I've had this book on my shelf for at least 15 years, glad that I finally got to it. This was silly, but exactly as silly as it needed to be to keep up with the original Alice books. I liked the illustrations and the story had my wife and I laughing often. Not sure why it's labeled as "Vurt #3" it doesn't seem to have any connection to Vurt or Pollen (his first two books). There was a feather in it but that was about it. ( )

Two stars feels unduly harsh, but I can't bring myself to get to three ... three means I enjoyed it well enough, but might not rush out to find more by the same author, or continue the series. Two and a half, say, but of course we aren't allowed such niceties.

I'd just finished another Alice sequel (Alice Through the Needle's Eye) which I felt came too close to Carroll's originals, throwing into stark relief how much livelier and interesting the earlier works were. But this volume strays too far in the other direction, there's far too much plot, no beloved new characters, and it's rather bloody for an Alice book.

I think it's very difficult to even approach the genius that is Lewis Caroll (so it's ridiculous that I've found myself inspired to do so--I'm 7,000 words into my attempt), so anyone who tries has my sympathies indeed. I think by far it's better to go the route of Catherynne Valente and her Fairyland series--it's awfully similar, but different enough that you're not expecting Carroll and Alice, and can enjoy it for its own sake.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )

This is an homage to [[Lewis Carroll]] but with [[Noon]]'s added weirdness thrown in for good measure. It ties in with the former's Alice books and the latter's [Vurt] books. Alice is living with her Great Aunt Ermintrude and while awaiting a writing lesson follows a parrot inside a grandfather clock and ends up in a very strange place indeed: Manchester in 1998! (though I don't remember it being quite this strange). It appears Alice has become chief suspect in the jigsaw murders as the bodies involved just happen to have one of the missing pieces of a jigsaw she's been doing back home located on their rearranged bodies when found. With the help of a few friends, can Alice avoid the clutches of the local constabulary and of the wannabe head of the Civil Serpents, find her parrot and retrieve the missing jigsaw pieces and make it back home in time for her lesson?

Puns and other word play abound and the author does a good job of keeping this within acceptable parameters for the intended audience. Only one instance should be noted to sway away from the very young and that is the description of the rearrangement of the body parts for one of the victims. Otherwise it stays fairly true to the original [[Carroll]] tone. It's a fast, action-packed story but that's to the detriment of any character and world-building and I found myself not really caring about any of the characters we meet along the way. There was however enough interest there for me to keep reading until the end to find out what transpires. Definitely not my favourite of the author's works but it hasn't put me off from picking up any of those unread ones I haven't got around to yet. ( )

I remember really liking Vurt a decade ago but this was some fan-fiction-level bullshit.

I was really enjoying this book at the beginning. It’s funny! It’s a take on Alice in Wonderland! It has math puns! But the closer I got to the end, the happier I was that I was almost done. When the author (Noon--remember that; it’s important) inserted himself into the story as Mr. Zenith O’Clock, I almost walked away. But it’s a quick read, and fun, but there’s not much plot to hold the wordplay together. A good chilly afternoon read when you’re not up to something strenuous. ( )