redd.

The Looking Glass Wars is a very good book and is a fractured fairy tale of Alice in Wonderland. The story is about Alyss the princess of wonderland. She lives in a world where magic is real and there are a lot of fantastical creatures, including caterpillars that can predict the future and card soldiers. On Alyss's seventh birthday her Aunt came and took over the palace by killing Alyss's parents and making Alyss and her bodyguard flee to England. However, Alyss and her bodyguard get separated and her bodyguard has to spend the next 13 years looking for her. While this is happening, a rebel group of people have formed in Wonderland and are fighting against the fake Queen. On Earth, Alyss was forced to forget about Wonderland and believe that magic wasn't real and that she had just made everything up. She was even going to marry a prince who had fallen in love with her. But, before that could happen, she was taken back to Wonderland where she had to relearn magic and everything again. Alyss ends up taking her throne back, but her evil Aunt manages to escape. It ends where Alyss now has to restore her kingdom and find out what happened to her Aunt.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought it was a lot more interesting than Alice in Wonderland, where I never really understood the story. This book makes a lot more sense and had a lot of enjoyable characters. Alyss's Aunt, named Redd, has an experienced assassin, known as the Cat. The Cat plays an important part in the story because he kills many people. He is mainly responsible for the death of Alyss's parents. He is also a real character because he tries to hide his mistakes from Redd so that he doesn't get in trouble. I thought that Alyss was a pretty real character. She had her doubts about her strength and she caved to peer pressure and she easily was angered and was not always easy to forgive. When she was seven she enjoyed playing tricks on people and causing trouble. Dodge was another character that was very real. He was very upset about the death of his father because of the Cat and ever since then has been thinking about revenge and only caring that he kills the Cat and not about the welfare of the kingdom as a whole.