The Byways

You've never read an Alice in Wonderland retelling like this.

The Byways by Mary Pasual is YA contemporary fantasy that pulls heavy inspiration from the likes of Alice in Wonderland and Neverwhere. CeeCee just wants to be like everyone else, but with her uneven temper and knack for getting in trouble because of it, her high school life is overly complicated. Until she stumbles upon the byways, a series of alleys filled with magic, and people that are often forgotten by society. Including those that might not be all that human. But as grand and wonderful the byways are, as they are indeed filled with monsters, drug pushers, the homeless, and constant political upheaval, CeeCee just wants to go home. But that may be more complicated than initially planned, as once you enter the byways, you can never leave.

This was an interesting retelling to say the least. As it hit all the high points of Alice in Wonderland's whimsy and absurdity, while still grounding itself in the limelight of reality. Though I do wish we did have less of that, though more in the sense of the setting being more than just a series of alleyways that seemed to go on and on and on and on. Until CeeCee found someplace else to exist, and ultimately return to an alley.

Yet with this limited setting, Pascual found a way to make her beautiful writing style blend perfectly with a plot that was both confound and a character that you just had to root for. Though the tone did shift quite a bit about halfway through the book, and I found myself wondering if it was printing error made to splice two books together.

I would gladly recommend this novel to anyone in need of a soft reset on the whole fantasy fad. Or in those in need of retelling that doesn't build an entire world just to resolve something that wasn't addressed in the original material.