Release Date: January 1, 2013
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 384
Source: Bought
Interest: Fantasy retellings; Debut Author 2013!
Buy the Book: IndieBound | Amazon | B&N
This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.
When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.
Rating: 4 / 5 Riceballs
Book Review:
Splintered is a book that’s dark, beautiful, and unique. In all honesty, it’s a book that I’m a bit biased with because of the general type of books that I just love! While it wasn’t the 5-star-worthy, amazeballs book that I heard it was, Splintered was still a great read!
The world that A. G. Howard crafts was probably my favorite part of the book! There was a good amount of time spent describing details, and it really helped me visualize both the insanity and beauty of Underland. Simply put, it was dark and a bit creepy, but very much fascinating. There’s still, of course, a sort of familiarity with Carroll’s tale, although the story has its own creativity: almost every character and worlds, as well as some new ones, are re-imagined in a dark way, although you could still see bits of Carroll’s initial interpretation. As a huge fan of fairy tales, seeing so many of these details creatively rewritten excited me!
In terms of characters, I suppose I’m at the borderline, since I loved Morpheus, liked, but didn’t love, Alyssa, and disliked Jeb. Alyssa definitely wasn’t a BAD character, but I guess I didn’t completely fall in love with her. She’s strong, witty, pretty selfless, independent, easy to relate to and likable enough, but again, I didn’t completely fall in love with her character. As for Jeb, honestly I hated him as a love interest. He’s seriously overprotective of Alyssa, and even decides she can’t move to England, but already has a girlfriend who, in turn, constantly bullies Alyssa. Personally, especially if Jeb already had a girlfriend, I would let Alyssa go to England and stand up to my girlfriend to stop putting down my best friend! Morpheus, on the other hand, was twisted and dark, but truly committed to help Alyssa. I felt like the eventual love triangle didn’t give a fair chance to Morpheus, which disappointed me a bit :/
I loved the plot though! Like Howard’s version of Wonderland, the plot was smartly crafted, mysterious, and creative! Throughout the book, you encounter different types of puzzles and problems, and they certainly served the purpose of entertaining me. There’s also a huge twist in the end, like the type that made my eyes pop o___o The ending is also satisfying enough, although I felt like it was more centered around Jeb & romance, rather than her original cause of saving her family.
Overall, however, because of my love of the original tale & Howard’s version of her world, I ended up enjoying the book greatly. If you’re looking for a unique, fantasy tale, or are just looking for a pretty good YA read, Splintered is definitely worth checking out!
The world that A. G. Howard crafts was probably my favorite part of the book! There was a good amount of time spent describing details, and it really helped me visualize both the insanity and beauty of Underland. Simply put, it was dark and a bit creepy, but very much fascinating. There’s still, of course, a sort of familiarity with Carroll’s tale, although the story has its own creativity: almost every character and worlds, as well as some new ones, are re-imagined in a dark way, although you could still see bits of Carroll’s initial interpretation. As a huge fan of fairy tales, seeing so many of these details creatively rewritten excited me!
In terms of characters, I suppose I’m at the borderline, since I loved Morpheus, liked, but didn’t love, Alyssa, and disliked Jeb. Alyssa definitely wasn’t a BAD character, but I guess I didn’t completely fall in love with her. She’s strong, witty, pretty selfless, independent, easy to relate to and likable enough, but again, I didn’t completely fall in love with her character. As for Jeb, honestly I hated him as a love interest. He’s seriously overprotective of Alyssa, and even decides she can’t move to England, but already has a girlfriend who, in turn, constantly bullies Alyssa. Personally, especially if Jeb already had a girlfriend, I would let Alyssa go to England and stand up to my girlfriend to stop putting down my best friend! Morpheus, on the other hand, was twisted and dark, but truly committed to help Alyssa. I felt like the eventual love triangle didn’t give a fair chance to Morpheus, which disappointed me a bit :/
I loved the plot though! Like Howard’s version of Wonderland, the plot was smartly crafted, mysterious, and creative! Throughout the book, you encounter different types of puzzles and problems, and they certainly served the purpose of entertaining me. There’s also a huge twist in the end, like the type that made my eyes pop o___o The ending is also satisfying enough, although I felt like it was more centered around Jeb & romance, rather than her original cause of saving her family.
Overall, however, because of my love of the original tale & Howard’s version of her world, I ended up enjoying the book greatly. If you’re looking for a unique, fantasy tale, or are just looking for a pretty good YA read, Splintered is definitely worth checking out!
Audiobook Sample:
