When thirty year old Alice Pleasance feels her life and writing career going nowhere, she fears her namesake ancestor, a resourceful girl immortalized in a classic novel, would be disappointed by and ashamed of her failures. This fear is abated when Alice is approached by a talking deer who explains that Alice has been chosen to battle the Red King, a manipulative and evil shape-shifter, in order to thwart his plans to infect and control humanity. Mysterious and ominous appearances of the numbers 10:10 convince Alice that although she may not know what is coming, she must relinquish self doubt to defeat it. Joined by a makeshift army of two telekinetic children, a dog who grows to dragon-size, a pair of ex-soldier Nigerian twins, and a bodiless Compass who desperately wants to become a real girl, Alice prepares for a terrifying and unpredictable confrontation. A ring of child pornographers, cruel office managers, sadistic cheerleaders, and a two-headed contractor are only some of the obstacles Alice must face and eliminate in order to own her role in a family well-versed in nightmarish fairy tales and spiritual riddles. Funny, poignant, provocative, and disturbing, the story illustrates the epic details often existing in everyday life, the power of imagination, and the requirements of redemption. This surreal, adult adventure is a new slice of Wonderland for a very modern audience. A lysergic head trip of a novel, The Final Alice is the rare tale that possesses equal measures of heart, wit, and inspired, demented madness. Alycia Ripley's fine novel deserves to be read, re-read, analyzed, debated, and perhaps become the sacred text of a passionate cult. -James Ponsoldt, writer/director of Off the Black and Junebug and Hurricane
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Okay first off, I'll be honest when I say that this book is fascinatingly odd. I mean this in the best way possible. If you are tired of the reading the same story, give The Final Alice a try! I can tell you that you won't be disappointed in the uniqueness of it at all.
That being said, let me share a bit about what this book is actually about, since I couldn't find an actual description for it. Despite its relation to the Alice stories of old, this isn't your same old Alice story my friends. This one is dark, bloody, and full of creatures that will scare the living daylights out of you. See Alice is actually the great, great, great (I can't remember how many greats), granddaughter of the original Alice. Each new Alice in the family is blessed with their own special ability during their lifetime, and eventually is taken away to Wonderland. Until the newest Alice that is. She feels as though life is passing her by and that she isn't special at all. Alice has been a misfit since birth, and she's not sure that she'll ever measure up to her predecessors.
Enter the Red King. This bloodthirsty tyrant is trying to come over from the other side of the looking glass. He wants to turn the human world in his own image, and it isn't a pretty one. Lucky for Alice, she's surrounded by one heck of a posse. Complete with a talking deer, a dog that can grow to the size of a horse, and a talking mailbox, this is quite the trip down the rabbit hole. As her powers grow, she begins to take on some of the evil that the Red King is bringing into the world. Let me tell you, this evil is EVIL. I'll give one tiny thing away, since this will judge whether this book is for you. Are you okay with various body parts being strewn about? If you are at all squeamish when it comes to blood and gore, you might want to stay away from this one.
This book is tough to describe, it really and truly is. What I can say is that it is unique. I can also say that it is violent. If you are okay with a healthy dose of darkness in your stories, you might enjoy The Final Alice. Although this story was definitely over the top, I did enjoy reading it. I'm not sure I'd ever read it again, as there is just to much outright violence even for me. However I am glad that I gave it a chance. Alycia Ripley has definitely opened up a new Wonderland for a whole different audience.