A Dream So Dark

The Nightmare-Verse, Book 2

By: L.L. McKinney

Narrated by: Jacob York, Jeanette Illidge, Matthew Barnes

"With memorable characters and page-turning thrills, A Blade So Black is the fantasy book I've been waiting for my whole life. Alice is Black Girl Magic personified." (Angie Thomas, number one New York Times best-selling author of The Hate U Give)

In L. L. McKinney's A Dream So Dark, the thrilling sequel to A Blade So Black, Alice goes deeper into a dark version of Wonderland.

Still reeling from her recent battle (and grounded until she graduates), Alice must abandon her friends to complete her mission: find The Heart and prevent the Red Lady's rise. But the deeper she ventures into Wonderland, the more topsy-turvy everything becomes. It’s not until she’s at her wits end that she realizes - Wonderland is trying to save her.

There’s a new player on the board; a poet capable of using Nightmares to not only influence the living but raise the dead. This Poet is looking to claim the Black Queen’s power - and Alice's budding abilities - as their own.

Dreams have never been so dark in Wonderland, and if there is any hope of defeating this mystery poet’s magic, Alice must confront the worst in herself, in the people she loves, and in the very nature of fear itself.

An Imprint Book

"Mixing elements of Alice in Wonderland and Buffy the Vampire Slayer... a delectable urban twist on beloved fairy tales." (Entertainment Weekly)

"A dark, thrilling fantasy-meets-contemporary story with a kickass heroine." (Bustle)

©2019 L.L. McKinney (P)2019 Macmillan Young Listeners

love love love

if a movie was made i would definitely love to see how it goes.... would probably be one of my favorites

Multiple narrators?

I liked this sequel better than the first book. The main narrator is great. However why two new narrators for the male characters POV? Just go full cast for consistency in dialogue. I find it really jumping between narrators extremely disruptive.

Cool read

Like the story and the LGBT small story lines the made the book more real.

I loved it

The Chapter were little off but a great story nonetheless. The 3rd book comes out next year. guess I'll be patiently waiting!

Could have a little less girl guilt

I really enjoyed this book. It has so much diversity in it's characters without shouting about how diverse each character is. The story is captivating and I ran through books one and two in less than a week. The world rules were consistent and made sense throughout the story. There were also unanswered questions making me excited about the next book, but no lame cliff hanger forcing me to wait for the next book.

My only complaint, which I see often in scifi books with strong, fighting women, is the unnecessary level of guilt that the women seem to always carry with, even when it is clear as day that whatever they feel guilty about wasn't their fault or just couldn't be helped. It weakens the character and falls into a pattern that this book's storyline, with all of its diversity and refusal to lean on stereotypes, should just be above. She shouldn't feel guilty about everything. And again, a common trait in books with string, butt-kicking women and girls. But other than that I would definitely buy this book again.