Once upon a time, there was a girl and a boy who fell into a rabbit hole and got lost in the madness within.
Ally and Jesper don’t belong anywhere. As the children of Monty the Merciless—one of the many indentured servants of the kingdom’s notorious crime lord—they’ve learned the only way to stay alive is to stay out of sight.
When wandering through the dangerous lands they call home, Ally comes across a portal that she and her brother unwittingly fall into, transporting them to a mysterious new land that makes no sense. A land with strange boxes called smartphones, a different magic called internet, and a queen called a gang leader. Queen Red rules her kingdom with a firm and bloody fist, and it’s clear they need to learn the rules of this place before they are eaten by her wolves.
But this world is as intoxicating as it is cruel, and they quickly find themselves entangled in webs of violence and vendettas. Torn between their new alliances and the ghosts of their past, Ally and Jesper are faced with impossible choices that will change their lives forever, while struggling not to succumb to the madness of this wonderland.
Emilee King continues the Elarian Chronicles with this dark and gritty take on Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, a story of siblings long since lost, fighting to find their way home before they both lose their heads.
I got lost in it!
“I loved it and could not put it down! And that ending? It was amazing.”
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Ally liked to bury things.
Crusty earth gave way under her cracked fingertips as mounds of grainy dirt lodged underneath her nails. The soft scratching sound settled her into a steady rhythm, relaxing her as much as she ever relaxed. Digging had been her favorite thing to do as long as she could remember. Even before. She could remember clutching little rocks in her small fist, shaking them triumphantly in the air as her mother pretended to scold her for all the holes in their backyard.
Now, though, it was a way to spend time, a way to combat against the raging boredom of her life. She had already buried over six sticks. She had to do at least two more to reach her goal for the day. Not that it really mattered—nothing mattered in this wasteland.
The muggy air clung thick in her throat, but the tightness in her chest didn’t bother her. She’d been breathing the decaying air her whole life and had gotten used to the humid stench. Her mother used to worry it would ruin her lungs; her father used to grunt back that they had to stay.
What’s done is done, he would growl, effectively shutting down the conversation.
On that point, Ally could admit, he was right. The damage he’d done to Ally’s life was irreversible.
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