The Wonderland Trials by Sara Ella Review

 Hello Bookish Lovelies :)

I pray today finds you all doing well, and I'm so thankful you decided to drop by The Preppy Book Princess for another book review.

I'm Kirby, and I'm so excited you're here.

If I'm being honest, with how harsh life has been lately, I've found myself escaping into book worlds more than ever before. There's just so much hurt in our world lately, and somedays being a nice person is honestly hard.

I've been on the receiving end of a lot of smallness lately, and I haven't necessarily always been handling it the greatest.

I'm thankful for Jesus and my hubby, and also for the many amazing book titles I've been able to lose myself in amidst all the hurt.

One of those titles is the one I'm going to be reviewing for you all today.

Keep reading below for my full review.

The Wonderland Trials by Sara Ella:

Source: Library

Publisher: Enclave Escape

Publication Date: July 12th, 2022

Genre: Christian Fiction/Clean Fantasy/Dystopian/Retelling

Series: The Curious Realities

Synopsis:

Solve the clues. Face your fears. Survive the Trials.

All Alice Liddell wants is to escape her Normal life in Oxford and find the parents who abandoned her ten years ago. But she gets more than she bargained for when her older sister Charlotte is arrested for having the infamous Wonder Gene—the key to unlocking the curious Wonderland Reality.

Soon, Alice receives a rather cryptic invitation to play for Team Heart in this year’s annual—and often deadly—Wonderland Trials. Now she has less than twenty-four hours to find her way into Wonderland where nothing is impossible . . . or what it seems.

The stakes are raised when she discovers players go missing during the Trials each year. Will she and her team solve the clues and find the missing players? Or will betrayal and distrust win, leaving Alice alone in a world of her own? Follow the White Rabbit into this topsy-turvy fantasy where players become prey, a sip of the wrong tea might as well be poison, and a queen’s ways do not always lead one where they ought to go.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

As someone who grew up loving Alice in Wonderland, I couldn't wait to dive right into The Wonderland Trials. I've enjoyed a couple of Sara Ella's books in the past, but I had even higher expectations for this one. I will say this this book ended up exceeding the majority of the expectations I had for it, and I've never read anything quite like this story before.

While the author manages to stay true to so many of the beloved details from the original story, she also puts her own spin on it, and truly brings to life a unique story within the young adult genre. I was caught up in the magical world of Wonderland, the colorful cast of characters, and the Wonderland trials themselves which brought another dimension to an already incredible story.

This truly highlighted the author's amazing gift for creativity and storytelling, and also was a bit of an illustration for her obvious love of the original tale. While I expected certain things, I got something completely different, and I loved how this one was a little bit Harry Potter, a little bit Hunger Games, a little bit other dystopians, a little bit fantasy, and even a little bit allegorical in the way certain references pointed to Jesus that I truly hope are going to be expanded upon in the next title.

The only complaint I really had with it is that the set up and world building were extremely confusing, and it took me a couple times reading through several passages to feel like I knew what was going on. However, I think that was more just the author trying to stay true to the original than an actual problem with the story itself, as let's face it, the original is honestly quite confusing as well.

This was a wonderful story, a beautiful retelling, and a perfect set up for a series I have many high hopes for.

I'd definitely recommend this one to anyone who is a fan of Alice in Wonderland and/or clean fantasy or dystopian titles.

Final Rating: 4/5.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)

This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.