Welcome to Cheshire Crossing

~Cheshire Crossing~
By Andy Weir & Sarah Andersen
Amazon ~ Powell's

The three meet here, at Cheshire Crossing--a boarding school where girls like them learn how to cope with their supernatural experiences and harness their magical world-crossing powers.

But the trio--now teenagers, who've had their fill of meddling authority figures--aren't content to sit still in a classroom. Soon they're dashing from one universe to the next, leaving havoc in their wake--and, inadvertently, bringing the Wicked Witch and Hook together in a deadly supervillain love match.

To stop them, the girls will have to draw on all of their powers . . . and marshal a team of unlikely allies from across the magical multiverse.


I actually came upon this book when I was searching the library catalog to put an early hold on Project Hail Mary. So when I pulled up Andy Weir on Libby, along with his other sci-fi novels, this one popped up. A MG/YA illustrated fanfic about Alice, Wendy, and Dorothy exploring multiple universes together? Uh, sounds kinda crazy, but sign me up!

Full disclosure: I have not read any of the original works this story draws from. Well, I did read the Illustrated Classic version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz waaaaaaay back when, but I don't think it was unabridged. So my knowledge of these worlds and characters comes mainly from pop culture, the major movies, and Disney. If any of the other reviews I skimmed are an indication, die-hard fans of any of these original works may want to turn back...

I enjoyed this story. For the most part. It's definitely fanfiction at its purest—combining characters and worlds from classic literature all in one story—and it appealed to my enjoyment of sassy, independent young women fighting for their freedom. And the illustrations—done by Sarah Andersen of Sarah Scribbles fame—were vibrant and expressive, drawing me in as much as the story.

I got a big smile whenever the characters used logic or wit against each other. Like in this page, where Dorothy confronts Glinda with the pointlessness of her quest. Yeah, it's cheeky and reductive and misses the point of the story, but it's definitely what you could envision tweens today thinking if they were in those situations. Even the adults were fun to root for as they got to wield their powers or show off their skills in ways decidedly not rated-G. I especially liked the team-ups between those from other worlds, their knowledge pooled and working to make them even stronger. Yes, even the evil-power-couple was pretty neat.

It was fun, it was funny, it was cheeky, it was silly, it was short. ...And that's about it.

The tone of the story was a bit wild at times. At one point they're adventuring, throwing magic back and forth, and at another they're discussing shock therapy or building up resistances to laudanum from repeated treatment. There's also some light swearing in the story, like "Damn" and "Jesus Christ", but there's also these panels with a pretty obvious translation:

So, while I'm sure that younger kids would vibe with the premise, there are definitely some things that have me questioning what age range this is suitable for. I mean, if you wanted to include mature subject matter, then shouldn't you have also focused on deepening the characterization and expanding the girls' growth and self-discovery to better appeal to that teenage demographic? It's one thing to age-up your characters, to add in older-leaning jokes and references, but you've also got to sufficiently age-up the overall themes and content, too.

Speaking of aging-up... There was one part that I was real uncomfortable with, but as it happens later in the story I kinda don't want to spoil it. Let's just say there's some questionable consent with regards to kissing underage characters that only gets worse the more you think about it...

Peter gets aged-up after eating some berries in Wonderland. Not just sized-up, actually older. But just his body. And then he suddenly starts getting hormonal. Horny. For Alice. But he literally doesn't know why he feels this way. He keeps asking her why he wants to hold her hand, why he wants to hug her, why he thinks she looks pretty all of a sudden. Thus, he obviously hasn't mentally aged at all.

Fast forward to the end of the story. Alice promised him she'd help him with those urges, and now that the fighting's done, he asks her to keep her promise. Thankfully, instead of fulfilling her promise, she gives him a shrinking drink. But instead of de-aging him, it just shrinks his teenaged-self down to fairy size. And then she literally hands him over to Tink (who she identifies as a woman in love) who immediately kisses him.

Now, I'm no expert on Peter Pan. I've never read the books, and I've only seen the Disney cartoon, the version with Mary Martin, and Hook all the way through. But I assume Peter is a canonically a kid, yes? As in prepubescent? Then why the hell is it okay to sexualize him!? And I don't just mean aging him up physically but not mentally (a la Big), I mean Tink having a long-standing crush on him! What?!?! And then you're literally handing him over to her when he doesn't know what he's doing!? I don't care if it's just kissing—he does not know or understand what he wants. Hell, according to that panel above, he doesn't want to be feeling like this at all!

And then the book just ends. Wendy asks Alice where Peter is, she says he's busy at the moment. Wendy asks if he's hurt, Alice replies, "There's not a scratch on him. Yet." STOP!!! NO!!! Unless you're insinuating that Peter is never, ever going to de-age, that Tink is also 16-ish, and that Peter is suddenly mentally mature enough to consent to her advances, THIS IS NOT OKAY. At best it's dubious consent, and at worst it's child molestation.

If this book ever gets its movie adaptation or a sequel of some kind, I can only hope that more thought and consideration is given to this "jokey" plot point. 'Cause as it stands, I don't know that I can recommend this.

The ending is also extremely abrupt, with nothing really being wrapped up among the characters, nor with the villains. You'd think we'd get some conclusion with the main trio meeting back up and reaching some agreement or at least acknowledging one another's support or skills. Nope! Just a "joke" between one of the characters and the reader, the conversation only taking place with two of our trio, and then a cliffhanger epilogue introducing brand new players. I know it's not recommended to reward bad behavior, but I'd like something in the future to at least give the girls an official reunion.

Overall, I enjoyed myself, but I don't honestly know who to recommend it to. I think the target audience and the appropriate audience are two separate entities, such that I guess I'd recommend it to the older (teens and adults) who are looking for silly, shallow, short-form content. I think it appeals to those who want to laugh at old sensibilities, and envision new adventures with the strong heroines championed today. As fanfiction it's definitely on the playful side, taking the What If... approach that's seen a recent mainstream appeal, but in its playfulness it often treats its sources somewhat irreverently, which will upset some fans. So I guess my advice is to take it for what it is: a short, playful mash-up of some childhood properties explored through a slightly older and decidedly more modern lens. Don't buy it on name alone, try a sample or find a copy through the library. And if you do decide to go down this rabbit hole, try not to take things too seriously.

Read by a Full Cast featuring Sophie Amoss, Brittany Pressley & Kristen DiMercurio
Unabridged Length: 1.6 Hours
Listened at 1.25x Speed

When I saw this had an audiobook version, I went through my normal motions and requested it without second thought. Then I found out that the book was a graphic novel and was at a loss for how my normal simultaneous read-along would work. But it being so short, I decided to just started reading along with the audio like I normally do...and it was nearly seamless!

Honestly, the only differences between the visual and audio segments were some added names (to help differentiate/remind us of characters), a little bit of descriptive dialogue or narration to help with missing artwork, a missing scene with Wendy getting rescued (instead opting to skip to when she wakes up), and some differences in order during fight scenes. Rather than jumping back and forth between two simultaneous duels, as the comic did, the audio tended to follow one duel to its conclusion before popping back to the other one. Oh, they also left out the few instances of bleeped "#%$@" swearing, though they did retain the couple of PG-13 curses.

Probably the most noticeable difference I found was one scene which had Wendy fighting Hook & Smee in the comic, while the audio gave the pirates other names. I assume this was to help alleviate some confusion, as Dorothy immediately says, "I honestly don't know how we can stop [Hook]!" when Wendy had literally just knocked him out. The comic includes a reference to this scene later, where Hook says it would take more than 'that' to fell him, which the audio obviously cut. Honestly, I think the audio pulls it off better by having the extra pirates take the battering, even if we don't hear much evidence of Hook's underlings in the rest of the story.

Overall, I think this was a great audio production. With music throughout, sound effects, and a full cast, it really came together as a full audio drama, perfect for entertaining during travel. And if you are interested in matching the sights to the sounds, as I often do, then it works surprisingly well in that regard, too! With some PG-13 language and some mature themes surrounding ye olde psychiatric treatment and a sudden influx of hormones, it might not be for prepubescents, but it might serve for some fun for teens or the young-at-heart.

Oh, and for anyone interested, here's the full cast of roles and players:

• Sophie Amoss as Alice Liddell
• Brittany Pressley as Wendy Darling
• Kristen DiMercurio as Dorothy Gale
• Rebecca Soler as Miss Poole
• Lisa Flanagan as the Wicked Witch of the West
• James Monroe Iglehart as Captain Hook
• Neil Hellegers as Dr. Ernest Rutherford, the Cheshire Cat, and Smee
• Sean Patrick Hopkins as Lem and Jack, the Knave of Hearts
• Peter Coleman as Peter Pan
• Pete Bradbury as the Narrator

Hear samples of their roles and read more from them on their recording experience at the Penguin Random House site!