Life is pretty rough for Alice. In a world full of color and magic, Alice has no color and a magic skill she'd rather forget. To make matters worse, her father disappeared three years ago and her mother is taking her grief out on Alice. When her Surrender goes badly, and the boy who called her ugly won't leave her alone, she decides to embark on a journey into the dangerous land of Furthermore on a quest to find her father. I read this to my daugher and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. The pacing was good with nice waves of excitement and relative calm with many interesting people and places along the journey. While clearly influenced by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it is a most entertaining tale in its own right.
The author does a remarkable job of painting a vivid picture of the colorful land of Ferenwood and the mixed-up chaotic land of Furthermore. The story is told from the perspective of an unknown third person who we learn along the way is relating this story as told to them by Alice. The narrator directly addresses the reader on many occasions (is it still called "breaking the fourth wall" in a book?) which has the potential to be distracting but it didn't distract in this book. My only minor complaint is that the ending arrives a bit too quickly (and unexpectedly), but I'm not sure I'd have liked it any better had the timing been different. The author has left it open for the possibility of a sequel and my daughter and I are both hoping this is true. We need to know what happens to Alice next!
I'm not normally a collector of quotes as I read... but Furthermore had THREE quotes that made me stop and ponder (and snap a picture with my phone so I could remember them later).
---Laughter was a silk that would soften even the roughest moments.
---They two had torn holes in each other, and the wounds, unhealed, had only led to more pain.
---The simple truth was that Alice would always be different - but to be different was to be extraordinary, and to be extraordinary was an adventure. It no longer mattered how the world saw her; what mattered was how Alice saw herself.
The author does a remarkable job of painting a vivid picture of the colorful land of Ferenwood and the mixed-up chaotic land of Furthermore. The story is told from the perspective of an unknown third person who we learn along the way is relating this story as told to them by Alice. The narrator directly addresses the reader on many occasions (is it still called "breaking the fourth wall" in a book?) which has the potential to be distracting but it didn't distract in this book. My only minor complaint is that the ending arrives a bit too quickly (and unexpectedly), but I'm not sure I'd have liked it any better had the timing been different. The author has left it open for the possibility of a sequel and my daughter and I are both hoping this is true. We need to know what happens to Alice next!
I'm not normally a collector of quotes as I read... but Furthermore had THREE quotes that made me stop and ponder (and snap a picture with my phone so I could remember them later).
---Laughter was a silk that would soften even the roughest moments.
---They two had torn holes in each other, and the wounds, unhealed, had only led to more pain.
---The simple truth was that Alice would always be different - but to be different was to be extraordinary, and to be extraordinary was an adventure. It no longer mattered how the world saw her; what mattered was how Alice saw herself.
