A Blade So Black (The Nightmare-Verse, 1)
"A Blade So Black is the fantasy book I've been waiting for my whole life."
—Angie Thomas, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Hate U Give
For fans of Marissa Meyer, L.L. McKinney's A Blade So Black delivers an irresistible urban fantasy retelling of Alice in Wonderland... but it's not the Wonderland you remember.
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 a slipping GPA. 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.
Debut author L.L. McKinney delivers an action-packed twist on an old classic, full of romance and otherworldly intrigue.
And don't miss the thrilling sequel, A Dream So Dark!
An Imprint Book
"Mixing elements of Alice in Wonderland and Buffy the Vampire Slayer... Delectable." —Entertainment Weekly
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Community Reviews
Originally reviewed on Cyn's Workshop
Diversity is so necessary for literature and representation matters, those two things beyond anything else make this novel compelling and worth the read. Alice is a cos-playing heroine, and she is also black. Those two things set her apart and make her a compelling character. She has warmth, and while she faces challenges within Wonderland as she battles nightmares, she also faces challenges as a black girl in a world where her skin color puts her at risk, putting her mother on high alert. The mother-daughter dynamic is vibrant as well as realistic because her mother is worried, as most parents, especially those of color, are when an innocent person loses their life. This unfortunate event puts them at odds because Alice has a responsibility to Wonderland as a Dreamwalker, but this is not something she can tell her mother, at least not yet, making for effective tension. No parent wants to tell their kid they cannot be a superhero, but no parent also wants their kid to be risking their lives on a day-to-day basis.
The real-world dynamics are flushed out, even if the secondary characters lack a certain level of depth. Alice’s best-friend is so high-maintenance she verges on being unlikable, and everyone else, sure, they are cool, but they do not make the reader care about them as much as Alice cares. In facts, it is Alice’s devotion to others that makes the reader care about her friends who pretty much only serve the plot at typical story devices to move the story along.
Overall the story is rich and unique as far as retellings go. It addresses real-world crises, highlighting the dangerous ramifications within a fantastical setting. The characters are fun, and the play on names allows the reader to enjoy the allusions to the original tale of wonderland. Alice herself is a very formidable character; she is unique and relatable as she struggles with her social life, school work, and her job on the side. It is a fun read and McKinney builds up the tension delightfully. It has the action and character development where it counts to keep the reader engaged leading to a compelling, addicting, and heartbreaking cliffhanger.
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