Craving Madness

I love whenever I have an opportunity review RK Pierce’s books, the ones I have read, I have generally enjoyed. Craving Madness is a bit of a mixed bag for me. Typically, I enjoy MOST Alice in Wonderland Retellings, so I looked forward to reading this one as well.

Let me start by indicating, my rating is kind of complicated, and maybe slightly bias. When you read so many of the same retellings, I sometimes compare them to others that I really enjoy. So of course, while I went in open minded, I felt Craving Madness was a unique take on Alice in Wonderland, it wasn’t quite my favorite. I think I also had higher expectations for more spicy scenes then what I actually received. The first actual spicy scene was around 74% into the book, which took me a few days to get to, because I felt it was too slow for me and never really captured my interest the way other books do. This is the first book in a series and Pierce spends A LOT OF time worldbuilding, which can be both good and bad. I kinda feel I am still missing some puzzle pieces to really fully click with the book.

I do like its uniqueness in the darkness aspect and the monsters that have taken over Wonderland. Sometimes I felt there were too many words/paragraphs and found myself skimming to more intense parts without missing out on anything important happening.

While I realize, I am just a lowly reviewer, I can see why people have been giving this 4 and 5 star reviews. The FMC is a badass. I like how it was a “dude in distress” that the FMC saved. I like that Alice knows what she wants and while sometimes shy, generally is not afraid to put her foot down with what she wants. I do like the character sketches for Chester (Cheshire Cat) and Dion (I believe he is Tweedle Dee). The little spice we are given, its pretty good spice. Was not expecting the knot! Which I enjoy reading very much. As a point of notice, the book ends in a pretty major cliffhanger. With Craving Madness getting the world building out of the way, my hope for book 2 is higher! With more characters being added to Alice’s “harem,” more spice, and rescuing Wonderland (hopefully).