A World Within A World: Down The Rabbit Hole

by Julia Crane

A World Within A World is a twisted tale of two sisters bound by blood and separated by magick. Alice is not the lovable girl the stories depict. A lifetime of pain and illusion has left her disturbed. Unpredictable. Dangerous. For years, she’s watched her twin sister – a girl born into light and destined for power – with great envy. According to the prophecy, only one of them will rule. Only one of them will survive. What will Alice sacrifice? The sister she hates, the man she loves, or the innocent lives caught in her twisted web of magick?

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Retellings

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 3, 2016

About the author

Julia crane is the author of the Keegan’s Chronicles, IFICS. She has a bachelors degree in criminal justice. Julia has believed in magical creatures since the day her grandmother first told her an Irish tale. Growing up her mother greatly encouraged reading and using your imagination.

http://juliacrane.com

Reviews

[Justkeepreading · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley? Valknut press and Julia Crane for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

You can find my review on both Goodreads and Amazon from today. On Goodreads under my name Karen Whittard and on Amazon under k.e.whittard.

I have to say that I was disappointed in this book. I loved the cover and the bio on the back. I love the reimagining of stories and I love things to do with Alice. Unfortunately this wasn't really my cup of tea.

I was really hoping to like this book. But in reality I really really struggled to read this. I was expecting something really gripping and epic. But that isn't what I got.

Alice was a pain in the bum. She really was. She was constantly whining all the time. She was a little bit of a brat too. You could see that she had a good heart hiding away. But the way she spoke to people and the way she treated people. Really wasn't very nice and then she wonders why people don't like her.

I don't think that the character development was very good with this book and at times I felt like they all merged into one.

I was hoping for amazing descriptions of wonderland that would take me away. But i felt that the book lacked the descriptions it needed.

All in all this book wasn't really for me. I'm really sorry. I hope you all get on better with it.

Happy reading everyone

[ᒪᗴᗩᕼ]

I tried, but I didn't get very far before I had to throw in the towel on this one. The story just felt rushed and didn't go into anything in any detail...(kind of like this review or whatever you want to call it)...and she was just carrying a rabbit in her pocket...and she was really, really unlikable. The premise was an interesting one...the execution was off for me. #NoRating

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Note: I received a review copy of this book via Netgalley. This in no way influences my opinion.

I really wanted to love this book. The cover is gorgeous, the blurb is captivating... but the story inside? Not for me. Which is a shame because everything else is just perfect. I struggled to get through the first few chapter and ended up DNFing this book at 14%. I was expecting something really epic and a great retelling of one of my favourite stories, but I just didn't get it and I didn't love it.

I know I didn't get far in, but I felt like Alice (who was the predominant voice that I read) was extremely whiny. She was constantly moaning (or at least her thought process was) about how bad her mother is, and whether the prophecy is going to come true and the fact that she loves this guy, but he hates her and blah blah blah... It all mashed together at some point. She was a character that really grated on my nerves and all I really wanted to do was slap her. Really hard. Alas, she isn't real. Thank goodness!

The romance felt really forced between Alice and... The stable hand. I can't remember his name - this is an everlasting impression, as you can see. One minute he is claiming to absolutely detest her and he is doing everything in his power to make sure he doesn't have to be within her presence for any period of time and then next minute he is saying that he does love her, but he hates it and he will only kiss her on his terms. He is really controlling... not a good way to go. Again, I didn't get it. It was forced, there was absolutely no tension of any kind there and there was nothing to grip me into it. It was just one thing and then the next without a build up toward it!

When I got to Lacie's voice and I found that I couldn't actually distinguish her voice from Alice's (I know they're supposed to be twins... but seriously??) I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to give up. I didn't find out much about Lacie, only that she lives in the real world, got a speeding ticket and her dad is a bit of a douche. A rich douche, nonetheless. Thats about it.

Other than that, there isn't much else to say. I was disappointed because I was thrown into a really random world, with absolutely no world building, characterisation and no building of the relationships between the characters. I was just disappointed. This book gets 1/5 stars.

[Sarah Joint · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't generally read much fantasy, but a different perspective on Alice in Wonderland was too juicy for me to resist. There's the Red Queen, the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, Alice, and... Lacie? In this story, Alice is a twin. They were separated from each other at birth, and her twin is assumed dead. But she's very much alive... and residing on earth with no memory of another world or dimension. Her presumed demise is actually a comfort to most, as there's a prophecy that says if the two girls reach eighteen, many will die. That time is soon coming, and so is Lacie.

There's magick, drama, and romance. The book could be confusing at times but was still a very quick, enjoyable read. I liked the idea of a disturbed Alice and her naive twin. I was never totally sure what would happen next.

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and Valknut Press, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

[Maddison Funnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another incredibly interesting take on the world of Wonderland! I must admit though it got a little inception-y near the end (with the whole dream-within-a-dream concept), it was still an exciting read and I liked the slight twist near the end. I'm excited there will be a second book but I wish this one had either been a bit longer or glossed over some of the time Lacie spent in the White Queen's castle. Hopefully the second book will answer some of my questions!!

[Daniella Armstrong · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t request very many books on NetGalley – maybe one or two that catch my eye every three weeks or so, or books from authors that I love.

Often, however, I’ll “wish for” a title that’s not available to request. In the last few days I somehow seem to have been approved for everything I’ve requested! Down the Rabbit Hole is one of those titles. While it’s put me in a bit of a reading frenzy, I’m thrilled to have been given the chance and want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for granting my wish.

I only wish this book had lived up to my expectations.

I love Alice in Wonderland retellings, most especially darker ones. I’m always eager to see what a new author can bring to an existing tale to re-invigorate the characters or setting. This author brought a sibling – the idea that Alice had a twin sister, Lacie.

The Alice that Crane introduces us to is unrecognizable. I rather think that was the point, but I don’t think she’s a well thought out character. Raised by the Red Queen, she’s become just as mad as her adoptive mother. She’s also become just as cruel – meting out the same types of punishments that their citizens have come to fear.

That doesn’t seem so bad, right? Wrong. When the book is narrated from Alice’s perspective, the only thoughts she has are about her forbidden love for a stable-hand, Landon, and constant thoughts about a very badly worded prophecy that involves the twins themselves.

This prophecy manages to drive the narrative forward at what feels like a snail's pace while somehow almost never managing to address it directly. Then, when it is addressed, it was such an eye-rolling scene that I thought my eyes were going to stay stuck in the back of my head.

The idea of Alice being a twin is interesting, but Lacie’s voice is not much better than Alice’s. Before she falls into Wonderhills, her voice seems like any teenager. Believable. But afterwards, her character devolves into simply questioning everything around her without ever receiving or thinking of any answers. She also (surprise!) gets a love interest who she’s completely smitten with as soon as they lock eyes for the first time.

He’s also the man her sister is instructed to marry. Because love triangles improve everything. Yikes.

Honestly, I found the narrative confusing and pretty boring. Throughout the entire book, I wondered how much longer I had to be reading it. Though it was a short read, coming to the end was as much a relief as finishing an epic novel in old English. The writing was pretty messy, concepts jumbled, and characters uninteresting. Even the tease of a cool concept (Earth is a dreamland) was mentioned a few times but ultimately lost in the mess that was this book.

I wondered if the novel was supposed to be confusing, considering the story, but if that was the case it was just a bad decision as I got absolutely no enjoyment from it.

The secondary characters are one-dimensional and boring, and even when they had slight backstories I didn’t give them a second thought. Oh, Red Queen and White Queen had bad stuff happen to them? Mad Hatter is even crazier than assumed? Did. Not. Care.

If you’re looking for a stellar (or even vaguely good) Alice retelling, this is not the book for you.

[Meredith]

While it had some interesting ideas, I wasn't invested enough in the story or characters to finish reading this.

[Ilona Nurmela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gamers will like this retelling of Alice in Wonderland

Tbh, I’m torn about how to describe this book. It’s certainly original. Imagine 17yo Alice as the adopted daughter of the Red Queen… and 1/2 of a set of twins prophecised to destroy Wonderland and both its queens, Red and White. The other twin has been hidden away on Earth - which is the dream dimension as in Wonderland is the real one. So a nice flip there. I did enjoy the twists of the twins’ parentage and the forcible marriage trope and both queens ordering people about with dire consequences for disobedience - this was dark and fun. I must say I didn’t enjoy the ending - gamers might, tho. Reminded me of the Free Guy movie. It might be me, but abandoning old things in favour of new might seem gamerishly playful, but it is also a rather consumerist attitude. Even if some things are copied over into the new game and others find a way to reincarnate elsewhere, it’s just pushing the problem under the rug & onto someone else’s shoulders, isn’t it? Dialogues between Alice and her sweetheart seemed repetitive at times, but overall, the story flowed and made sense until the quick cop-out. I did like the allusions toward difficulties in handling mental illness and schizophrenia in particular. It didn’t feel very coming of age to me - in the sense that although Alice did change when she fell in love, falling in love did not change the way she handled things - by herself, without consulting anyone (like her sweetums) - she only informed peeps, so not much change or growth there. But, BUT I did like the author pointing out that there is always a good reason for someone’s bad behaviour.

People who like their multiverses and games and HEAs in the form of HFN (happy for now) might like this.

[Samantha (WLABB) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5 Stars

I was really excited when I started reading this. Alice's POV was very strong and the story started out with a great premise. I thought Crane did a good job with the magick and the social structure of the world. She even gave a driving force to the story - The Prophecy. However, the story lost a little steam for me when Lacie entered the picture. Her early chapters did not contribute a great deal to the plot, but Alice's parts kept me interested (especially Alice and Landon). There were twins separated at birth, evil queens, forbidden love, Wonderland/Wonderhills, portals, magick -- I was interested. Towards the end, it sort of got murky for me though.

What you're saying makes sense in a warped way.

I am glad she thought so, because I was really confused. Realms and dream states. I don't know.

If it makes you feel any better, you're not even here. Not really.

See what I mean?

Overall: Not terrible. A promising premise that could perhaps, use a little more explanation.

[Nadya Booyse · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the story via a shirt story collection. It seemed interesting to start with, and really had the potential to be a good spin off the original tale, but the plot ended up being rather thin and the writing very repetitive and amateurish, potentially not edited; rather than intrigue, it was a run of repetitive monologues, with answers obtained through magical meditations (and this particular was introduced too late in the story to make it fit in), mysteries hinted at and characters never fully developed although painfully close to being so. There were also errors and mixing up of the characters, which might have been done on purpose but in that case not very effectively.

Overall the story felt rushed, fell flat a few times and left me skipping through sections of repetition. I wouldn’t recommend it to an adult that enjoys reading stories that are well written and fully formed, but it might be an entertaining holiday no-brainer kind of read for a pre-teen.

[Angela Jones-Cuéllar · Rating 3 out of 5]

pooled ink Reviews:
2.5 stars

Loosely inspired by Lewis Carroll’s famous stories about Alice and Wonderland, Crane takes some well-known characters and gives them her own unique twist. Completely taking all we thought we know about Alice, Wonderland, the Mad Hatter, and the rest of the cast, Crane turns everything upside-down and inside-out. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work for me.

Truly I feel that this book has an interesting foundation if only it had taken the time to let us become more attached to the characters, their lives, their feelings, and their world. 230 pages and I felt as if I only skimmed the surface as the story rushed to get from point A to point Z.

Down the Rabbit Hole began with an intriguing idea but proved to be a light read that rather failed to captivate me. This story was definitely filled with imagination and unique twists on a well known tale but, fun though it was to read, I can’t help but wish for something more.

Read my FULL review here: https://pooledink.com/2017/01/07/down...

[robin page · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complex magic

Enjoyable read, good development of characters especially Alice. Immersions with fairy tales was an interesting twist, but kept getting lost trying to follow the plot. Will read more from this author.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique Twist

Love the twist on the Alice in Wonderland plot. If you like the original plot then you'll like this book. Just like the characters, I didn't know what was real.

[Reba barlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

If you live reading about Alice in wonderland , you'll love this it was a great spinoff! Highly recommend this book!

[Melanie Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

interestingly different

it was full of twist and turns. very interesting, had to follow along closelyto understand all the twists and turns.

[Alejandra Guerrero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad, just a bit trippy at the end, had a hard time wrapping my head around it all.

[Yvonne (It's All About Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished reading: December 18th 2016

“No one is fully evil. You just have to try harder to be good.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Valknut Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***



I have to confess it has been 15-20 years since I last read the original Alice In Wonderland, but that doesn't mean I don't love reading a good retelling of the story. It's easy to say I was especially excited to have my wish granted at Netgalley! I was really looking forward to pick up my copy of Down The Rabbit Hole, but I'm sad to say I didn't live up to expectations. I remember how happy I was when I first found out it was a retelling, but my initial excitement slowly turned into disappointment. The story started out promising enough and Alice is without doubt an interesting character. Down The Rabbit Hole had a lot of potential, but unfortunately it fell flat as soon as Lacie's character makes her appearance. The POV switches between the two sisters, but the Lacie chapters are weak and I could't warm up to her character. To make things worse, there are a lot of innecessary romance scenes (including annoying tropes like insta-love and love triangle) included that that didn't add anything to the plot. I also found the ending a little too 'weird' to my taste... Although the general idea behind the story is without doubt intriguing. That said, Down The Rabbit Hole wasn't what I was expecting at all, and unfortunately not in a good way. If you don't mind cheesy romance scenes and a little weird, you will probably enjoy it a lot better than I did though.



Two sisteres are bound by blood, but separated by magick... Alice lives in Wonderland with her so-called mother the Red Queen, and years of pain and illusion have messed with her mind. She is quite unpredictable and can turn out to be very dangerous... She has watched her twin sister Lacie for years with great envy, although Lacie doesn't even know she exists. Lacie has been living on Earth for all those years unaware of her destiny, but that will change soon as the date of the prophecy comes closer. According to the prophecy, only one of the twin sisters will survive... Who will it be, or do they find a way around the prophecy?



I really liked the sound of Down The Rabbit Hole and I always enjoy reading a good retelling. The story started out promising enough, but fell flat as soon as Lacie was introduced. From that point the story was basically a bunch of cheesy romance scenes sprinkled with a little magic that wasn't enough for me to keep my interest. The ending was a little too weird as well, and quite abrupt. I wish I could have enjoyed this story better, but Down The Rabbit Hole definitely wasn't for me.

P.S. Find more of my reviews here.

[Stef (Noveltea Corner) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to comeDown the Rabbit Hole by Julia Crane is like an Alice in Wonderland reimagining crossed with Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake, although unfortunately, I don’t think it lives up to the expectations.

The story is fair - Alice is not who we imagine her to be, nor is Wonderland. There’s a prophecy in play and the lives of everyone Alice cares for are at stake. That’s a great premise to begin with, and there are definitely aspects of this story that I was really interested in, especially the idea of dimensions and magic that Crane has written into her book. The overall execution of the plot, however does feel to be lacking, and there were times when I wasn’t sure what was going on and had to reread sections a few times to sort it out.

Neither main protagonist - Alice or Lacie - were particularly engaging. Both girls, seventeen going on eighteen, came across as much younger their actions and attitudes were quite jarring in context. They both accepted a lot of new information very quickly and Alice in particular was able to master new skills quite quickly as she was required to. There were a lot of relationships being thrown out there, including one unfortunate case of instalove.

That said, many of the side characters were quite interesting to read about - the Red and White Queens and the Mad Hatter particularly. We don’t find out much about them by the small scenes we were given were great and left me wanting more. As this appears to be the first book in a series, I may follow up on the second book to see if any of these characters are fleshed out more.

The ending fell a little for me, too, and appeared to have been too easy. I would expect that in future books, there would have to be some complication with how everything was resolved, but it was almost a fairytale ending for the main characters involved.

Ultimately, this book really wasn’t for me, which was disappointing because I do love Alice in Wonderland retellings and reimaginings. Overall I gave Down the Rabbit Hole 2.5 out of 5 stars.

(I received a copy of Down the Rabbit Hole from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest opinion. All thoughts are my own.)

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept for this book is intriguing; paired with such a beautiful book cover, it could have been a masterpiece. This was meant to be a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland -- I know there are dozens out there, and I picked one up last year that left me quite satisfied -- but unfortunately I did not enjoy the writing style.

While the naming of the characters was clever (Lacie as an anagram of Alice - nice!), I found myself unable to connect with any of the characters. While Alice is described as being mad, she sounds more like a spoiled, power-hungry little girl. Lacie, the Red Queen, and the White Queen also weren't very developed characters, and I won't even bring up the several love interests. I felt like they could have been fleshed out a lot more in order for the reader to create some form of emotional attachment to them.

The plot itself was captivating, and honestly, is what kept me reading. The prophecy, the world-building, the positioning of the characters themselves within the story are all elements that were well-done. Unfortunately, this fresh story was put aside for pages on end to include love triangles for almost every character, which made the book suffer in my opinion.

Also, I am not sure if I received an ARC or not, but there were several mistakes in the book that had me question the editing. I saw some instances of character jumps: Alice becomes Lacie, the White Queen becomes the Red Queen for one paragraph when it's clear that the wrong character is being referenced. A thorough reread would be necessary.

Nonetheless, this book received some good reviews from several other readers, so it may just not be my cup of tea! I'd like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for the free copy of this book.

[CrazyCat (Alex) · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting take not only on the story of "Alice in Wonderland" but also bringing up the thought if living on earth is only a dream. You're only dreaming everything you think you're doing, go to school, your friends, work.....nothing is real, but just a dream. Your body isn't on earth it is in an other dimension. This book was all I thought it would be and so much more. I like both Alice and Lacie, but I didn't see the twist with Celia coming. Most of the book I didn't like Alice's behavior. She was cold, mean and callous. But I also felt her pain being abandoned by her father, growing up with the cruelties of the Red Queen as a mother. She didn't have much of a choice giving the cards she had been dealt. Lacie was the opposite of her sister. But she was so clueless and naive that I wanted to shake her. When Alice dropped the bomb on Lacie about her earth life being nothing more than a dream? I thought.....what if? Very interesting thought, that nothing is real and we all only meet in our dreams. And then there was the ending. My heart dropped and for a moment I was scared that Alice's plan, saving them, hadn't worked out. That the Queens had outsmarted her. I can't think of anything I did not like, besides the red and white Queen's cruelty and blood thirst. But I loved the world building, fell in love with both Alice and Lacie and crossed my fingers for their love to Kade and Landon. As usual Julia Crane delivers a story full of magic, love and action.

***I received a copy of the book via NetGally in exchange for a fair review***

[Darryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

This just wasn't the book for me. I wasn't interested in anything going on, the plot, the characters, the romance, or the world... The romance was ridiculous and happens in the first couple chapters with no build. The characters were either whiny or one dimensional and frankly I couldn't care less about what was going to happen to them.

[Rabid Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting and unusual story that's very loosely based on "Alice in Wonderland," except in this story Alice has a twin. The twins were separated at birth and Lacie was sent to another dimension to try to prevent the culmination of a prophecy. There are many twists in this tale and it can be a bit confusing at times but overall it is an enjoyable story with drama, magic, romance and intrigue that will keep you wondering where the story will lead next.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I have to mark this as my first DNF of 2017. I tried several times to make progress with this book but I just could not push through. The concept was interesting, but my goodness was Alice terrible. I couldn't sympathise or connect with her in any way and it was so hard for me to read a book where I just really did not like the main character. I tried, I really did, but this one just did not click for me.

[Alexandra Lara Kraudy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

Even though I know you can twist a fairy tale and reconfigure it as a new story, it never crossed my mind Alice could think out of the box she has been given and found that brave solution.