Colleen Oakes is the bestselling author of books for both teens and adults, including the Queen of Hearts Series, the Wendy Darling Saga and Sister of the Chosen One. The first two books in the Queen of Hearts series were published by Sparkpress before being picked up by Harper Collins, who repackaged, re-edited and republished them in 2016, starting with Queen of Hearts, then Blood of Wonderland and finally, the long-awaited finale, War of the Cards, released in November 2017.
Queen of Hearts
Fans of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland will enjoy the twists Oakes gives to familiar adapted characters. Dinah is not yet Queen of Wonderland, but already she must be quick-witted and fight to survive in order to one day wear her crown; alongside her ruthless father the King of Hearts. Dinah knows that she has enemies such as the forever scheming Cheshire and the new potential risk to her crown, her recently introduced half-sister Vittiore, who obtains her father’s full attention and desire to wear the crown. Dinah can only trust two people in her small world within the castle walls; her mad hat-making brother Charles and Wardley her childhood love the Knave of Hearts.
Wonderland does come to life in this book. It’s seeing it through new eyes, and it works so very well. New elements such as the Horn Hoofs, the Black Tower, Yurkei Warriors and little things like pink snow are amazing world-building tools that really help sell this story, giving it a more original feel than a simple retelling.
The latter half is the very best action and storytelling. Despite Dinah’s discovery of the half-truths and the plot to kill her, many more questions are generated. By the end we are in a fast passed drama; I’m immediately picking up the next book to continue Dinah’s next chapter.
Blood of Wonderland
Diana has been exiled and is being chased by her ruthless father, the King. Diana started off in that first book as a bit of a spoiled brat. The reader gets to watch as she evolves in this book. Now a lovable badass, she learns how to fight and last long enough in the woods without dying (having a monster horse helps). We unfortunately do have a lot of being in Dinah’s head moments which I think I’d rather exchange for more dialogue. However, I do find the concept of the “black fury” inside of her a great way to harness that well know Queen of Hearts temper. There is the classic “My enemy’s enemy is my friend”, and it is dramatic from the start.
Again the latter chapters are the best. She is reunited with the love of her life, only to have her heart stomped on. A wonderful fun twist with Diana’s history and a cliffhanger of an ending that has this reader scrambling for the next book. Great stuff! [and easy to read, so very accessible for young teens]
War of the Cards
The exiled princess of Wonderland is marching to war with her army of Spades and Yurkei warriors. On the way to Wonderland Palace, she has to deal with and settle the tensions in camp between old enemies while also trying to ignore the dark fury inside of her and her broken heart. All of this is observed by Cheshire and the elusive caterpillar, who seem all too pleased with her dark mood. And as the war begins, secret upon secret is unravelled, turning Dinah’s life upside-down once more. Any reader who loves a battle will not be disappointed with this war; we get plenty of furies, blood and malice.
The boy she gave her heart to shatters it completely and then when we think it is all over Diana breaks his heart spectacularly! [a real Queen of Hearts manoeuvre] Yet we do get a happy ending…of sorts. The bit with Wardley and Lewis at the end was such a clever concept. It ties in well with the Alice revelation and connects it to the original story.
To sum it up, I was pleasantly surprised. I do not normally like writers raiding the classics to achieve their own fame; it had always seemed lazy to me. However, I eat humble pie here and say this was brilliant. There is plenty that makes this trilogy original and still respectful of its historic story world and characters. The pacing of the narrative only gets better with each chapter of each book. Our lead character the Queen of Hearts has a brilliant coming-of-age story. entiteld brat to clever young woman. Easy to read, not too graphic with romances or war. I would be happy to put this on my daughter’s bookshelf. – Seraphim Bryant 2023.
Oak Tree and Stars by BlueFalcon1983 
wow!! 8What’s Sera Reading? The Librarian by Sally Vickers