A Blade So Black

I've a soft spot for anything Alice so I was bound to be intrigued by this. It was an enjoyable read with an exciting final showdown but I had expected more from it. I wanted more Wonderland and less real life, perhaps that's how the sequel will go?
Alice was rather irritating at times, but then so was the original one. I could have done without any of the romance. A and H was icky, A and C seemed like an afterthought, O and X was kind of cute though.
The hints of the original seemed to mostly lie in people's names and there wasn't much reflection of plot (a brief flashback story shows this as a kind of belated sequel). Won't stop me reading the next one though!