A Blade So Black by L.L Mckinney

The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she’s trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew. Life in real-world Atlanta isn’t always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high maintenance best friend, and school. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice s handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she s ever gone before. And she ll need to use everything she’s learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head…literally.

A Blade so Black is one of them books that caught me as soon as I read the synopsis. I haven’t actually read the original Alice in Wonderland book but this book sounded like it was going to be anIts a shame that I haven’t seen much talk about this book because I found this to be a really good book.

I thought Alice was a really interesting main character, she was well developed and really intriguing. Once I got into the story I really connected with her and found her to be one of the fiercest characters I’ve read about for a while. There were also a couple of other characters that I really enjoyed reading about such as maddi. The romance part of the story for Alice wasn’t really needed, I would rather have had her be on her own.

I managed to read this book in just a couple of sittings. I found it really easy to get lost in the story and to just read for hours. I thought the writing was really easy to read which was perfect because when the author was describing the world it was very easy to visualise it all in your head. I also thought that the pacing was spot on because apart from the beginning part of the book, the story flowed really well and didn’t become dull or boring. I thought the action scenes were really well written and parts of the book had me on the edge of my seat.

If I had to be a little critical with this book the only thing I could moan about is that it took me a while to actually get into the book. I found the beginning a little hard to understand which made me feel disconnected with the story and the characters. But that was only for the beginning bit of the book, once I pressed on a little I found the book very difficult to put down.

I would recommend A Blade So Black for readers who liked the Alice in Wonderland story and for readers who want a different take on a fantasy read. I found it really intriguing and once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down. I thought it was a really good first instalment to a brand new series and I can’t wait to read the next book.

I rate this book 4/5 stars

***I was sent a copy of this book for review. Everything in this review is my own honest opinions.***