OFF WITH THEIR HEADS by Zoe Hana Mikuta
★ ★ ★ ★ .5
“Hattie says we all react to Wonderland. ‘Its shadows are a looking-glass, Carousel…’ Is that right? It’s somethin’ like that.” “Is that what she preaches?” Icca’s brow twisted. “What the fuck does that even mean?” “That the Forest brings out what lies in the darkest depths of our little Divinities. Our darkest magic. Our darkest selves.”
TITLE—Off With Their Heads
AUTHOR—Zoe Hana Mikuta
PUBLISHED—2024
PUBLISHER—Disney Hyperion
AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR—Suzie Yeung
GENRE—dystopian spec fic fantasy sapphic horror Alice in Wonderland retelling (& a very erudite YA—I’m actually not sure why this is marketed as YA…)
SETTING—Wonderland & the surrounding Wards
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—Alice in Wonderland re-imagining, friendship, dystopian society, gods & magic, witches, Saints, monsters & monster hunters, mysterious forest, PSPD, betrayal & forgiveness, love & hate, poison, tea, Korean inspired worldbuilding, queens & priestesses, body horror, grief & guilt, loss of childhood/innocence/parents, idolatry, problematic faves/leaders/lovers, the cannibalism & collateral of grudges & revenge, the monsters we fear & the monsters we become through that fear, the responsibility of power, creation, & the power of creation, the deaths of our past selves & the creation of new selves
WRITING STYLE—★ ★ ★ ★ ★
CHARACTERS—★ ★ ★ ★
STORY/PLOT—★ ★ ★
BONUS ELEMENT/S—dark witch & crow witch MCs
PHILOSOPHY—?
PREMISE—?
EXECUTION—I mean, I was vibin’ 😆
“I am the thing scuttling around in the Dark, Icca promised herself. I am the only thing to be afraid of. …and she’d brought her own monster, she was the master of the universe, because Icca was the fucking Dark witch, bitch… She who was both the slayer of monsters and the worst of them.”
Summary:
“Once upon a time there was a young girl named Alice. She followed Rabbit into Wonderland, because I was in love. Very much so. Now I’m not. Now I’ve got to kill the Rabbit, and send the Saints up and over—don’t you see your dearest Red Queen is mad, having your shield so swollen with monsters?”
My thoughts:
I had no idea what was going on in this book but what wild, wacky fun it was!! Not sure other than the explicit references how any of this story connected thematically to Carroll’s original tale but the reimagining was excellent. On some level I have to think that the plot was not the point of this book. I mean, is literary YA a thing? Am I giving the 23 yo author the benefit of the doubt? Oyeyemi was only 18 & studying for her A-levels when she wrote Icarus Girl… I never for a moment wanted to put this book down. I loved the vibes. It’s definitely got a strong YA romantasy horror feel to it but it’s also so much more than that. It’s clever! Far cleverer than any YA I’ve ever read before.
I especially loved the Korean-inspired worldbuilding that is not overexplained at all for those readers who are unfamiliar with things like hanboks, honorifics, & various kinds of traditional cuisine so you can either infer meaning from context, gloss over it, or look it up as you wish. Loved this about the book, props to the editor/publisher for not interfering with the author’s choices re: that.
“They never appreciated what they were, how miraculous it was to exist so strangely.”
I would recommend this book to readers who love a good, vibey, dark, horror fairytale retelling. This book is best read on audiobook! Yeung did an amazing job narrating the story & made it a lot easier for me to follow everything that was going on in the book. (I… also followed along on ebook though because this one was especially erudite—which is part of why I loved it so much.)
Final note: This was totally unhinged. I loved it.
“Haven’t we always shared our punishments, dear?” She watched Caro’s throat move. “Come on, Rabbit. It’ll be just like old times. Just like Wonderland.”
★ ★ ★ ★ .5
CW // animal death, very graphic body horror & gruesome κιllιngs, PSPD, PTSD (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Season: Late Summer
Music pairing: “Alice in Wonderland,” by Joanna Wang
Further Reading—
SHE IS A HAUNTING by Trang Thanh Tran
THE SALT GROWS HEAVY by Cassandra Khaw
ALICE by Christina Henry—TBR
AFTER ALICE by Gregory Maguire
A BLADE SO BLACK by LL McKinney—TBR
THE HOUSE IN THE DARK OF THE WOODS by Laird Hunt
A LESSON IN VENGEANCE by Victoria Lee
LONELY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR by Mizuki Tsujimura
BESTIARY by K-Ming Chang—TBR
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