Seeing Redd

Seeing Redd is the second book of Frank Beddor's The Looking Glass Wars trilogy.

Alyss of Wonderland's rule has only just begun, and already those who prefer chaos to peace are threatening to destroy everything worth imagining.  Trailed by newly appointed royal bodyguard Homburg Molly, Alyss is doing her best to keep pace with the non-stop demands of being queen while attempting to evade Molly for a few private moments with Dodge.

Alyss' life is challenging mix of duty, love, and tough decisions, and then a series of phantom sighting set fire to an urban myth of Her Imperial Viciousness' return and have everyone... Seeing Redd.

Has Redd somehow freed herself and her chief assassin, The Cat, from the confides of the Heart Crystal? If not, who has resurrected Redd's brutal foot soldiers the Glass Eyes and set them loose to attack Wonderland on all sides?

The Breakdown:
1. The thing about Seeing Redd is it is less about Alyss than The Looking Glass Wars, and more about Hatter Madigan and the development of King Arch.  To read the description, one would assume this was mostly about Alyss and dealing with being queen and her love for Dodge, but one would be wrong.  While there are a few of those chapters of Alyss, her and Dodge's story seemed more of an after thought in this book.

2.  Even in the Alyss/Dodge chapters, it was as if they were still dancing around each other.  Admittedly it is more a slow couples dance now, but they are not quite a couple, yet.  There was a kiss, but it lacked the chemistry I expected from them.

3. There are times that Beddor's writing style really annoys me.  I get that in a way he is trying to imitate Lewis Carroll's style, but the whole writing out of the sounds gets old.  Plus he over uses the sentence trail off.  In one place there were four trail offs over two pages.  It loses its dramatic effect when used that much.

To Read or Not to Read:
Personally I am going to finish the series, because I am curious to see how it ends, but if you haven't started reading, I would not bother with it.