Review: The Hatter’s Daughter, by W.A. Simpson

The Hatter’s Daughter is the third book set in W.A. Simpson’s Riven Isles
universe.

There is more to the Vine than mortals and immortals know. It reaches its
branches and tendrils into realms beyond the Riven Isles. On the night Faith
was born, her mother perished, but not before sending Faith to safety, in
Underneath. Discovered by The Mad Hatter, he takes Faith home to raise as
his own. When the Rot invades, Faith determines to fight. She won’t do it
alone. Her childhood friend, Prince Rowan accompanies her. Faith must
return to her birthplace to find a Legendary Heroine. But Overland is
dangerous, and the minions of the Rot are in pursuit. If she doesn’t succeed, the minions of the Rot will destroy everything they know.

Tales from the Riven Isles is a dark fantasy series set in a world outside of our own, where the characters of myth and fairy-tales exist, and their legends live on. Featuring the novels: ‘Tinderbox’, ‘Tarotmancer’, and ‘The Hatter’s Daughter’.

My Review

Thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for organising this tour, and to Flame Tree for sending me a copy of this book. I’m delighted to be the first stop on this tour and to share this book with you.

For transparency, I’ve been struggling with my health and had to work all day today (14th April 2025), so I haven’t quite finished the book. There’s still 75 pages to go, but I am going to provide a review on the book so far. I will finish the book in the next day or so, once I’ve recovered from spending too long in the office (Thursday afternoon, Friday afternoon, all day today, is just too much!).

Faith is the Mad Hatter’s Daughter, adopted on the day she was born, and living in the Queen of Hearts’ kingdom, in Brigantia. On her 21st birthday she takes a ride on the beach and encounters a terrible creature. Using her Gift, she turns the creature, the pollution, to gold. News from the rest of the kingdom is as bad, crops are rotting, the living plants are being attacked, and wells are poisoned.

Faith, and Rowan, the Prince of Hearts, visit the Caterpillar who sends them to the Queen of Tidaholm, the Spinner Queen. Tidaholm is accessed through the Burrow, where Faith first entered Brigantia as an infant. In Tidaholm, they acquire armour and Faith learns to use her Gift.

Returning to Brigantia, Faith and Rowan discover things are much worse and the Hatter is sick. They have to fight the Rot and save everyone from the creatures banished to the Deep Earth long ago.

Simpson draws primarily on the works of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Caroll) along with mythology and folklore to build a convincing secondary world in which new characters interact with canonical ‘Alice’s Adventures’ characters. This is the third book in this series, and although I haven’t read the first two, I can see where Simpson has drawn them into the text – I did read the precis of both Tinderbox and Tarotmancer, so I recognised them when they made an appearance.

It starts off with a bright start that slowly becomes darker and more ominous, before reaching a pitch of battle, a rest and then back into the fray, before the HEA of marriage. The use of an established world, changed using folklore, mythology, fairytale characters, and Simpsons amazing imagination, brings something quite original and entertaining.

The characters of Faith and Rowan lead the narrative. They are young adults who have a history of friendship but they have drifted apart as responsibilities and education draw them in different directions. In this novel they move back towards each other, overcoming their initial fears and misunderstandings, trying to care for each other while fighting a battle for their world. They have the traits you often find in young people in their first romantic relationship – misunderstanding, bringing bad ideas into the relationship based on the relationships they’ve observed, trying to see how they fit into each other’s lives and families. Emotional maturity, what are you? I’m so glad I’m twice their age…

The narrative is interesting. I enjoyed it, although I struggled at first to get into the book, probably because of the writing style and cadence. The tone and cadence of the writing is very Victorian. Simpson imitates the style and conventions of Victorian literature quite accurately, but if you aren’t used to it, it can be hard to get into a narrative. Once I did get into the book, I found it quite gripping and intriguing. The changing feelings and personal development of the main characters, original creations of the author, are skilfully written and very subtle. The characters we know from Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, like the Queen of Hearts or the Mad Hatter, become rounded people in Simpson’s skilled hands.

The Rot is disturbing, a creeping threat. The development of the threat from a rumour to a physical presence is well written. It is an impending dread that permeates Faith and Rowan’s lives and that is a clear motivator for the plot and their actions. There are other motivators, that are more subtle, like family expectations and their own feelings.

I am really impressed by the way Simpson has taken the world invented by Lewis Caroll and given it a new life and telling new stories, while maintaining the register of the original.

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UPDATE

I finished the book last night, 20th April, and it was a marvellous ending. Rowan and Faith go to find Alice, only to discover that the world is a very different place, and Alice is not who they thought she would be. Returning, with weapons, the pair discover a great betrayal. They join with their allies and begin the final battle.

Rowan finally askes Faith to marry him. It’s very sweet.

I very much enjoyed the final section of this novel and the foreshadowing of future books and calling back to past books and main characters.

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About W.A. Simpson

Wendy is an award-winning author of fantasy and science fiction. She began writing at five and completed her first novel by fourteen. Wendy started by writing mysteries, however, inspired by Ray Bradbury. She delved into speculative fiction, high and epic fantasy. Her writing style is contemporary despite her genre, and she enjoys creating strong female characters. Her debut novel, Tinderbox, and its sequel, Tarotmancer, are the first two books in her series, Tales from the Riven Isles, published by Flame Tree Press. Both are available everywhere. Wendy sold the third book in the series The Hatter’s Daughter, available on April 25, 2025, and the fourth and final, Steelbound a work-in-progress.

Tinderbox reached the Top 100 on the Amazon Best Sellers List in Black & African American Fantasy Fiction and won the 2022 GOLD Foreword Reviews Indie Award for Fantasy. Critics have compared her work to that of N. K. Jemisin, L. Penelope, and Sarah J. Maass, among others.

When she is not writing, Wendy enjoys reading, gardening, gaming, and streaming on Twitch under the handle of Runic Nightshade. Proud to consider herself an original Delaware Native, she fondly refers to her older brother as Big Brother and shares her home with him and two diva cats, Cinnamon and Spice. Visit her blog at http://www.authorwasimpson.com to discuss the business anytime.

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