"Off with his head," the first quote that we juxtapose next to the heartless Queen of Hearts, and the quote that the book ends in. She seems like a merciless sociopath, cutting off heads if the roses aren't red. The only reason? Because she's from Wonderland. And why is the Mad Hatter so mad? Because he's from Wonderland. At least, those are the only explanations that we allow ourselves to believe in.
"Heartless" by Marissa Meyer explores the concepts of the nuanced grey scale of good and evil, and I think her theme is that all humans are fallible, and that no one person is to blame.
Watch Catherine as she morphs from the starry-eyed girl who dreamed of impossibilities to one of the most iconic villains in literature history. Get strangled in Cath's constant struggles and get ready to get your heart wrenched out of your chest. Watch yourself become entangled in the constantly resetting wars in the Land of Chess, and watch even the most innocent nursery rhymes become a haunting tale to grab onto your nightmare until the end of Time. And most of all, come to understand why the Queen of Hearts would cut off heads for the sake of keeping her roses red.
If you don't read this book, I guarantee you will miss out.