Alice in the Country of Hearts, Vol. 1

ハートの国のアリス ～Wonderful Wonder World～ [Heart no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Wonder World~] #1

by Soumei Hoshino, QuinRose, Beni Axia Conrad (Translator)

Alice is kidnapped and brought to the strange world of Wonderland, where a war is waging between the Queen of Hearts and the Hatter gang syndicate, and Alice must find her way home while escaping their wrath.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Romance, Comics, Young Adult, Anime

182 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2008

About the author

ほしの総明

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story in this particular manga, is basically a somewhat violent retelling of Alice in wonderland. It all starts off fairly well, and I was interested in the plot, and how this author was going to make it different to the original. As a huge lover of Alice in wonderland, I was definitely expecting more than this.
As you make your way through the book, we introduced to a neverending queue of guys, that seem to love Alice, as well as themselves, and around halfway through, the plot descends into madness. I didn't know what was happening, and the plot became incredibly confusing and lifeless.
Alice, as a character, is fine, but I had no interest in the men running around persuing her. And, I'm not offended by cursing, but, the word "prick" in an Alice in wonderland manga? No, that didn't work.
The best single thing about this book was the artwork. It was wonderful. But, unfortunately, I'm not sure if it is enough to get me to read the next book in the series.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alice seems a little dull for a central character, and many of the men seemed kind of alike, but there is a lot going on here with the world-building and various half-mentioned plots and relationships etc, so I'm going to read on and find out what's what. Assuming (seeing how long this series runs!) that it ever does becomes clear. 3.5 stars

[Julie Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sister envy: A psychological condition whereby a girl thinks that her sister has got it more going on than she does. See also: sibling rivalry

Alice Liddell thinks her sister Lorina is everything she herself is not - Lorina is elegant, pretty, sweet and smart, a girl that any guy in the world could love. Any guy. It's really quite depressing. Maybe there is someone in particular that Alice is afraid is in love with her sister?

While waiting for her sister to retrieve a deck of cards for a game which Alice isn't all that enthused about playing, she falls asleep. The next thing she knows a large white rabbit wearing clothes is yelling at her that she should be chasing him! When she doesn't, he grabs her and makes off for a new chasm in the yard which she swears was not there before, and flings them both into its depths! Althought first the rabbit changes into a cute guy with rabbit ears! Curiouser and curiouser!

And so begins the re-told twisted version of the classic adventure story of Alice in Wonderland, Alice in the Country of Hearts.

The rabbit, er, guy, who claims that he loves Alice, tricks her both into kissing him and into drinking a potion, knowing that once she has done so, she cannot leave, she is stuck in the game and must play it. Game? That echoes eerily with a dream Alice was happening before this all occurred . . . Escaping from one loony she runs into identical brothers who are gatekeepers, and who threaten to kill her! Luckily another young man happens by to save her. Wait, he has rabbit ears too. And suddenly he's aiming his weapon at her as well! What is it with this place, anyway? Then once again she is saved by a gorgeous guy, and a fed up Alice runs out on them all. She winds up at a clock tower this time. The owner tries to shoo her off, but once he discovers that she has drunk the medicine, he realizes that she cannot leave, so he might as well explain who and what is going on. The rabbit is Peter White. The second rabbit and the brothers are Elliott March and the twins. And the gorgeous guy in the top hat is Blood Dupre, the Hatter whose territory she was just in. And he himself is Julius Monrey.

Of course, Alice wants to leave this place and go home. But apparently in order to do so she must play their game, whatever that may be, and abide by their rules. The Clock Tower Plaza is the only neutral territory here. There are three others: Heart Castle, ruled by the Queen of Hearts; the Amusement Park, managed by a man named Gowland; and the Hatter's territory, under the control of Blood Dupre. Now the only way for her to return to where she came is to interact with the inhabitants of this strange world, causing the fluid level in the vial that once held the medicine to increase. When the bottle is filled, she may go home! But unknown to her, Peter White is determined to make her his, and keep her there forever!

Okay, so where to now? Obviously, if you're going to get anywhere in a game, you have to explore the area, and get to know the people. That's the way to get points, by chatting up the locals. While wandering about she meets a knight named Ace, from the castle. He seems nice enough and they have a friendly chat but he's also a bit on the clueless side when it comes to getting anywhere, and they end up back by the gatekeepers, to everyone's dismay. March and Ace go at it, until once again Blood Dupre steps in to save the day. There's something about him - not only is he easy on the eyes, but he has this sort of seductive manner thing going on, and Alice isn't quite sure what to make of him.

Alice and Ace make their way to the castle at last, and there is Peter, waiting to pounce on her, and there she meets the Queen of Hearts, who is also called Vivaldi. Alice grows tired during the course of her visit and is invited to stay. Peter tries to get her into his room, but she refuses his advances once again. How strange - to have a dream within a dream! And yet another pretty face - this one's name is Nightmare!

Alice is beginning to think that this game is nothing but a trip through her subconscious, with the frilly things that aren't really her style, and Blood Dupre who looks just like the one guy in the world she wants to love her, but . . . If that's so, then what about the other more disturbing aspects, the violence, and the craziness, and the disregard for life? Is that her too? And what does that say about her mental state?

You can read my entire review at Anime Radius and Yaoi Radius!

[Jessica-Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice in the Country of Hearts is like Ouran High School Host Club set in Wonderland. I would best describe this as a shojo fantasy manga that is really all about a romance with multiple suiters with the world acting a backdrop. It's good to make this clear right off the bat, if you're expecting an adventure manga set in a sprawling Wonderland you won't find that here.

In this adaptation, our Alice is well in her teen years when she's kidnapped by a white rabbit who takes her to Wonderland to play out a mysterious game where her subconscious disiares are manifested. Needless to say Alice isn't too happy with the results. Turns out her subconscious is frilly, lonely, and pining for the boy she lost to someone else. But in order to go home she has to navigate Wonderland's many characters as each of them fall helplessly in love with her much to her dismay.

A lot of the classic characters from Wonderland are re-imagined as the classic male archetypes you'd expect to see in shojo. This is part of the reason I'm so quick to compare it to Ouran Host Club. We have a straightforward female character surrounded by romantic, eccentric men with a strong dash of humour.

From this first volume I'm incredibly interested to see where this goes. I found that there was a surprising amount of times I laughed and I'm looking forward to seeing these characters more fully explored. I am a huge fan of Alice retelling and adaptations, from Disney, to the live action adaptations, to Syfy's Alice, so this is right in my wheel house! I am one happy ducky to have found this series and am seriously surprised I hadn't come across this sooner!

[Claire Chibi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, this takes me back to 2012 when I was at the height of my otome game obsession, good times~

Lots of weirdness but also very intriguing, definitely going to continue with this series :D

[Alysse Peery · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series follows a girl named, you guessed it, Alice. This is an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, but this Alice isn't as much of a doormat like the orginal tale. She's much more practical and cynical. On top of that, she never even followed the "White Rabbit" into Wonderland in the first place, she was kidnapped. This Wonderland is filled with mostly bishie characters that have to play the roles of this world's classic inhabitants: The White Rabbit, the Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, the March Hare, the Doormouse, the Cheshire Cat, and more. Alice is dragged into a game where people can pull guns out of thin air and life isn't taken as seriously. On top of all that, all the "roleholders" are supposed to fall in love with any person from outside. Just what is going to happen in this girly and very violent game?

Personally, I find this series rather interesting. This Alice certainly is different from some of her previous incarnations. Also enjoyed the characters' roles in Wonderland. The Hatters are a mafia family, there is of course the Castle of Hearts, and then there is Gowland's amusement park. These three regions are all feuding, with the clock tower as the only neutral place. Each character is different to varying extents from their original source characters, and have interesting deconstructions of standard personality types. You may expect them to be one way, but deep down they're really something else. It's like that with every roleholer. Honestly, who ever expected the 12-year-old Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum to be mafia!? The most interesting part probably is how death works in this different world. Tick-tock, Tick-tock...

Based off a game by Quin-Rose, and there are a few personality differences between the games and the manga, the most obvious being that of Blood Dupre, who I really liked in the game but can't really stand in this version. Trust me, he's a VERY different character. I won't go into details about what changed about who, because that would be a spoiler alert. Still, if you are interested in the UnderGarden series, this is a good place to start, unless you're good enough with Japanese to outright play the games.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review for complete series

I think there are a couple of important things to keep in mind before reading this manga that I think a lot of reviewers here are unaware of. First and foremost would be the fact that this is an adaptation of an otome game [in short, a game where the player unlocks romantic storylines with the various characters available]. As such, it's almost inevitable that this has some harem-like traits and given that it's an adaptation and not the source material, some story threads are lost in translation and likely don't deliver as well as the original does. Nevertheless, as someone who doesn't like harem stories, I've loved the Alice in the Country of [...] manga series and think that they have done a pretty good job adapting it without making it too heavy on the harem side and adding a nice little twist on the various love interest options.

Needless to say, this whole setup is based on Alice in Wonderland. In this adaptation, an older Alice is brought to wonderland where all the characters she encounters are human representations of the various characters and creatures from the original novel. This wonderland is set up as a kind of game where the different territories fight each other, including to the death. Death seems to hold a different concept in this world and characters seem to take it for granted. Alice on the other hand is appalled by how carelessly others get into fights and hurt each other. Alice is treated differently though - she's a stranger to this world and it makes her different and the rules of the game apply differently to her.

As a work around for how the game version offers all the characters as potential love interests, I quite like how the manga version handles it. It puts reason in place why characters are drawn to Alice and like her. I especially appreciate how like doesn't mean in a romantic way - she forms friendships and gets along with most of the characters and only few of them are presented in a way that could be romantic. There is also a reason why characters are drawn to Alice which the plot vaguely explains [more on that later].

For the sake of letting this six-volume series stand on its own, the plot does pick one character as the central love interest who Alice more or less ends up with (I shan't spoil who it is!). Homever, similarly to how the game works, there are dozens of spin-off manga series that uses different characters as a love interest. These other works start with the assumption that you already know the beginning of this story. The way it works, you could read about the first two volumes of this main series and then jump to whichever series follows a character you would like Alice to end up with. I thought that's a pretty neat way to give similar options to what the game offers and it gives you many variants of how things could play out, especially considering that this series has many likeable characters.

For better or for worse, all the different instalments are done by different artists. I absolutely adore the art used in this main series though. The others are a mixed bag, some are nicer, some ore not quite so nice. But besides the beautiful art and the somewhat unusual but interesting set up of having different volumes following different plots, I appreciate the depth of this plot which might at first glance go unnoticed. Alice adores her older sister but there are clear signs of her also having inferiority complexes toward her. The story alludes to things having happened in the real world that have led Alice to come to Wonderland instead. I also appreciate how self reflecting Alice is, for examples she questions how shallow she must have been to wish herself into a world where everyone likes her. There are also some lovely friendships such as with the Queen of Hearts.

On the downside, I thought this main series' love interest wasn't handled overly well as it was quite rushed. But the worst thing is that a few essential tidbits from the game didn't make it into this adaptation, it leaves the reader with several questions and most importantly doesn't conclude some of the deeper underlying themes. When I first read this series years ago, I had to do some online research to actually understand the ending. Once you have that missing information it makes a whole lot more sense. It doesn't take away from my enjoyment of this franchise but I do think it would have been much better had this information been included to the books. In this manga adaptation, it's hinted that something is wrong with Alice's older sister and that it's part of the reason she is hiding away in Wonderland. Alice's memories are blocked and she is unaware of any of it. Toward the end of the book, we see a picture of her sister in a coffin but it is never explained. After some digging, it seems that as per the game, Alice and her sister had an argument about Alice's future - her sister died not long after and Alice blames herself thinking the argument added to her sister's bad health. She hides away in wonderland in which most of the main characters represent certain times of the day. For example, Peter White, who for no reason explained in the manga, is very much in love with Alice and is said to be her natural favourite - he represents the afternoons spent with Alice's sister. Because that time is precious to Alice, it makes Peter White an important character to her [although he has a pretty bad start with her]. All of this is just very, very vaguely alluded to and I think the little the book provides on this leaves more questions than it gives answers.

I don't think this series is for everyone but I personally really enjoy it and think it's from a technical perspective really well done with how it branches out in different storylines. If you are thinking of trying this series, you'll definitely want to read this original storyline first and then continue with the series of your favourite characters. Also a fair warning that this main series has a bonus chapter (I believe in volume 4) which at first seems a continuation of the plot but is actually just a bonus story that alludes to the Joker spin off. It starts and ends a bit out of the blue and I think the chapter cover isn't obvious enough that it isn't part of the main plot. I recall during my first read of this series I was very confused why the ending of volume four didn't match the beginning of volume 5.

[Tiara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t even know anymore.

Basically, this is a violent retelling of Alice in Wonderland. Alice Liddell isn’t sure if she’s dreaming or not, but she’s in a strange world where the inhabitants of Wonderland are locked in civil war and just about everyone she meets loves her with a few exceptions. She believes this world is a product of her loneliness. This is a wholly ridiculous story, but I like it for some reason. I think it has everything to do with the characters and how cheerfully violent most of them are.

Favorite character so far is the punked-out Cheshire cat, Boris Airay, who is basically the opposite of a catgirl and dons many piercings and a skirt over his pants. There’s also the gleefully violent Peter White (the White Rabbit) who is a rabbit-boy who is completely obsessed with Alice—whom he kidnapped—and the perpetually pissed off Elliot March (the March Hare). Vivaldi (the Red Queen) was introduced as a woman who refers to herself as “we” and seems very detached from everything even though she is cordial toward Alice.

There’s Ace (Knave of Hearts) who’s directionally challenged and too oblivious to realize that Elliot really is trying to kill him, but he’s an awesome fighter. Elliot and Ace’s interactions are GOLD just because they are total opposites, and Ace seems unable to genuinely not understand that Elliot hates his guts. He seems to sincerely like Elliot much to Elliot's dismay and even went as far as to tell Elliot’s boss—who I am getting to—that he wasn’t offended by Elliot shooting at him.

Blood Dupre (the Mad Hatter and Elliot’s boss) is a boredom disliking Mafia boss who is the thorn in Gowland’s (a gender-swapped Duchess) because he’s told the whole country that Gowland’s first name is “Mary,” which sends Gowland into a rage. There’s the bloody twins Dee and Dum who Elliot also hates because they’re always calling him a “newb” hare and goofing off. And last we have Nightmare Gottschalk (the Caterpillar) and Julius Monrey (an original character, I think, but seems to be a representation of “time”) who seem a bit immune to “loving” Alice and seem to know more about why she’s there but are very cryptic about it.

While this is obviously shojo (manga marketed toward females), it’s ultra-violent which isn’t typical of shojo. I don’t think it is anyway, but I tend to read more shounen than shojo. I can’t say the story is very strong at this point, but it has done a bang up job on reimagining these characters and giving Wonderland a harder, satirical existence. At first I thought I was going to take issue with most people loving Alice, even Vivaldi hints toward loving her, but looking at it as a woman who’s created this world because of her own loneliness and betrayal, it makes sense and works.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read - nothing too deep. An odd twist on the Alice in Wonderland story that we're all familiar with. Alice Liddell disappears into what she thinks is a dream filled with bizarre characters. All characters are either human or human/animal mixes (e.g., the Cheshire Cat is a punk boy with cat ears and tail). I thought the suggestion that this is actually a world that is a product of Alice's own deepest desires was actually pretty unique and interesting. Imagine being confronted with your deepest desires? Alice, who in the real world feels unrefined and unworthy of love, finds herself in a "dream" world where all men are drawn to her and fall "in love" with her. Which, as you can imagine, gets to be a bit annoying (even at the same time it's appealing). The most interesting characters are those unique to this reimagining of the old story: The watchmaker (a sort of mortician for the world); Blood Dupre (a head of the mafia Hatter family); and Ace (a Knight of Hearts who wants to change his role in this world). Alice herself is kind of weak and annoying, but so much so that I lose interest.

Basically, the story involves a lot of fawning over Alice by really cute men...but the story itself seems to be going somewhere and I'm intrigued enough to keep reading...

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This just wasn't for me. Although I did like the art, the story doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast. The first volume is almost entirely Alice meeting these new versions of Wonderland characters- and that's it. They meet, we see their outfits and personalities, and then she goes on to meet the next character. I did like that Alice seems to be aware that this world is a manifestation of her inner desires. She wants to be special and loved, and she is here, and she's not entirely thrilled. But I wasn't into the warring gangs theme, so that dragged things down a bit for me.

[angelsbride · Rating 2 out of 5]

Te dwie gwiazdki to z czystej hojności bo kot z cheshire jest fajny......

[Maria Bazarte-De La Luz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alice in Wonderland with a Freudian twist. The characters are very interesting, although I don't think they are very developed in this book/volume. As of right now, I think either Julius or Gowland are my favorite characters. I am going to keep reading the series to allow the characters to develop more and grow on me. I think I'll like it more if I keep reading the series.

[Reggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

My book group picked this as one of our October reads, so I picked it up for that purpose. I also, thankfully, got the book used, so I didn't waste too much money on it.

To be honest, it started almost as if it were a more realistic version of the traditional story - the girl sees a talking rabbit, while she'd been resting in the garden, and figures she's dreaming. I thought that was cute and something that I could see happening to pretty much every girl.

But it all goes downhill from there. She's abducted by someone who's "in love" with her, gets sexually harassed by him and many of the others in Wonderland (where "everyone will love her"). She also ends up constantly being in the midst of violence that terrifies her and makes no sense (which I'll give a bit of leeway to, since it IS an Alice in Wonderland retelling).

She's essentially being held in Wonderland as a prisoner, since when she arrived, the rabbit forced her to drink some medicine from a vial by drinking it himself and kissing her against her will, and pushing the medicine into her mouth. Because she then ingested it, she's told she's stuck there until she meets enough people to get the vial full of her emotions again. Blech.

We're also supposed to be figuring out what each character represents in her subconscious, but since we're given so very little information about her, we can't possibly figure out more than the obvious one that Alice explains vaguely to us in the beginning. So after awhile, it just got frustrating and more about the Wonderland characters than her psyche.

And I'm sorry, but kidnapping what appears to be a teenager, forcing yourself on her, having multiple people want to seduce her (some against her will), and then finding out that some also want to kill her is just kinda icky, for me.

After reading it, I found out from someone in the book group (She-Geeks) that it had another storyline before this one, and that all of the manga were based on a game. The additional information was interesting, but not enough for me to want to continue reading this series, since it just seemed too full of sexual harassment for my tastes.

[Amma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, wait a wonderful start, definitely better than I was expecting!

I must say, I only read it because of the promise of bishonen males (of which there were plenty ><) but it is really intriguing. It took me a while to realize Alice created that world, a world were she was wanted. But once I did I liked it a lot more, seeing as how I've always been jealous of my sister. Not enough to dream up a world like Alice did though.

Plus, the cast is great! Alice is not a Bella (weak), Alice !9th (sniveling), Katniss (scary), Haruhi (annoying), or an Annabeth (no-it-all-who's-eye-I-want-to-stab-out-with-a-spork). She's actually pretty cool and entertaining and easy to understand. Peter White is so my favorite. He has the two best traits: pervyness and glasses! The twins, Dee and Dum, are comic relief in a terrifying manner, Boris is... kinda smexy, Julius and Elliot are likable enough. Blood Dupre is an excellent take on the Had Matter- mafia boss! who'd think!- and Ace... Ace is pure WIN. I love his character. He's gorgeous, funny, with just the right amount of creepy and suspicion.

The yummyness of the guys, meaning the illustrations, are great. I was ready to glomp the book but I couldn't because I wasn't buying it. Ha ha...

Off to dream up a world of pretty boys...

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a fun manga. It's a modern take on Alice in Wonderland.

Alice comes across as likeable, at least in my mind. She finds herself in a strange place and tries to make her way the best she can. The various powers of Wonderland (the Queen, the mafia, the amusement park...) are often at odds with each other, but she visits them and tries to get along. She's kind to those who are kind to her but she doesn't hold back her opinions. There are many, many, young men/rabbit-men/cat-men etc. in Wonderland who are interested in her, and Alice has to fight back when their advances get too forward.

I'm no art critic but I liked the style of the art and costumes, and am very happy about the fact that I can tell all the characters apart (this is not a given with manga).

Silly fun for those who like stylish shoujo manga.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the first "chapter" I wasn't sure if I would like this...but I kept reading. And the more I read the more interested I was. By the end of the first volume I was pretty sure I would keep reading on to the next volumes. If nothing else I'll read the second one.

I try not to be too hard on fairytale retellings because honestly, how many different ways can you reinvent them? But inevitably I always am. This one intrigued me because I wasn't always able to pinpoint who a character was in comparison to the original... Not that it's particularly difficult... But I think there's a good mix of reinvented characters like the Cheshire and TweedleDee and TweedleDum and new original ones.

If there's one thing I genuinely love about this manga it's the art. Very beautiful.

[Michelle Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

It was kind of a rough start; nothing very interesting happened the whole first chapter, and in a book (manga) where there are only 5 chapters, that's big. Barely any prelude to Alice going down the rabbit hole; perhaps a lot like the original Alice in that sense, but it still left something to be desired in character development.

The story picks up after the first chapter and actually gets interesting (though a bit confusing a teeny-tiny bit in some places), despite this manga's origins as a Japanese otome (romance) game.

[Tiff · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as first impressions go from just volume 1, this didn't do much for me. Out of curiosity, I'm going to read on, and hope it really reels me in. I'm all for new takes on Alice in Wonderland.

[Emma! · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good!

I googled it and i has been made into a movie and i can watch in on youtube? yes please!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 hearts

[Bryckelle Webber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good reads week 8.

Alice in the country of hearts by Quinrose.
The author starts out the book with Alice sleeping next to a tree soon to be greeted by her sister. When she wakes her up, Alice notices how everyone loves her sister and how it might be because of beauty differences that not as many people like Alice. Her sister asks about Alice's dream and finds out that it's a message of rules and it's all a game. Thinking about how it's a game she runs to get a deck of cards for the two to play with then Alice soon falls back asleep but somehow falls too hard. She falls into a rabbit hole and into a crazy new world. It's all a game and a dream at the same time. Full of men and the Queen. Everyone will love her, that's what it's about. Alice needs to find a way home.
I think that this book is one of the best it's definitely one of my favorites. It pulls you to the point of you struggling to put the book down. It has some art in it and I love it. I especially love how the Hatter is super hot. One of my favorite things about the book is the Queen. She uses words such as we, and us when referring to herself because she has split personalities and I just think that that is so cool. I really like when the chapters are just about Alice in the castle cause I just love the Queen. She was one of my favorite characters including the Hatter. Another one of my favorite characters is the clock towers owner, Julius. He is mysterious and I adore his personality. It makes me wonder what is he hiding. He has a more of an American Gothic type of scene. He may seem really simple when you first meet him but if you hang around longer you start to notice that there's actually more than meets the eye. I wish I had the second book so I could find out more about him. I really liked how Alice could fall asleep in her own dream and find out more about what was happening. I thought that was cool. How she questions herself in thinking that she thought she wasn't loved even though she knew better. It makes her go insane and I liked reading about it. I love how the style of the book was Magna. I liked reading it left to right. I found that as cool but I'm a Japanese lover. I didn't really like the rabbit character. He's way to open and outgoing for me. He needs to calm down a lot.
I think the theme of the book is it's not as bad as you think, or things do get better cause Alice’s life didn't seem that good when you meet her in the beginning and when she gets there it's all about her and she can finally be herself and not have to act like her sister. It might seem a little cheesy for me to say that but it seriously seems like that. I don’t know things are a little crazy for me to say something that there's one thing about it. The book is confusing and I found it spectacular. I love the book and I'm going to try to read the second one.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A twisted take on Alice in Wonderland that is puzzling, but enjoyable. The Country of Hearts characters, much like their Wonderland originals, introduce Alice to an existence that is both absurd and rather brutal. Most of the land's inhabitants walk around armed to the teeth and are literally heartless--a repurposable timepiece, rather than a beating heart, the only thing giving them life. As in the original, Alice's exotic status as an outsider allows her a loophole from most of the rules of the land and helps keep her alive. Her practical, matter-of-fact nature charms the mainly male inhabitants, many of whom seem on the fence about whether they should kiss her or kill her. Alice, meanwhile, is hesitant to form any romantic alliances, trying to maintain some sort of tether to the real world where she came from and the beloved sister she misses...a tether that becomes harder and harder to keep hold of the longer she stays in this mad, mad, world.

This is not much of a series if you're looking for tightly wrapped episodes. The first four volumes are a little all over the place, setting up the crazy politics of the place and prompting questions more than providing answers. It's clear Peter White (a.k.a. the white rabbit)is hiding something, but what? And ambiguity abounds with Alice's love life, with more suitors and attention than she knows what to do with.

We shelve this in our teen graphic novels here, but I find it pretty tame thus far. For all the hints of malice in Alice, most of the time it's empty threats and no action. Most of the violence that is there is done off-stage, so to speak, and as we are mainly seeing through Alice's eyes, it's pretty clear that the Wonderland inhabitants aren't anyone to emulate. It will be interesting to see where the relationships end up going, but at least through volume 4, it's pretty much all smoke and zero fire. Moreover, as a colleague and I discussed the other day, it's kind of nice to see a manga series with a fiercely independent female character like Alice. There's something about the dynamic at times that is a little Ouran-esque (Ouran High School Host Club) with the girl being the sensible one who has the power and calls all the shots for a change, while the guys are actually the ones that are prone to impulsivity and superficiality. I like to see these things turned on their head every now and then, and this is a series that is anything but predictable.

[Debbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

A decade ago, I bought my niece a few volumes from this expansive series for her Christmas gift, at her request. Since I have been a long-time Alice enthusiast and collector, I thought I'd add it to my TBR. I am not a manga fan, though, so it took a while to prioritize it, and honestly? I could have passed on it.

The story starts out more or less the same - Alice is with her sister, sleepy on an afternoon, and she falls into a dream. That is the end of the similarities, though, so the book's summary as a "clever retelling" is way off. Basically, Wonderland has been divided into three factions, according to this volume, each led by different characters from the source material (Queen of Hearts, Mad Hatter, and someone else?) who are trying to take over all of Wonderland. They are basically all cards though, entirely replaceable, and their respect for life shows in how hap-hazard they are with their various weapons and the humor that surrounds those face-offs. Into this falls Alice, who is a typical human girl, getting to know a host of semi-attractive male characters (and the Queen) who all crush on her to various degrees, and with which she more or less makes friends with on an individual basis. Consequently, she uses her feminine wiles to convince them (at least, in this volume) that their lives are worth something to her, if not to themselves and each other, and she wants an end to the violence that they so happily threaten each other.

All of these male characters have some pretty alarming character flaws, which Alice either plays to or takes offense at, depending on who they are. Either way, she's clearly got them all eating out of her hand, which is not exactly true to the source material, either. I realize there is supposed to be a love triangle (or love pentagon or something) set up in this volume, but I did not want to know if she ended up with any of them because they're all variously creepy. Add to that the typical manga art style that makes me (an old fogey) confused about who is talking, mixing up most of the characters who look so similar, and the awkward inclusion of shallow comments with the meat of the plot and I was done even halfway in. I pushed through, though, and I'm glad to cross this off my list without adding the rest of the books to my TBR. Sorry, Alex, this is not for me.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Follow Alice down the rabbit hole again in the exciting new adventure... manga style. Alice in the Country of Hearts (Vol. 1) is an enticing mixture of the traditional Alice in Wonderland with a new twist. The tale begins with Alice awaking from a dream concerning a mysterious game. Upon telling her sister of the game, she believes that Alice's subconscious is eager for some entertainment, and hurries off to find some cards. Much like the original tale, Alice spies a white rabbit in the distance with a large clock. However, instead of following the white rabbit, it comes to her and explains that she is not following him as she should. To Alice's surprise, the rabbit turns into a man with white rabbit ears. He quickly grabs her and thrusts her into a large hole that has mysteriously appeared. And off to Wonderland we go...

Once in Wonderland, Peter White (aka the white rabbit) explains to Alice that she must drink from a magic vial. Upon refusing, Peter forces Alice through a kiss. And thus the game begins... While not much is known about the game in the first volume, I have to say that I am intrigued. The main characters are still in here, but with a twist: The Mad Hatter is a Mafia Boss named Blood Dupre, Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum are the gatekeepers to Blood's home and territory, the Cheshire cat is Boris, a punk teenager with cat ears, and of course, Peter White, the man with rabbit ears who is madly in love with Alice. Actually, it seems that most of the male characters are in love with Alice. But to find out why.... you will have to read the manga.

For me, this volume was a lot of fun. The manga was full of interesting twists while staying pretty true to the original tale. Alice is a wonderful main character. But I have to say that Blood was my favorite. He reminded me a lot of Gambit from X-Men, without the powers. In addition to the great characters, the drawings in the novel are top notch. They are beautiful to look at, and immerse the reader in this new world that QuinRose and Hoshino Soumei have created. I loved every second of this novel and cannot wait to go down the rabbit hole to discover more. Highly recommend for manga and Alice in Wonderland lovers. This is one that should not be missed.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been curious about this series for some time. It's a six volume series, but only five volumes were ever released in the US due to Tokyopop going under. Yen Press has since picked up the license, although the volumes won't start to be re-released until next summer.

In the meantime, I picked up the first four volumes that my library has. I was never keen on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. I wasn't sure what to expect of a manga loosely based on the story. My conclusion is that the story in any shape or form is just not going to appeal to me. That said, I think that the manga handles the story in a very interesting and unique way. Alice in the manga closely resembles the Alice in the original tale, the rest of characters being the caricatures of the original story. The story meanders and jumps around and has a dreamy quality, all corresponding well to the feel of Wonderland. There are some interesting themes about the importance (or lack thereof) of life, jealousy, and love.

I'm curious enough to try to get a hold of an out-of-print volume five of the series and wait until the final volume is released in the next year or so to see how the story concludes.

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

I cannot believe the praise this series has gotten. It would have been interesting if it had adapted well from the game that still remains un-translated in Japan, but even so the manga is poorly drawn and poorly written.

Manga is known for its bishounens (pretty boys) and cute doe-eyed girls, but the anatomy is way off - Alice sometimes appears so short it looks like she's being preyed upon by pretty pedophiles! Hands way too large, dialogue seems contrived and petty, it's ridiculous.

Not to mention Alice is being sexually harassed so much that when things actually get romantic I want to start screaming at the book! Peter KIDNAPS her because he thinks it'll make her happy! She compares the Hatter to her ex-boyfriend, everything mentioned is so trivial nothing keeps my interest. It's a case of too many characters and the people behind the story had no idea what they were doing.

Stupid, burn it, I sold it for cheap prices to get it off my shelf.

WASTE OF MONEY. Go read Sailor Moon or Fushigi Yugi if you want the cheesy, cute stuff or a more proper romantic series if you want steamy. Chances are if the artist draws immaturely, the writer writes immaturely.

[Lorien · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah okay, this is not a fun manga.

TRIGGER WARNING FOR KIDNAPPING, SEXUAL ASSAULT, ABUSE

Sooo.

This started off okay, and rather interesting. First Alice Liddle is poked awake by her sister... who is reading Alice in Wonderland. She falls asleep... and is KIDNAPPED by the white rabbit, where she is forced to drink a potion that traps her in the world of Wonderland. All by a forceful kiss. Forced kisses are legit sexual assault.

I managed to read through the volume until I reached volume two, but I don't like this. The ending is terrifying, honestly. Hatter traps Alice against a wall, asking her to go to tea with him, and literally tells her, "I wasn't going to let you leave until you agreed." Alice is thinking how he's in love with her, literally excusing what he did, while Hatter assures the March Hare "Once I'm bored I'll kill her."

THESE ARE THE TYPE OF DUDES WHO ACT LIKE THIS. THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU AS A PERSON, THEY TREAT YOU AS A POSSESSION!!!

Didn't like it, it was twisted, not whimsical, so I'm done. Not continuing the series.

[Luke Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as an interlibrary loan, and the entire time, the book smelled like an unflushed toilet. I don't want to know what the stains were. If I do happen to want to buy this, I'll most likely get the omnibuses from Yen Press, as they look a lot prettier.

But for the actual story, Alice in the Country of Hearts is definitely interesting. Sure, we have Wonderland, Alice, and all of the boys, but I'm not sure where it will go from here. Many story lines have been introduced, including war, time, and dreaming, but we'll see where they'll lead.

[Melody [not just some girl you can sway] · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mad Hatter is the leader of the Wonderland mafia, the White Rabbit kidnaps Alice, and Alice wants out of Wonderland. I love this so far. It's a bit insane, yet beautiful and not over the top. The characters are all delightful (especially Blood and Elliot) and the plot is quite good so far; I think it honors Lewis Carroll very well. I love the art. The outfits are beautiful, and I love the expressions. Read it, it's addicting.

[Madelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my new favorites!!!! Peter White is hilarious! Blood is so mysterious and dangerous, but I like him! And then theres Ace, he is just a doozy! He's always getting poor Alice lost and farther from home instead of closer. Vol 2, come to me!!!