What do you think?
Rate this book
The Jabberwocky #3
The Looking-Glass House
As the Great War rages across four worlds, Alice Liddell and Dorothy Gale once again unite to confront the terror of the Red King. While Alice learns the truth about her childhood and the mysterious Oxford don who first sent her to Wonderland, Dorothy faces far greater danger than she ever encountered in Oz or the tower of the Raven.
Old enemies return and new allies are found as the two women try to stop the Great War and defeat the plans of the Red King to enslave Europe's leaders. Alice and her sisters Lorina and Edith hold the key to saving all of the worlds linked by the mysterious Jabberwocky Book. But Edith died long ago. Alice must somehow call upon the power of her dead sister before all is lost.
She needs Dorothy's help, but Dorothy has problems of her own, trapped behind enemy lines on the Western Front.
The final instalment of "The Jabberwocky Book". Part 1: "The Red King" and Part 2: "An Unkindness of Ravens" also available on Amazon.
Old enemies return and new allies are found as the two women try to stop the Great War and defeat the plans of the Red King to enslave Europe's leaders. Alice and her sisters Lorina and Edith hold the key to saving all of the worlds linked by the mysterious Jabberwocky Book. But Edith died long ago. Alice must somehow call upon the power of her dead sister before all is lost.
She needs Dorothy's help, but Dorothy has problems of her own, trapped behind enemy lines on the Western Front.
The final instalment of "The Jabberwocky Book". Part 1: "The Red King" and Part 2: "An Unkindness of Ravens" also available on Amazon.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 29, 2016
16 people want to read
About the author
Russell Proctor
10 books8 followersRussell Proctor is an Australian writer, but has also been many other things in his working life, including a lawyer, teacher, professional actor, medical project manager and even a pizza delivery boy.
At present he is semi-retired, tutoring school and university students in the evenings and writing during the day.
His interests include hiking, astronomy and cats. He has travelled extensively throughout the world, preferring out of the way places to modern civilization, for example having visited Antarctica, walked the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. He does not describe himself as a thrill-seeker, but certainly prefers his travels to include adventures
rather than just “tourist traps”.
A skeptic and futurist, Proctor has examined the methods and ideas of science and pseudo-science in his novel Plato’s Cave, which satirizes humanity’s endless quest for meaning in life and conflicting beliefs about the nature of reality.
His professional acting days included working in film, TV and stage productions. He has also written and directed plays and musicals. He is currently working on a horror/fantasy series for Permuted Press, of which The Red King is the first part. Further information about him and his work can be found at his website, www.russellproctor.com.
At present he is semi-retired, tutoring school and university students in the evenings and writing during the day.
His interests include hiking, astronomy and cats. He has travelled extensively throughout the world, preferring out of the way places to modern civilization, for example having visited Antarctica, walked the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. He does not describe himself as a thrill-seeker, but certainly prefers his travels to include adventures
rather than just “tourist traps”.
A skeptic and futurist, Proctor has examined the methods and ideas of science and pseudo-science in his novel Plato’s Cave, which satirizes humanity’s endless quest for meaning in life and conflicting beliefs about the nature of reality.
His professional acting days included working in film, TV and stage productions. He has also written and directed plays and musicals. He is currently working on a horror/fantasy series for Permuted Press, of which The Red King is the first part. Further information about him and his work can be found at his website, www.russellproctor.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 23, 2018
"Alice in Wonderland and Dorothy from Oz battle a supernatural serial killer in Edwardian London.:
~~~~~~~~~
From the first line, I was hooked. Actually, as soon as I read the blurb, I already knew that here was a story with great potential! I was a trifle concerned about starting at Book 3, but the author assures that readers don’t need to have read books 1 and 2 – this one works fine as a standalone. And he’s entirely correct! Mind you, how great is it that I can now go back and read more from this series. I will definitely be adding the first two to my “To Be Read & soon” pile.
Let’s get back to that first line: He had seen a thousand men die since breakfast, and it was still only seven in the morning.
It put me right in the moment and the following paragraphs put me right in the trenches and No Man’s Land of World War 1. Russell has given just the right amount of description to carry you all the way to the stinking mud riddled with dead bodies and despair that was France during the Great War. His research into the war and its impact on everybody involved must be very detailed indeed. I could almost hear the shells and the ammo, and smell the horror (no mean feat considering I’m anosmic and wouldn’t know a flower from a pile of turd when it comes to smells).
And that’s just the opening chapter!
The journey into fantasy is subtle, but before you know it you’re knee-deep in an intricately woven story that transitions in and out of Edwardian England (Sherlock Holmes era) and the amazing worlds of Oz, Wonderland, and Looking Glass Land, and their lead characters, Dorothy, Alice and the Red King. It’s been decades since I read the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland. However, it seems to me that the author of The Looking-Glass House has brought this incredibly rich source material into a whole new era of storytelling. I really can’t wait to get started on the rest of this series.
I have no criticisms of Russell Proctor’s ability to weave a fantastic tale. His attention to detail is amazing and he must be a wizard of mind-mapping to keep each of his characters and their separate storylines in check. He must also be an expert on the original material and I would love to hear more about his travails in research and melding all this together into his own exciting ‘war of worlds”.
Congratulations, Russell. This truly is an excellent read and I loved every page. The ending is spot on! You’ve tied it up with a neatly pressed bow and delivered a conclusion that perfectly book ends a ripping read through fantasy, mystery, history, and literature!
You can purchase The Looking Glass House from Amazon. And remember to leave your review when you're done reading
~~~~~~~~~
Patricia Leslie is an Aussie urban fantasy author with Odyssey Books. Her novels, The Ouroboros Key, and, A Single Light, deal with the major issues of today like mystical magical beings living deep in Colorado's Rocky Mountains and hungry vampire-like spirits devouring the population of southern Sydney. Evil powers abound in her next novel set in Sydney and Scotland in the 1800s. Patricia enjoys the research as much as the writing so pay no mind to middle aged women with cameras wandering around Sydney. It could very well be Patricia Leslie hunting down heritage buildings and their stories.
Drop in on Patricia's strand of the World Wide Web and catch up on her adventures or follow along on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram – www.patricialeslie.net
~~~~~~~~~
From the first line, I was hooked. Actually, as soon as I read the blurb, I already knew that here was a story with great potential! I was a trifle concerned about starting at Book 3, but the author assures that readers don’t need to have read books 1 and 2 – this one works fine as a standalone. And he’s entirely correct! Mind you, how great is it that I can now go back and read more from this series. I will definitely be adding the first two to my “To Be Read & soon” pile.
Let’s get back to that first line: He had seen a thousand men die since breakfast, and it was still only seven in the morning.
It put me right in the moment and the following paragraphs put me right in the trenches and No Man’s Land of World War 1. Russell has given just the right amount of description to carry you all the way to the stinking mud riddled with dead bodies and despair that was France during the Great War. His research into the war and its impact on everybody involved must be very detailed indeed. I could almost hear the shells and the ammo, and smell the horror (no mean feat considering I’m anosmic and wouldn’t know a flower from a pile of turd when it comes to smells).
And that’s just the opening chapter!
The journey into fantasy is subtle, but before you know it you’re knee-deep in an intricately woven story that transitions in and out of Edwardian England (Sherlock Holmes era) and the amazing worlds of Oz, Wonderland, and Looking Glass Land, and their lead characters, Dorothy, Alice and the Red King. It’s been decades since I read the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland. However, it seems to me that the author of The Looking-Glass House has brought this incredibly rich source material into a whole new era of storytelling. I really can’t wait to get started on the rest of this series.
I have no criticisms of Russell Proctor’s ability to weave a fantastic tale. His attention to detail is amazing and he must be a wizard of mind-mapping to keep each of his characters and their separate storylines in check. He must also be an expert on the original material and I would love to hear more about his travails in research and melding all this together into his own exciting ‘war of worlds”.
Congratulations, Russell. This truly is an excellent read and I loved every page. The ending is spot on! You’ve tied it up with a neatly pressed bow and delivered a conclusion that perfectly book ends a ripping read through fantasy, mystery, history, and literature!
You can purchase The Looking Glass House from Amazon. And remember to leave your review when you're done reading
~~~~~~~~~
Patricia Leslie is an Aussie urban fantasy author with Odyssey Books. Her novels, The Ouroboros Key, and, A Single Light, deal with the major issues of today like mystical magical beings living deep in Colorado's Rocky Mountains and hungry vampire-like spirits devouring the population of southern Sydney. Evil powers abound in her next novel set in Sydney and Scotland in the 1800s. Patricia enjoys the research as much as the writing so pay no mind to middle aged women with cameras wandering around Sydney. It could very well be Patricia Leslie hunting down heritage buildings and their stories.
Drop in on Patricia's strand of the World Wide Web and catch up on her adventures or follow along on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram – www.patricialeslie.net
October 13, 2016
Proctor's take on the continuing adventures of Alice, Dorothy and the other familiar faces of the worlds of Wonderland, Oz and, Looking Glass Land, continue in this remarkably dark fairy tale.
Europe, 1916 and the Great War rages. The Red King feasts on the pain, suffering and misery of a war that has crossed borders into the other worlds. Only Alice (who is aging in reverse) and Dorothy (who is suddenly older than she thought) can stop him bringing about a magical apocalypse complete with zombies, magical weapons, and a host of strange characters.
Fans of Oz, Alice in Wonderland and Proctor's previous novels in this series will find a lot to delight them. There is a grim dark realism to the depiction of the horrors of the First World War and with this backdrop, the struggles of the characters are even more poignant and personal.
Overall a remarkable novel that brings you into the stories you remember from childhood and puts them in a darker context.
Europe, 1916 and the Great War rages. The Red King feasts on the pain, suffering and misery of a war that has crossed borders into the other worlds. Only Alice (who is aging in reverse) and Dorothy (who is suddenly older than she thought) can stop him bringing about a magical apocalypse complete with zombies, magical weapons, and a host of strange characters.
Fans of Oz, Alice in Wonderland and Proctor's previous novels in this series will find a lot to delight them. There is a grim dark realism to the depiction of the horrors of the First World War and with this backdrop, the struggles of the characters are even more poignant and personal.
Overall a remarkable novel that brings you into the stories you remember from childhood and puts them in a darker context.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews