EXPLORE WONDERLAND

THE FOUR FAMILIES

Winning a throne is one thing. Governing a Queendom is another.

The Hearts may occupy Wonderland’s throne.

They do not own Wonderland.

For generations, four great Suit families have competed for influence across the Queendom:

Hearts have ruled.

Spades make exceptional spies

Clubs value strength and independence.

Diamonds understand commerce, influence and control.

And beneath alliances forged in public are old resentments that don’t disappear simply because a war has been won.

This becomes one of the great engines of Alyss’s life after Redd.

The young princess who once fought to get home must become a Queen capable of holding together people who don’t always agree on what Wonderland should become.

And every compromise Alyss makes to preserve peace creates consequences of its own.

The throne turns out to be another battlefield.

THE HOUSE OF CARDS

Every hand is dealt from here.

At the center of Wonderland’s military power stands the House of Cards.

Card Soldiers belong to the four Suits and possess different strengths, specialties and loyalties. They can be assembled into Hands designed for specific missions and dealt into battle at the Queen’s discretion.

War in Wonderland isn’t fought by anonymous armies. The hand matters: who you choose, which Suits you combine, what abilities they possess, and whether they trust one another.

♥Hearts

A Heart may win the battle before the first Card Soldier is dealt.

Or become so certain of the strategy that they fail to see the move they never anticipated.

♠Spades

A Spade may possess precisely the intelligence a mission requires.

Unless the Spade is spying on you.

♣Clubs

A Club may be the warrior who saves the Hand.

Or the one who starts the fight everyone was trying to avoid.

♦Diamonds

A Diamond may negotiate the alliance that prevents a war.

Or decide the alliance is worth more broken.

The House of Cards is part Pentagon, part intelligence service, part weapons laboratory—the place where Wonderland prepares for the threats it knows are coming and invents answers to threats it hasn’t imagined yet.

Which means even Wonderland’s army carries its politics into battle.

THE ROYAL ARCHIVE

Wonderland keeps its own time.

This is its history, counted in ours.

Before the Books

1. 1820

   Dalton Madigan is born.

2. 1822

   Redd Heart is born.

3. 1826

   Genevieve Heart, Redd’s younger sister, is born.

4. 1827

   Hatter Madigan, Dalton’s younger brother, is born.

5. 1840

   Dalton becomes bodyguard to Queen Theodora.

6. 1843

   Redd poisons Queen Theodora after being removed from the line of succession. Genevieve takes the throne.

7. 1843–1847

   Wonderland splits into civil war between Redd’s loyalists and Genevieve’s.

8. 1847

   Genevieve prevails, but cannot bring herself to condemn her sister, and exiles her instead.

9. 1852

   Princess Alyss Heart is born.

The Books

1. 1859–1872The Looking Glass Wars

   Redd seizes the throne, and young Princess Alyss escapes through the Pool of Tears into Victorian England, where she grows up as “Alice.” Thirteen years later, she returns to reclaim Wonderland.

2. 1859Hatter M: Far From Wonder

   Separated from Alyss in the escape, Hatter Madigan begins his search across Earth. He follows the traces of imagination through Paris and Budapest.

3. 1864–1865Hatter M: Mad With Wonder

   From London to a nation at war, Hatter’s search crosses the Atlantic. He discovers Wonderland has been quietly shaping human history.

4. 1865–1870Hatter M: Nature of Wonder

   Hatter heads west across the American frontier. There he meets Realm, a woman he cannot put out of his mind.

5. 1870Hatter M: Zen of Wonder

   Hatter’s search reaches Japan. He learns that every culture has its own Wonderland.

6. 1870–1872Hatter M: Love of Wonder

   Hatter faces his brother Dalton for the first time in years. They travel on together, uneasily, Hatter hiding his true mission.

7. 1872Hatter M: Seeking Wonder

   Hatter discovers Lewis Carroll’s book, and with it the trail to Alyss. His thirteen-year search finally leads home.

8. 1872–1875Seeing Redd

   Alyss is queen at last, but keeping the throne is harder than winning it. Redd is not finished.

9. 1872–1875ArchEnemy

   Wonderland’s imagination begins to disappear, and with it the Queendom’s power. The war that follows changes Wonderland forever.

10. 1876Crossfire

    A new hero, Ovid Grey, takes the story beyond the throne.

11. 1876–1877Underfire

    The water nation of Unterlan is revealed.

12. 1877Blade of Time

    Grand Milliner Hatter Madigan suffers violent temporal fractures and discovers someone is attacking him through time itself. Defying Queen Alyss, he sets out to find the source.

Wonderland and Earth have been connected far longer than anyone realized.