We start learning the truth about the Joker and why Lorina is stuck in the prison.

P.S. Balse. (If you read it all you'll know what I'm talking about)

Note: Alice in the Country of Joker is the third installment of the Alice in the Country of Hearts series; all of which are based off Otome dating games. The second installment is called Alice in the Country of Clover which must be viewed either in game format or through the spinoffs from the original Alice in the Country of Hearts manga.

This series has 7 volumes. ( )

Alice tells Peter that she has chosen Blood and is going to live with him, but she gets a more aggressive reaction from him than she expected, which causes her to worry about how “off with their heads” Vivaldi will react. Also, Alice is once again worrying that Blood might only like her because she's an outsider. It doesn't help that she spottedan extra teacup in his private garden. Has he secretly been meeting some other woman? An attack on Vivaldi leads to Vivaldi declaring Alice an enemy and sentencing her to be beheaded. It shocks Alice, but for some reason she approaches her upcoming execution feeling strangely calm. Will Blood save her? Or maybe Peter? Or will she, feeling guilty at being happy that her sister doesn't exist in this world and therefore can't take Blood away from her, allow herself to be executed?The volume ends with a cute short in which Blood feels jealous that Alice keeps baking Elliot special carrot-flavored goodies.

After volumes worth of feeling like the story was being unnecessarily stretched out, now it feels like there aren't enough pages left to properly resolve everything.

Blood, with his mafia connections and occasional coldness, isn't really my favorite choice for Alice, but I like him as far as the larger story goes. He has stronger ties with Alice's real life than most of the other characters do, and his presence tends to bring out some of the series' more interesting storylines. This is not only true for Alice in the Country of Joker, but also for Blood's “route” in Alice in the Country of Hearts.

The relationship between Blood and Vivaldi comes as no surprise to anyone who's read the first licensed Alice in the Country of Hearts manga, so I couldn't bring myself to be very interested in Alice'sworries about Blood possibly seeing someone else on the side, but everyone's utter coldness as Alice's upcoming execution managed to shake things up a bit.

The short at the end of this volume was pretty adorable.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )