I truly didn't know what I was getting into reading this book, but, what I found, was a lush world of literary romance in today's world. 
 See, in this world, the characters are from books, and they work to save books. Alice, from Wonderland? She is all grown up and a warrior Queen, willing to take on a maniacal murderer. Huck Finn? Victor von Frankenstein? They got adopted by Brom and Katrina van Brunt (from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow) and raised in today's NYC. Finn and Victor are top operatives in the Collectors' Society. Finn and Alice are, in fact, a couple (expect some nice bam-chicka-wow-wow!). 
 Their current mission is to hunt down a rogue editor, believed to be Sweeney Todd, who has been collecting legacies--bits of ephemera that contain the 'soul' of a book--and destroying them. This, in turn, destroys the Timelines of every character in the book. It is akin to literary genocide, and was responsible for Katrina van Brunt's untimely death. 
 Along the hunt, Finn and Alice have to enter Finn's Timeline, the world of Huck Finn, to pay respects to The Widow who is dying--and deal justice to Tom Sawyer, who caused Jim to die. It's a HUGE kerfuffle. 
 Don't think Wonderland is sitting on the sidelines. The Queen of Hearts has a diabolical plot to kill Alice, despite her absence into the "real world". Alice had to leave in order to save her subjects, which meant abandoning her first love, the White King. Now, Finn has to seek his assistance in saving the queen of his world. 
 And, what the heck is happening with Peter Pan? The man who seems to be pulling all the strings is clearly a double-talker. And his house is an homage to the written word...or is it? His hidden library seems to be the key, if only Finn and Alice could find the door. 
 Here's the thing: I loved this book's pace and story. I found it thrilling and creative. Finn and Alice have to search their souls over, and over. And over. There's this part of writing that says authors have to torture their characters to give them depth--well these characters are practically water-boarded. The result? They leap off the page. 
 With the climax coming so close to the end, I was terrified we would be left with a horrifying cliffhanger. As it stands the cliffhanger is not-quite-barbaric to the reader, but...it's certainly uncomfortable. Looking forward to the next book!