Rating: 4/5
Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy through NetGalley for an honest review.
I Hate Fairyland is a twist on Alice in Wonderland. The star of the story is a young girl named Gertrude that enters a fantastic world and needs to find the key that unlocks the door back home. She has spent the last 27 years looking for it and is going mad as a result. She is accompanied by a fly that is supposed to act as her guide through Fairyland.
I heard really good things about this book, but I hated the first chapter. It seemed pointless. There wasn't much character or plot development. Gertrude, while understandably angry after being stuck in Fairyland for so long, just lashes out at everyone and everything around her. I think the creators were still feeling out the character and world at that point.
From the second chapter on, things improve dramatically. Gertrude really embraces her wickedness when a rival is introduced. Her anger is channeled in a productive way at this point. This evolution of the character makes the book a lot more fun. There is a lot of violence throughout though. This seems to be Gertrude's response to all situations. I would like to see her move beyond this in the future.
The art is fantastic. It is bright and evocative of the setting. The creators did a great job using the illustrations to ramp things up and make this world their own.
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