Book Review – Alice in the Country of Clover: Bloody Twins by Quin Rose

Title: Alice in the Country of Clover: Bloody Twins

Author: Quin Rose

Illustrator: Mamenosuke Fujimaru

Format: Paperback

Published: 2009

Translated: 2012

 

Alice in the Country of Hearts is a manga based on a video game that was released in Japan.  Alice in the Country of Clover is the sequel to the game and additionally the sequel to the series thought the first series is far from over, the sequel still came out and doesn’t blow too much of the plot.  When you open the book there is a lot of fantastic background information that states how Alice chose to stay in wonderland despite not falling in love.  Though the background information was good it was confusing a bit as there was a teaser page which is common for manga, then there was a synopsis given in the form of a story followed by a character fact sheet then another synopsis followed by another character fact sheet, which was confusing but once the story started it was quite good.

 

This book focuses on Alice and the Blood twins Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.  These characters never really stood out as possible romantic interests for Alice because they were children and this is brought up in the book but all of sudden the boys have the ability to grow up and the romance ensues as both boys are smitten with Alice.  It is an interesting story as Alice adjusts to the changes in the Country of Clover which is similar yet very different to the Country of Hearts.

 

As the story progresses Alice has realized that she does love the twins but frets over those feelings much like a young girl would and how she can’t really pick between the two that problem is solved within the story and as much as I hate to blow the plot, it turns out that Alice doesn’t have to choose and can have both boys.  I share this because I know some people have issues with this concept and I fell that you should have a fair warning in that aspect.

 

Thought I enjoyed reading the book, another confusing aspect was a matter that the book also has a couple of one shots incorporated into the book as well and these one shots are a matter of giving you a different situation of Alice picking people other than the Blood Twins.  We don’t get to see every character that she can choose to be with but each one shot was interesting to read though a bit rushed and not as good as the story with the twins in my opinion.

 

Over all, I enjoyed reading the book and would give it a three and a half page rating and that is mainly for the story rather than the format of the book.  Aside from the format of the book I wasn’t as fond of the drawing of a few of the characters but still the drawing was done quite well and I couldn’t complain too much as it was easy to recognize characters from the previous series at a glance.