Teen Pick: Splintered
Splintered by A.G. Howard
~Reviewed by Danah (Agincourt Branch Youth Advisory Group Member)
Splintered is mainly a twist on the classic novel of Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Alyssa comes from a family of
"crazies," due to their previous visits into Wonderland. Alyssa's
mother, Alison, has been taken into an asylum for years; everyone (including
Alyssa) believes she is crazy for constantly babbling about rabbit holes,
listening to insects and plants, and only eating from tea cups. This curse has
been passed down her family for generations, so to avoid the future of
following in her ancestors foot steps, Alyssa tries her hardest to diminish all
senses of resemblance towards her mother; even by being in denial about the way
she hears the bugs and plants speak as well.
Alyssa must travel to Wonderland, only to find that she must complete a series
of tasks in order to break the curse; lead by her mentor and her childhood
friend from her dreams, Morpheus. Here in Wonderland, she is not only torn
between her love for Morpheus and her "real" love, Jeb, but she is
also torn between finding her real home.
To be perfectly honest, I did not completely enjoy the novel for one main
reason; Splintered is not usually my "cup of tea." I
tend to lean towards realistic teenage dilemmas, similar to Ellen Hopkins's
novels. I was initially afraid that this book would be lame, but I
was strangely surprised with the quality of writing. At least for the first
hundred or so pages, I was genuinely interested. From the first unusual sentence,
A.G. Howard had me somewhat hooked. I loved to hear about Alison's
"sickness," about Alyssa's love and friendship with Jeb, and about
her trying to discover her true self and image. I always imagined Wonderland to
be cheerful, but this novel really portrays its dark and haunting side. The
introduction to Wonderland was great, but then it started to go slightly
downhill for me from there as I started to lose interest.
The novel became a little too action-packed and unrealistic for my taste, while
is why to be completely honest, finishing this book ended up seeming like a
chore. However, I think that any reader who does
enjoy these kind of majestic and thrilling novels should definitely try
this one out! I think many people will be entertained by the plot, and engaged
by the incredibly descriptive vocabulary that really puts the reader into
Alyssa's shoes as she travels through Wonderland! This novel clarified my
disinterest in these magical-type books (which is why I will not be reading the
sequel, Unhinged), but I would
strongly recommend it to others to try and see for themselves.
Here's the book trailer for the upcoming Unhinged the sequel to Splintered...coming soon to LIbrary shelves near you!
8 thoughts on “Teen Pick: Splintered”
I suppose some people who be interested in this, but I’m not really dying to read this.
This is not one I will be adding to my reading list.
Atleast it’s notanother pretentious teen drama,I’vegrown sick of those.
Sound interesting. I like reading a lot of things, but I prefer novels that have a magical twist to it.
Too true.
I just reserved it at the library. I agree that this book isn’t my “cup of tea,” but it seems worth a shot and anything is better than these absurd supernatural teen romances.
Cup of tea… haha I see what you did there š
This book splintered is a really dark twisted version of Alice in Wonderland, but still extremely captivating. I loved how this young girl is such a courageous heroine and every time she successfully completed a task that āundid Aliceās mistakesā I was so happy, cheering her on and in my head ticking them off, one down less to go! As soon as I read the name, Jeb, I knew one hundred percent that she was going to end up with him. When her mom told Alyssa that the moth, a nether creature was really deceitful and never does anything for anyone elseās sake, I was extremely wary at first of Morpheus because of what Alison said, but afterwards I was absolutely sure that he loved Alyssa and would do anything for her, which he did, almost dying, sacrificing himself for her. At one point I actually wanted Alyssa to end up with Morpheus because he is so much more mysterious and cool. It seems as if he can do anything, plus his undying love for Alyssa is just so romantic. The only thing I donāt get about in the book is when Alison pretended to be insane to protect Alyssa. This is one hundred percent pure deliciousness; I highly recommend this book, to those who love a dark twisted sense of fairy tales.