Narrator Doyle brings to life this fanciful re-imagining of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
. The premise has young Alyss Hart, heiress to the Wonderland throne, chased from the "queendom" in a bloody coup mounted by her despotic Aunt Redd. Alyss escapes through a magical pool to Victorian London. There, no one will listen to her story except for Charles Dodgson (aka Carroll) who publishes his own take. A theater-trained actor, Doyle artfully animates a large and diverse cast of fantasy and real-life characters. He's especially menacing as the murderous Aunt Redd, each high-pitched syllable dripping with malice. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Doyle quietly captures the resignation in Alyss's tender voice as she grows older in exile. For the duty-driven royal bodyguard Hatter Madigan, he colors his delivery with a determined stoicism as he seeks his missing charge. Doyle also navigates the social echelons of 19th-century England—from street urchins to palace guards to princes. In some exchanges, the vocal residue of one character bleeds into the voice of another. But that is a minor quibble. Doyle juggles an eclectic and other-worldly ensemble, never letting anything hit the ground. Ages 9-up. (Oct.)
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Reviewed on: 11/13/2006
Genre: Audio
Compact Disc - 7 pages - 978-0-439-89848-5
Hardcover - 224 pages - 978-1-4052-0987-8
Hardcover - 358 pages - 978-0-8037-3153-0
Open Ebook - 1 pages - 978-0-545-04725-8
Open Ebook - 400 pages - 978-1-101-22146-4
Open Ebook - 978-1-4295-8965-9
Paperback - 400 pages - 978-0-14-240941-1
Peanut Press/Palm Reader - 978-1-4295-8966-6
Pre-Recorded Audio Player - 978-1-60252-616-7