Cover of The Byways, featuring a large ornate blue keyhole looking onto a cat and its shadow in front of line art buildings

About the Book

Title: The Byways
Published: 2023
Swoonworthy Scale: 4

Cover Story: Through the Looking … Keyhole
BFF Charm: Big Sister
Talky Talk: Gritty Reimagining
Bonus Factor: Outcasts
Anti-Bonus Factor: Creep Factor
Relationship Status: One and Done

Content Warning: The Byways includes a semi-graphic mention of child pornography and scenes of attempted assault, as well as mentions of infertility and suggested forced surrogacy.

Cover Story: Through the Looking … Keyhole

There’s a definite topsy-turvy feel to this cover, and something quite unusual about the shadow attached to that cat. Fitting, all, for a novel inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

The Deal: 

CeeCee Harper doesn’t fit in. Her neurodivergence often manifests in disruptive ways, leading to most of her fellow students viewing her as strange. One particularly rough day at school culminates in CeeCee wandering into the Byways, a place outside of regular space and rules of physics where lost and strange people find a new life. After narrowly escaping a couple of terrifying situations, CeeCee finds some kind strangers and begins to feel comfortable—perhaps too comfortable—amongst the fantastical folks. She knows she doesn’t want to say there forever, but finding a way home might be harder than it seems.

BFF Charm: Big Sister

BFF Charm Big Sister with Clarissa from Clarissa Explains It All's face

I feel for CeeCee. No one understands her, and not in a normal teen angst way. Her neurodivergence makes her too different for people to really “get”; they’d rather write her off as a bad seed who won’t amount to anything good. Very few people take the time to work with her or help her, so she has to learn to rely on herself. But that’s not easy when an internal voice tells you you’re useless. I’m no expert on how best to deal with someone like her, but I’d be willing to try. Or at the very least, give her a big hug.

Swoonworthy Scale: 4

CeeCee meets Jesse, an attractive (and seemingly sane) young man early on in the book, but it’s not until a bit later that the two form an attachment. It’s more than a little instalove, but I, too, have been drawn in by mysterious morally grey characters with secrets. (More than once.)

Talky Talk: Gritty Reimagining

Pascual’s done an interesting job of translating/transposing some of Alice in Wonderland‘s ideas and themes into a new world made up of the folks the “real” world has forgotten. It’s a smart idea, and the world-building of The Byways is well done. The characters left a little to be desired, however; I felt more pity for CeeCee and her myriad of issues than I connected with her, and Jesse’s very one-dimensional for all his MLD-ish tendencies. The villains were also pretty flat, but in a way that resonated with the Alice in Wonderland inspiration. (You can’t tell me that the Queen of Hearts was well-rounded.) 

Bonus Factor: Outcasts

The cast of Mystery Men all dressed in different quirky outfits in the subway

At first, The Byways seem filled with mostly unsavory characters, but as CeeCee discovers more about them, she realizes that there are a lot of different folks living there. Some are decidedly magical, a few are possibly cursed, and more than a handful are just down-on-their-luck folk who the “real” world forgot about or wrote off as unredeemable. There were some lovely moments with shades of Found Family to them. That said …

Anti-Bonus Factor: Creep Factor

A bunch of doll heads sit on a rustic shelf unit

There are a lot of unsettling things in the original Alice in Wonderland story, but The Byways kicks it up a notch—or, in the case of The Caterpillar, which in the book is a slovenly, obese pedophile worm/man hybrid, many, many notches. It doesn’t get worse than him, but there are other folks/creatures/situations that come close, giving the book a general ick factor that was at times more unpleasant than interesting. In fact, the scene with the Caterpillar guy was early on in the book, and I almost DNFed it right then and there.

Relationship Status: One and Done

You were equal parts intriguing and disquieting, Book, and although some folks might enjoy that in their lives on the regular, I have to call it now before either of us starts to catch feelings. In this situation, it’s very much me needing more cozy comfort in my life right now, rather than you.

Literary Matchmaking

A History of Glitter and Blood

Hannah Moskowitz’s A History of Glitter and Blood is more fantastical but similarly gritty.

Magonia (Magonia #1)

Maria Dahvana Headley’s Magonia is another magical realism book with an MC who doesn’t fit in with the people around her.

Queen of Hearts (Queen of Hearts Saga #1)

Colleen Oakes’ Queen of Hearts is another darker take on the standard Alice in Wonderland story.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from SparkPress, but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. The Byways is available now.

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Mandy (she/her) is a manager at a tech company who lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, son, and dogs. She loves superheroes and pretty much any show or movie with “Star” in the name.