I usually don't read collections of short stories anymore. Having said that, this is the best I've read in quite some time and has ultimately made me think twice about why I stopped reading them. First of all, it was nice to start the book off with the classic Lewis Carroll story. Secondly, I won't go into detail with each story, but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed "What Aelister Found Here" and "House of Cards" the best, and "The World in a Thimble" the least. I think what pulled me to the Aelister story was that it had a very Victorian feel to it, and, let's not forget the Jack the Ripper character. The "House of Cards" story grabbed me because of its more thrill-inducing plot. It had me widening my eyes in fright or disbelief every other two seconds! With "The World in a Thimble," I'll be honest, I just wasn't interested in the story--and this had a lot to do with the slow writing. Lastly, as an entire book, it was an easy read with unexpected humor at times (which was nice), horror (which was doubly nice), and magic galore! I definitely wouldn't recommend this to kids, though, even though it is loosely based around the adventures of Alice.