While I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never been the biggest fan of the original source material, there’s something about the world of Wonderland that draws me in over and over again through retellings; I can never seem to get enough, so when I heard an entire anthology was being released of dark fantasy and horror stories themed around Alice and her adventures, I couldn’t get my hands on a copy soon enough! I’m so pleased to say that it was everything I hoped it would be. Many anthologies are full of hit-and-miss pieces, but Wonderland is a genuinely solid collection of stories — I really don’t think the average Wonderland lover will be disappointed by hardly any of these tales.

While I definitely have a few stand-out favorites, I haven’t broken down a full anthology review piece-by-piece in a long time (though long-time friends and followers will know it used to be one of my review trademarks!), and this seems like the perfect excuse to dive back into one of those long, thorough reviews! If you'd like to see my full review, check it out here on my blog! Otherwise, keep reading for my favorites (snipped from the full review):

→ The White Queen’s Pawn — Genevieve Cogman ★★★★★
Ahhh. This story was the moment when I knew this anthology was going to be an out-and-out success for me, because Cogman totally blew me away with how fun and fleshed-out this tiny little tale was. In this piece, a group tries to blackmail an elderly woman (who was an assassin in her younger years) into training new assassins, but there’s more to her story than they realize. I don’t know why, but I am a tremendous sucker for elderly women being badass protagonists, and this one didn’t let me down in the slightest. I would read an entire novel set in this world that Cogman’s created without hesitation.

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→ Good Dog, Alice! — Juliet Marillier ★★★★★
This one hurt my heart in the process. Little Dorothea is given a puppy for her birthday, and she names her Alice. The two go on adventures, but accidentally end up in another world, in which Dorothea’s given some unexpected help with a terrible situation she’s living through in the real world. While I’ll mention all of the trigger warnings and their respective stories below, I do want to specifically state that this story features implied child sexual abuse, and like I said… even though it isn’t graphic, it pained me a fair amount to read, but I promise it’s worth it.

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→ Vanished Summer Glory — Rio Youers ★★★★★
This is a really odd one that I’d be curious to see what other reviewers think of. It alternates between a “before” and “after” of a man going missing; the “before”s detail his descent into apparent madness, while the “after”s chronicle his poor wife’s musings over what might have happened to him and where she thinks it all went wrong. There are some really tragic details here and the whole thing is left open to your interpretations, but most of all, I liked the way Wonderland is woven in so that it’s hard to tell if it’s an actual place, or something this poor man has dreamed up in his grief.

Thank you so much to Titan Books for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review!

Content warnings: Wonders Never Cease: cancer, depression; There Were No Birds to Fly: cannibalism; Dream Girl: body horror; Good Dog, Alice!: pedophilia, sexual assault, grooming; The Hunting of the Jabberwock: animal death; Smoke ’em if You Got ’em: implied rape and child abuse; Vanished Summer Glory: cancer; Eat Me, Drink Me: animal death; general anthology warnings: gore, gratuitous violence, murder, death.

Diversity: Alice is black in both Dream Girl and What Makes a Monster.

TL;DR: If you’re any sort of fan of Alice in Wonderland, whether it’s the original source material or retellings, this is right up your alley. With a solid mixture of dark fantasy and horror, there’s sure to be something to please everyone.