Cheshire Crossing by Andy Weir Published by Random House Audio on July 9, 2019
Genres: YA, Fantasy
Format: Audiobook
Goodreads
Source: Random House Audio
I received this book for free from Random House Audio in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
From the #1' New York Times' best-selling author of 'The Martian' and 'Artemis', and illustrated by webcomics creator Sarah Andersen, this graphic novel brings together the heroines of 'Alice in Wonderland,' 'Peter Pan,' and 'The Wizard of Oz' in a charming fantasy mash-up as they join forces to defend their worlds from villainous threats. Pulled from the pages of beloved children's fantasy stories, Alice, Wendy, and Dorothy meet at a supernatural boarding school where they're meant to learn how to use and control their special, super-heroic powers. When villains like the Wicked Witch and Captain Hook form an evil alliance to conquer the worlds of Oz, Neverland, and Wonderland, the girls must work together to save not only these fantastical lands but also the Earth itself. This "storybook meets superheroes" graphic novel features the original magical girls of fantasy embarking on exciting supernatural adventures in a tale that could only come from the imagination of Andy Weir and the illustrative sorcery of Sarah Andersen.
…The Reader’s Review…
I listened to this audiobook and it has a full cast! The performance was amazing, the sound effects spot-on, and the Wicked Witch of the West certainly took the spotlight (she nailed the evil laugh!).
What I Liked:
When it comes to the storyline, it started out quite strong. We get Alice, Wendy and Dorothy as teenagers trying to cope with their abilities to travel to other worlds, as well as dealing with relatives not knowing what to do with them (they keep being taken to therapists & asylums). And as they arrive to Cheshire Crossing, they somehow wind up traveling to their respective worlds once again and dealing with The Wicked Witch of the West and Captain Hook, so everything was all building up to be another epic adventure!
What Didn’t Do It For Me:
However, somewhere along the way the narrative took a turn for the worse. As more and more characters and crossovers started to happen, the charm of each of these magical worlds lost their appeal, not to mention that none of our heroines felt (or sounded) like the girls we all know and love. Their characters clearly fell into the “what-if’s” of bad fanfiction and it just wasn’t that great. Also, Peter Pan as a teenager is a big NOPE here since he has strange hormonal feels and wants to understand them with Alice and omg, so weird.
Final Thoughts:
Giving it a 3 stars for the audiobook performance, but yeah, a bit disappointed with the storyline that was SO PROMISING, particularly in the first 30 minutes.
