Follow Alice down the rabbit hole again in the exciting new adventure... manga style. Alice in the Country of Hearts (Vol. 1) is an enticing mixture of the traditional Alice in Wonderland with a new twist. The tale begins with Alice awaking from a dream concerning a mysterious game. Upon telling her sister of the game, she believes that Alice's subconscious is eager for some entertainment, and hurries off to find some cards. Much like the original tale, Alice spies a white rabbit in the distance with a large clock. However, instead of following the white rabbit, it comes to her and explains that she is not following him as she should. To Alice's surprise, the rabbit turns into a man with white rabbit ears. He quickly grabs her and thrusts her into a large hole that has mysteriously appeared. And off to Wonderland we go...Once in Wonderland, Peter White (aka the white rabbit) explains to Alice that she must drink from a magic vial. Upon refusing, Peter forces Alice through a kiss. And thus the game begins... While not much is known about the game in the first volume, I have to say that I am intrigued. The main characters are still in here, but with a twist: The Mad Hatter is a Mafia Boss named Blood Dupre, Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum are the gatekeepers to Blood's home and territory, the Cheshire cat is Boris, a punk teenager with cat ears, and of course, Peter White, the man with rabbit ears who is madly in love with Alice. Actually, it seems that most of the male characters are in love with Alice. But to find out why.... you will have to read the manga.For me, this volume was a lot of fun. The manga was full of interesting twists while staying pretty true to the original tale. Alice is a wonderful main character. But I have to say that Blood was my favorite. He reminded me a lot of Gambit from X-Men, without the powers. In addition to the great characters, the drawings in the novel are top notch. They are beautiful to look at, and immerse the reader in this new world that QuinRose and Hoshino Soumei have created. I loved every second of this novel and cannot wait to go down the rabbit hole to discover more. Highly recommend for manga and Alice in Wonderland lovers. This is one that should not be missed.
