Wonderland: A Dark Portal Fantasy

By: J. M. Alexia

Narrated by: Sophie Amoss

A mad young woman seeks power and pleasure in a strange, deadly land in this dark, twisty progression fantasy, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic novel.

Morgan Mallory is a typical college girl, immersing herself in her studies and her various hobbies—and overcoming her deep psychological traumas by indulging in careful manipulations and socially acceptable cruelties. So when she wakes up to discover she’s been transported to a new world that’s oddly reminiscent of a certain childhood fantasy story, she does what any completely sane and totally altruistic heroine would do: set out to kill the queen who brought her there.

To survive in the land of Pandaemonium, Morgan, now going by the name Maven Alice, will need to defeat monsters, build her stash of weapons and spells, and team up with mythical creatures ranging from elves to incubi to geists. But even that won’t be enough. Because if M. Alice truly wants to dominate the Labyrinth before her, she must be willing to sacrifice everything to increase her power—even if it tears apart her very soul . . .

Combining elements of fairy tale and mythology, horror and fantasy, and stories strangely familiar and imaginatively unique, Wonderland is the first book in a seductively disturbing series from a warped and talented new voice in literature.

The first volume of the hit portal-fantasy series—originally released on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2023 J. M. Alexia (P)2023 Podium Audio

spooky

For some odd reason this Maven Alice character resonate with me olmost perfectly, it was scary for me to acknowledge how much alike I am to this person.

Everything's great except the MC

I can't help but feel very ambivalent about this audiobook. I like most everything, especially the prose and the magic system. I even liked the stuff that could be problems like how there is so much dialog (much of which is internal and repetitive) that the book feels slow. But the fundamental issue I had with this book is that the main character Maven is unlikeable. She's dumb, but thinks she smart, she's cowardly, chaotic (not in a fun way), and just the sort of unpleasant person that if I knew someone who was friends with her, I would considered unfriending them. On top of that we spend basically the entire book in Maven's head, except for those blissful moments when we're placed into a different character perspective when Maven sleeps, and I don't thinks she's going to to change into a likeable person.

This is a glaring enough problem that it made listening hard, but everything else was good so 4 stars. I'll probably listen the next one to see if anything changes, after that I'm not sure

A Lamentation to Edgelords

This book neatly inverts the isekai tropes of the being edgy and cool by digging into why an adult woman would still be so edgy: the dysfunctions involved, the trauma, and the dump truck of neuroses.
It is a character driven tale unlike many in the genre and will be more enjoyable if you relate to the main character.

Were you an edgy teenager? Do you cringe at a past version of yourself? Are you lucky to be alive?

If you answer yes to any of those, then this book is for you!

Excellent!

One of the best new authors I have read in recent years. The main character is introspective and interesting, the world building and magic are creative, and I really appreciated the author's understanding of mental health. I'll be looking forward to the sequel.

cringe

this book book reads like the ultimat edgey cringe fest.
its like my immortal but with Alice in wonderland and anime references instead of Harry Potter characters