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Saturday, January 26, 2013

Manga Review: Alice in the Country of Hearts, Omnibus Volume 3 (#5-6), by QuinRose and Soumei Hoshino



Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5
Publisher: Yen Press (Previously, up to volume 5 [not omnibus], Tokyopop)
Volumes: 6; Omnibus: 3
Spoilers?: Some, including the person she chooses.

Goodreads Synopsis:


Kidnapped by a handsome man with rabbit ears, Alice Liddell finds herself abandoned in an odd place called Wonderland and thrust into a "game," the rules of which she has yet to learn. Alice, ever the plucky tomboy, sets off to explore and get the lay of this strange land, intent on finding her rude kidnapper and giving him a piece of her mind (and her fist). But little does she know that she's wandered right into the middle of a dangerous power struggle involving just about all of Wonderland's attractive, weapon-happy denizens. And the only way for Alice to return home is to get acquainted with the lot of them?! How in the world will she manage that and still manage to stay alive?!


Available on Amazon.

Review:

I’m a little unsure what to think of this volume. Overall, I really like this series, but the ending…
There was the ball, and Alice danced with several people, and she had a fight with Blood, and a talk with Vivaldi. And then there was a fight, and people talking with Nightmare, and talk of how Alice’s glass is almost filled up, and Alice wanting to go home but also going to miss everyone in Wonderland, and then it was time for her to go home, and there were some mediocre goodbyes and some sweet goodbyes and some nonexistent goodbyes. And then she went home, and then she was brought back to Wonderland and her memory was, I think, erased or pushed back, including how she apparently knows everyone, especially Peter, from some other time but Nightmare won’t let her remember.
I want to know how she knows them, what happened, and why Nightmare won’t let her remember. I’m not happy with that being a cliffhanger.
I’m also not sure how I feel about Alice’s going back to Wonderland. I mean, it kind of makes sense, but that can only last so long, and why didn’t she have to choose to go back, and instead just seemed resigned and waited for it to happen, and wasn’t she supposed to bring someone back with her? (Did I just imagine that?) I think I mostly feel uneasy because that’s not how it’s supposed to happen, and that doesn’t seem like a complete ending, and I still have questions left unanswered.
Then there’s the fact that Alice chose Blood, which I had been expecting but am not very happy about. He just… never won me over. I don’t totally trust him, and there were other characters that I liked more.
I’m a little unsatisfied, but I still enjoyed the books. Now I have to think about which spin-off I want to read, or which one I want to start first, given that the answer to which one is: all of them. I’m especially looking forward to the one focused on Boris, and Julius, and I want one to focus on Peter. All three of them have won me over as candidates, with Boris at top and Peter at the bottom. The one to do with the Blood Twins looks good. There's also one with Elliot, and Ace, and a Joker story, but I'm not as excited for those ones.
Now, I guess I’m just looking forward to finding out what happens next in the spin-offs.

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