The Looking Glass Wars - Plot

Plot

The premise of the book is that Lewis Carroll's novel Alice in Wonderland was fiction, but that the character Alice is real, as, indeed, is the world of Wonderland. Carroll's novel is said to have been inspired by the images, ideas, and names related by Alice to the author, whom she had requested to make a book of her personal history. The theme of this book is loss of innocence.

The book's prologue tells of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson showing Alice Liddell (who claims her name to be spelled 'Alyss') the manuscript for Alice's Adventures Underground. Alyss is shocked by the book's contents and refuses to speak to Dodgson ever again.

The story then begins many years earlier, on Alyss' seventh birthday in the Wonderland of Alyss' memory, which is ruled by imagination and is the source of all imagination for all other worlds. Wonderland features a class system similar to that seen in England during the 17th century, though on a far more minimalist scale. The government is a Queendom with an advising Parliament dominated by a playing card hierarchy, with the Heart family at the top of the proverbial stack (i.e. the Wonderland Queen is a member of the Heart family, and the parliament is composed of reigning members of the Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds). Females are the dominant sex in Wonderland, as the ruling families are matriarchies.

Wonderland, ruled by Queen Genevieve Heart, is still recovering from a bloody civil war between "White" and "Black" Imagination which ended twelve years prior to the beginning of the story. Enough time has passed for those in the middle echelons of government to forget the day-to-day horrors of war and focus once more on the petty intrigues of a land at peace. Alyss' companions in her final hours in Wonderland include tutor Bibwit Harte (whose name is noted by Dodgson as being an anagram of "White Rabbit"), the Queen's bodyguard Hatter Madigan, Alyss' best friend Dodge Anders, childhood troublemaker Jack of Diamonds, and military commander General Doppelganger.

During a bloody coup d'état led by Alyss' murderous Aunt Redd, the enemy of White Imagination, Alyss is forced to flee Wonderland in the company of Hatter Madigan, with Redd's top feline assassin (called only "The Cat") in pursuit. Queen Genevieve and Redd clash against one another in a final battle as Alyss barely manages to escape from the palace; Genevieve is killed by Redd. During this bloody battle, Dodge's father, Sir Justice Anders, is murdered by The Cat.

The two fugitives, Hatter and Alyss, enter an inter-dimensional gateway called the Pool of Tears, from which they emerge into Earth through an exit portal: a puddle. Alyss is separated from Hatter during the journey and she arrives in London, England, and Hatter in Paris, France. Lost and alone, Alyss spends some time with street orphans, then finds herself adopted by the Liddell family, whereby she is given the name "Odd Alice" for her tales about Wonderland and the way she insists her name be spelled. When Dodgson plagiarizes her stories for his own imagination rather than write them verbatim, she shuns her imagination and resolves to believe Wonderland false and lost to her forever.

Meanwhile, Hatter is searching every corner of the world to find the lost princess. Believing that men dealing in headwear are men to be trusted above all others, he stops in every hat shop he can, inquiring the whereabouts of Princess Alyss Heart. Along his search he also trails people alight with the glow of White Imagination, knowing that Alyss would most likely glow the brightest. In the process, he becomes a mystery to people on Earth, who catch glimpses of him and create legends of a blade-wielding man on a strange quest leading him to headwear merchants around the world. After thirteen years of searching for the lost princess, Hatter finds Dodgson's book; he uses this to track down the author, and in turn, find Alyss, who is now twenty years of age. Upon arrival in Oxford, Hatter discovers that the princess is to marry to Prince Leopold. Before Hatter is able to rescue the princess, he is unexpectantly wounded and driven back to Wonderland. Dodge himself goes into the Pool of Tears, and rescues Alyss.

For thirteen long, hard years, the people of Wonderland have suffered under Redd's dictatorial reign of Black Imagination. The Wonderlanders still loyal to White Imagination have gathered within the Whispering Woods and have been surviving on their own, led by military leader General Doppelganger and Bibwit Harte. Named after their long lost princess, they are called the "Alyssians" and stage battles and skirmishes against Redd's forces, attempting to weaken her grip on the throne with no avail. After thirteen years of no sign of Alyss ever returning home, morale within the camp is low and the Alyssians are considering turning themselves in to Redd.

However, Alyss returns to Wonderland and she is immediately taken in by the Alyssians, who rejoice with a wave of new hope and promise. Dodge Anders has become obsessed with avenging his father's death and becomes a bitter, nihilistic individual. With the assistance of the Alyssians, Alyss is able to find and locate the Looking-Glass Maze, which is the manner by which all future Queens obtain their full strength and power necessary to rule Wonderland. When Alyss passes through the maze, she finds her intended Heart Scepter and moves on to fight against, and defeat, Redd. While Alyss and Redd battle, Dodge fights against The Cat; Dodge kills The Cat three times, leaving The Cat with one more life left; Hatter, Genevieve and Redd had all taken previous lives from The Cat's original number of nine. Redd, seeing her imminent failure against Alyss, throws herself into the Heart Crystal, who is followed by The Cat.

Alyss, having defeated Black Imagination, is crowned as the true Queen of Wonderland.