Title: The Collectors' Society
Author: Heather Lyons
Pub Date: October 23rd 2014 by Cerulean Books
From the author of the Fate series and The Deep End of the Sea comes a fantastical romantic adventure that has Alice tumbling down the strangest rabbit hole yet.
After years in Wonderland, Alice has returned to England as an adult, desperate to reclaim sanity and control over her life. An enigmatic gentleman with an intriguing job offer too tempting to resist changes her plans for a calm existence, though. Soon, she’s whisked to New York and initiated into the Collectors’ Society, a secret organization whose members confirm that famous stories are anything but straightforward and that what she knows about the world is only a fraction of the truth.
It’s there she discovers villains are afoot—ones who want to shelve the lives of countless beings. Assigned to work with the mysterious and alluring Finn, Alice and the rest of the Collectors’ Society race against a doomsday clock in order to prevent further destruction . . . but will they make it before all their endings are erased?
I completely adored The Collectors’ Society by Heather Lyons, which is not really shocking. I just absolutely love how she writes her characters and her love stories, then add in the cool focus of a grown up version of Alice. Well it’s absolutely amazing.
I loved the way that Heather has written Alice. I felt like she completely captured her character and did such a fantastic job of aging her. There are so many mysteries surrounding her and her later adventures in Wonderland (after her stories end). She doesn’t even let us in on the secret but she it is also not over eluded to. The way she acts and talks just fit so perfectly. Alice has a curious mind and a strong survival instinct.
I like that so many different literary characters are involved in the books. I admit that I for some reason could not get how they name timelines. I kept forgetting for but luckily I’ve read most of the books they came from. There is also a key in the back of the book. I would get really excited when a new character was introduced. It was fun to see who would was with who and what they are up to. liked that Mary kept her spunk and her love of plants. Victor is a doctor and seemed to channel a little bit of his father if not to the crazy extent. Finn is of course adventurous and tough. Even Jack remains a creep, which I’m not sure if that’s unsettling or not. I liked how Brom as the anti-hero gets to change his destiny a bit too. It was just so much fun to be able to jump in and out different books.
I admit as much as I was loving The Collectors’ Society and learning about it. I was super anxious to get to Wonderland. I’m like come on let’s go let’s go. When we finally join Alice and enter back into her timeline it definitely met my expectations. I loved how Heather takes some of the characters that are not talked about as much, such as the White King, and turns him into a bigger player. I have to say I really liked the White King. Rather than focusing on just the Mad Hatter, Caterpillar and Cheshire Cat. I felt like she gave Wonderland new life and still kept the things that make it what it is.
Such a great love story for a couple reasons. First of all it feels like Finn and Alice spend plenty of time together before anything happens. So the progression of their relationship seems more natural. Alice has a past and I really like that she doesn’t apologize for it, she doesn’t regret it and she still loves the person who was a part of it. She makes it very clear what the difference between your past and future is. It was just so nice to see a story that has two people who love one another enough that they want the other to be happy even if it is with someone else.
I really want to gush about this book, it’s one of those reviews where I like it so much it’s almost harder to write. If you are a fan of Alice in Wonderland definitely pick it up. It’s such a great redo of her story.
