Splintered, by A.G. Howard

Splintered (Splintered #1), by A.G. Howard

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Retellings

Rating: 2/5 stars










Goodreads Summary: "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."

 Review:

• I don't really enjoy Alice in Wonderland retellings. They mostly end up all the same. Splintered is definitely one of those dull retellings, but I really wish it could've been better. 
• First off, the plot. It started off fantastic! It just hooked me in and it really blew my "first chapter expectations." It hooked me in from the first page and that's really hard to do when you're writing a book. Towards the middle, everything just fell apart and I got bored, and I really get bored easily during books, so I need something plot twisting and surprising to happen or else I'm out. The concept really wasn't that interesting anyway. I just put the book down towards the end. :(
• Now- the characters. Alyssa was okay. She was kind of bland and I just saw through her easily. A character in a book like this should be mysterious and have something special about them but basically all Alyssa has is her bug obsession and the obsession of past relatives in her family. That's just about it. Jeb and Morpheus were okay as well, better that Alyssa. They were trippy and wacky all at the same time, including their sexiness, hehe. But, I really didn't see any romance between the characters, just plain friendship in my eyes. I know, I know, I'm hard to impress.
• Overall, I really wanted more uniqueness. The book based off too much from Louis Carroll's original. Even though this is a retelling, I wish that I could've gotten more "wow" instead of "ehh."