Cheshire Crossing Review

A crossover of Western classic isekais (stories where characters get transported to another world. The word is from Japanese). 

Cheshire Crossing by Andy Weir (yes, of Project Hail Mary fame and other sci fi books) and Sarah Anderson is a story of Alice, Wendy, and Dorothy of Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and the Wizard of Oz fame all come together in a school/boarding house of sorts to be studied by an eccentric scientist named Dr. Rutherford. He believes they possess the inherit ability to just move between worlds willingly. Taking care of the girls' needs is a nanny named Ms. Poole (she's also another famous magical nanny you might of heard of...). 

Alice in particular doesn't like this setup and kicks off the conflict by deciding to escape by stealing Dorothy's silver shoes. Wendy and Dorothy follow her to Oz (as it turns out they do have the innate ability to move without actual objects), and they all end find out the Wicked Witch of the West who is somehow still alive. Then they travel across each of their magical worlds and characters from each of those worlds end up meeting each other and planning things out to create chaos. The Knave of Hearts (ruler of Wonderland after the Queen of Hearts supposedly dies) wants to rule Oz, and the Wicked Witch ends up teaming up with Captain Hook from Neverland to reclaim her castle. 

Well, it's exactly how a crossover usually plays out, with a lot of referential humor and pointing out absurdities in each of the girls' isekai adventures.

This was a pretty cool book! I'm only familiar with the movie adaptations (Disney's adaptations of Alice and Wonderland and Peter Pan, and the MGM movie of the Wizard of Oz), but even those were good enough to read this book. It does make me want to go read the original books and see how they compare to their adaptations. 

I gave this book 4 stars, but that's because the ending felt a bit rushed and their were several plot threads that felt unresolved? I'm guessing this is actually the first of a series, but so far this book is the only one out. I hope we get to see more, because I have a ton of questions and a lot more I'd love to see!