Book Review: The Wonderland Trials by Sara Ella

 


The Wonderland Trials - Sara Ella - 4 Stars - Lovers of all things Alice in Wonderland will LOVE this! (Book 1 in The Curious Realities Series)

If you are a lover of all things Alice in Wonderland, you will enjoy this new, fun Alice inspired Young Adult Christian Fantasy story! While the first part was a bit slow for me to get into, by the 50% mark I was invested in the story. Fans of dystopian favorites like The Hunger Games will also probably enjoy this because it has a "trial" game that gave me Hunger Games vibes. The whole time you never know who to trust, what's real vs fictional, what "reality" you are in and it's just a very unique story I think many will enjoy. I also kind of had "Caraval" vibes too from the writing style - really enjoyed that aspect.

This story is all about Alice who just wants to escape her normal life in Oxford and find her parents who abandoned her 10 years ago. She gets more than she bargained for though when her older sister, Charlotte, is arrested for having the "Wonder" Gene - the key to unlocking the curious "Wonderland Reality". Alice must play for "Team Heart" in this year's annual - and deadly - Wonderland Trials. She must find her way to Wonderland through the trials but nothing is what it seems.... People go missing. Her and her team try to solve the clues and find the missing players but who can she trust along the way?

I'm not always the biggest fantasy reader but I am starting to find ones I do enjoy and this one ended up being a great foundational book for the "Curious Realities" series. We had good world building, easy to understand details and characters and everything was explained very well. We had some Christian allegory I could see, especially toward the end. That was nice to see.

We also had a bit of a budding romance toward the end - very light - but hope to see that expanded in future books. I don't know that I ever fell in love with our characters per say, but mostly enjoyed the fantasy element and storyline here.

The ending leaves on a bit of cliffhanger so I am so glad there will be a book 2 so we can continue on in this world! If you would like an engaging fantasy read with a Wonderland twist, pick this up!


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