Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll

After reading Alice in Wonderland, I decided to finish up the adventure by reading the sequel to the novel, Through the Looking Glass. In this installment, Alice once again experiences a vivid and unusual dream, but instead of tumbling down the rabbit hole to Wonderland, she travels to the world that lies through the looking glass. The Looking Glass World is just as confusing and nonsensical as Wonderland, but with the added quirk of everything working backwards (it IS a mirror-world, after all). Chess also plays a big role in this novel, as the setting resembles a chessboard and Alice interacts with many of the pieces throughout the story.

There is a bit more of a plot in Through the Looking Glass than there was in its predecessor. Alice winds up on a quest to become a queen (of the chessboard). She is given a list of specific movements she has to make to reach her goal, and the bulk of the story involves her getting into curious adventures along her journey. I'd imagine that a lot of very clever chess references are buried in the story, but as I'm not a chess player, I wasn't able to catch them.

This novel introduces us to more classic characters, most notably, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, who are just as ornery and silly as the Disney adaptation portrayed. There is also a lot of poetry woven throughout the story that has become famous in its own right, like "Jabberwocky" and "The Walrus and the Carpenter."  Humpty Dumpty even makes a guest appearance. It's a fun little read, and is a worthy sequel to the original novel.

Through the Looking Glass is a fun continuation of the silliness of Alice in Wonderland. While the first book in the series is probably my favorite, this one is definitely worth your time. There's something very special about the way Lewis Carrol is able to create fantasy, and the classic illustrations by John Tenniel are the perfect accompaniment to the storytelling. While simple stories, these are fantasy at its finest, and any fan of this genre should have the Alice's adventures in their personal library.