This came in the June comic bento box. A friend of my husband's is a fan of this series and has tried to get both of us interested over the years. I have never really gotten into it even though I love the idea of it.

Adding this to the manga and graphic novel book box

Taken from the manga box.

I read this while sick in bed, when I needed something I could follow easily even while fevered, and fall asleep in the middle of without guilt! Like nimrodiel, I wanted to like this more than I did. The concept for the world and characters is fun, but it was mostly ruined for me by the heavy-handed sexism of the artwork and the catty, backstabbing fighting instead of actual leadership. There are some fascinating character designs that were damaged by cheap attempts to make them more sexy. (I really loved The Trickster, and kept feeling like the queens could have been just as neat if the artists had let up on the Theiss Titillation Theory a little bit!)

One of the starting volumes in the Otherworldly (Shrinking) Bookbox

I'm claiming this from the Otherworldly bookbox. The concept of expanded storylines about characters from fictional works reminded me of the "Fables" series, though the tone seems different here.

I agree that the way the queens are drawn is distracting - not just the cleavage and costumes but the pin-up-girl poses; however, I'm fond of manga in which the bishonen are featured shirtless and in artsy poses, so I suppose I shouldn't complain about this version of fan service!

Since I hadn't read other works in the series I was surprised - and pleased - to see the Jabberwock, one of the most memorable characters from the original books. Indeed, the Tenniel illustrations used to scare me so much that I'd memorize the page and skip past it! (I've become fonder of the bizarre creature since then.)

I also liked the relationship between Diamond and Club, even though they had lots of issues to work through.

But overall, the relentless mayhem and the Trickster's manipulation rather wore me down...

[There's a TV Tropes page on the "Wonderland" series, of which this book is a subset.]

I left this book on the book-swap shelf in the Tyngsboro post office lobby; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

*** Released for the 2018 Keep Them Moving release challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2018 Royalty release challenge. ***