In this final volume, we re-join Dinah, the exiled princess of Wonderland, as she marches her fractious army of Spades and Yurkei warriors on to the palace of Wonderland. Where her father, the cruel King of Hearts, and his deadly army of Hearts await for a final, bloody showdown. Although gripped by fear and doubt, Dinah is propelled on by a burning rage that seeks revenge for the brutal murder of her beloved brother Charles and to claim the throne which is rightfully hers. But an inner battle rages within Dinah too – with such all-consuming love and fury can she be the ruler the kingdom needs? Or will her tumultuous nature bring Wonderland to its knees?

Through-out this trilogy, I have been fascinated to watch our young, head-strong and rebellious protagonist grow and survive through so many harsh trials and tribulations. Now she is a strong, brave woman with such high expectations on her shoulders to be a strong, wise and victorious leader. I couldn’t help but to continue to pity her in this book. However Dinah is an imperfect character. In particular, in this conclusion, there is one absolutely horrific incident, which, while I could sympathise with how she came to feel so hurt and angry, I could never condone her terrible reaction. If only she could hear me shouting stop!

Although if Dinah didn’t have a darker side to her, she wouldn’t be a very convincing Queen of Hearts now would she! And I do have to praise Oakes’ better fleshed out and more realistic take on the quintessential characters of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, such as Cheshire, the royal advisor; the Caterpillar, a Yurkei witch-doctor and Charles, the Mad Hatter. Also I loved Oakes’ clever twists on the classic elements of the cards, magical food and the Jabberwocky. Even though I went into this knowing what should become of Dinah, Oakes was still able to generate tension, throw me some real curve balls and leave me with a hopeful note.

All in all, I thought War of the Cards was a fitting and very satisfying ending to this clever and refreshing re-imagining of Wonderland. It was worth the wait! After enjoying this and her Wendy Darling series, I am interested to see what Oakes will do next.

I haven’t read the two previous books of this series, so I missed lots of important parts and I struggle to understand some of the story. However, I still very enjoyed this thrilling its final book.

The half of this book is fast pace and it’s about Dinah fights to return the Wonderland to claim her as a Queen. The fighting scene is very thrilling, lot of actions and crucial that like blood piled on more blood. It is beyond my expectation of violence a little bit as it’s a YA novel. Though it also shows the bond of her vassals and their royalty.

The rest of the story is about her being a queen. She got a lesson that she need to cope with her anger by her hugely irremediable act. Finally she redeemed herself. It makes her developed, better parson and more attractive. I like how this story end that warm my heart up.

There are some twist in this story. I enjoyed reading how Dinah chased the fact and face the mastermind.

There are many attractive characters. They are very different from Alice in wonderland and I like that originality.

I marked this book as 4.0 stars.

A brilliant book and a must read! It was really gripping from start to finish and I couldn’t put it down! I needed to know how it ended!

This series has been a journey that I'm sad to see come to a close. Yes, it wasn't perfect by any means but I've enjoyed every single second. Dinah has grown from a weak child to a strong Queen and has found capable allies along the way. This book, out of the three, felt the least plotted and there were times when things would suddenly occur without being any warning. It also felt rushed at times, almost as if the author wanted the book to be over and done with. However, it was an enjoy able retelling and I will miss the characters.

This was an amazing book! I obviously had to quickly go and read the previous instalments before delving right into this but I am so glad that I did! I adore retellings, particularly when they are coming from the view of the villain. This was no exception. There was plenty of drama, action and a whole lot of excitement. The write was excellent, the characters and setting descriptive. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to read this fantastic collection and would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves a classic story, but with a twist. Or someone who has a soft spot for the villain in these stories.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'll start this review by saying I didn't read the two previous novels in the trilogy, and as such I do think I missed a lot of the character development and any emotional attachment readers who read the previous instalments will have for these characters.

Dinah is returning home to claim the throne that is rightfully hers. The Queen of Hearts, with a shattered heart herself, she prepared to stop at nothing to get to what is rightfully hers.

The first half of this book reads like a fast paced battle scene, as Dinah returns home with a retinue of people to help her fight the fight. There are various tribes, and internal squabbles, that Dinah has to carefully negotiate to prove herself a true leader. I liked Dinah's tenacity, and you can see glimmers of her future personality simmering below the surface during this part of the novel. The control her father Cheshire has over her is also abundantly clear, and I enjoyed Dinah start to fight this, and gain some self awareness about her leadership skills.

The second half reads almost like a completely different novel, which left me a little out of sorts. I still enjoyed it, and I liked the subtle twists and turns. I wasn't fond of the typical love triangle aspects. I felt Dinah was at her strongest when she wasn't struggling with her feelings, and disliked Wardley's behaviour in particular. I feels a bit stalker-y in the beginning. I liked the antihero persona better.

An ok read, but I feel I definitely would have benefitted from reading the previous instalments.

This is the finale to the Queen of Hearts series by Colleen Oakes (I will forewarn there may be spoilers).
I never thought a series would get better as it went on but this one really did, I found the start of the series slow going, but this book from the word go is just pedal to the floor, and it is non-stop.

I loved Dinah, and I really felt for her in this book as she is really thrown through the ringer,  she loves Wardley but he just can't love her back. I will admit I did foresee the love triangle that came about and I did think something was going to happen to turn her into the Queen of Hearts.
I was pleasantly surprised with how Colleen Oakes played this final book out, and the little inclusion of how Lewis Carroll may have come up with the story of Alice in Wonderland.

I loved how this one was written the writing just flowed and you were kept gripped with the story from beginning to end.


Overall a great end to the series, and I loved this book that much that I actually went and bought a physical copy of the book.