Although there are repeated references to 'Alice in Wonderland', neither the story nor the characters have any necessary relationship to those in the original. This is a modern urban fantasy, with evil magicians, and a young woman coming to terms with her own magic and also her feelings for an older man. The universe the characters move in is supposedly Victorian, but reads as if we are wandering around in Sadean fantasy; the Alice character is a Justine who fights back. I suppose it could be argued that this is fitting, as the original Alice is herself yet another avatar of Justine. I need to reread Angela Carter's 'The Sadeian Woman'.

How does it stand up as urban fantasy? I make it OK. The heroine's journey through the underworld zips along quite nicely, and her developing passion for a bloodthirsty axe-murderer is a nice puzzle. The villains are suitably villainous, their crimes salacious, their come-uppances entertaining - although the Jabberwocky is unmotivated in his being and in his ending. I hesitate as to whether to go on to read the follow-up.