Distraught at yet another unfortunate turn of events, the pair set off to find an end to the blackened land before them, all in the hopes of locating Hatcher's daughter Jenny, taken from him by The Rabbit so many years before and sold into slavery and sent somewhere in the Far East. Alice and Hatcher are starving on their journey, but Alice hasn't quite learned how to wield her magic to create food and water, so things look fairly bleak. As they journey into a forest, they find a quaint and deserted village, then later become separated, and Alice happens upon another village that she recognizes from some drawings Hatcher made in the midst of one of his dazed spells. The inhabitants of the forest and village describe a wicked Magician named the White Queen, who requires they provide her with their children, one at a time. She also discovers that a Magician named the Black King is responsible for the scorched earth they saw earlier. Finally, there was once a good magician called the Red Queen, and her power and magic are the only things that can stop the White Queen and the Black King. To further complicate matters for poor Alice, apparently Hatcher is now under the service of the White Queen, and if she has any hope of getting the man she loves back, she must face both of these formidable enemies and hopefully help the enslaved village at the same time.
Red Queen: The Chronicles of Alice is just as good as the previous book, Alice, and weaves not only Lewis Carroll influences throughout the book, but also some older fairy tales from far off lands. We see Alice and Hatcher evolve further as they both deal with the trauma they've experienced and attempt to patch up their lives and build something permanent with one another. Even as Alice attempts to grow as a Magician, the Cheshire is ever whispering inside her head, guiding her path and reminding her that the Jabberwocky remains ever near. Although the tale wraps up nicely and I can see a bright future for Alice, I hope the series continues on its dark and twisted path, for I am not ready to quit reading about Alice and her many adventures and I feel there are many more stories to tell. Or at least I surely hope so.
