I put off reading this book for quite awhile. I'm not sure why, except that maybe I just didn't see how Meyer was going to succeed in making the Queen of Hearts a sympathetic character.

I'm happy to say, I was wrong. I was very pleasantly surprised by this book.

Catherine is a character I actually related to quite a bit. She's a baker, and I love to bake. Even her explanation of how baking makes her feel was so familiar to me. I can also be very short-tempered, and knowing what happens to be Queen by the time Alice comes along, I think it's fair to say that she has an impatient streak as well. I enjoyed the romance between Cath and Jest as well.

The side characters were nice as well, especially Hatta and Cheshire. They both really add to the whimsy of the story, especially considering that Catherine was a relatively grounded force in the story.

Meyer did a wonderful job constructing the land of Hearts. I can't say 'creating', because obviously that honor belongs to Lewis Carroll. However, I felt like she succeeded in staying true to the spirit of Wonderland while making it seem new at the same time. Heartless retained the whimsy and fairy-tale quality of the source material, while making it her own. I also enjoyed that she brought in other fairy tale and literary elements with Peter Peter and Raven.

I also love that it wasn't predictable for me. That is pretty amazing, considering that I've read the source material and seen several theatrical iterations of the story. I think that's one thing that makes this story so successful. As readers, we know that it is Catherine's fate to become the unforgiving and bloodthirsty Queen of Hearts. But we have no idea how the story is going to get there. I had all sorts of conspiracy theories as I read this book of how Catherine was going to get out of this and actually get her happily ever after...but of course, that is not what happened.

If I have one complaint about this story, it's that I wish the characters had gone to the land of Chess. I really wanted to see that. Maybe Meyer could write a companion novel about the red and white war in Chess? I would be so there for it!

All in all, I really enjoyed this book, and can't wait for Meyer's next book!