Review: Splintered by A.G. Howard

Title: Splintered 

Author: A.G. Howard

Publisher: Amulet Books

Publication date: January 1, 2013

Genre(s): Young Adult (Paranormal/Retelling)

Source: Publiher
Format: ARC

Pages: 384

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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.

I've never had a good run when it comes to retellings. I've read a couple retellings of literary works, such as Jane Austen's books, and I've never really been that impressed. However when I picked up Splintered and read the synopsis, I was instantly enchanted. Yes, enchanted. I am not a big fan of Alice in Wonderland but A. G. Howard went all out on the creativity and trying to make it her own, and that she did. Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. I couldn't get past the amount of details and characters so it wasn't that great of a read. 

I have to admit, Splintered started off great. A curse that is hereditary and a girl who is afraid she's next in line to the psych ward where her mother is at. Alyssa just turned 16, and from her mother's blabbers, the curse is activated then. She only started believing in her mother's hysteric ramblings when she started hearing voices, ones belonging to insects! That was when she started doing some digging. I loved how the premise was laid out and I also liked the brotherly figure that Jeb, her friend, took up. Also, what was original was that Alyssa is Alice's great granddaughter! However everything went downhill with the introduction of Morpheus. I automatically hated him. He was a pompous, over confident, sleazy jerk in my books. I didn't like how manipulative he was and how Alyssa somehow couldn't resist and stay away from him. 

As soon as Alyssa went down the rabbit hole, my interest went downhill with it. I grew tired and restless trying to keep up with all the characters as well as the details in the book. I feel like people who are fanatics of Alice in Wonderland wouldn't have a problem keeping up, but like I mentioned above, it wasn't one of my favorite fairytales and my memory of the story is almost nonexistent. I also didn't like how trusting Alyssa was of Morpheus. Even though he tricked her multiple times, she still wanted to see the good side of him. 

I really struggled with this novel and ended up skipping detailed paragraphs trying to reach the ending. I was also so confused with what went down in the end but I didn't have it in me to go back and reread and try to get it. In other words, I felt like I've spent too much time on this novel already and it was time to close that chapter. Needless to say, many bloggers that I trust in their bookish opinions have absolutely adored and loved this one. Which is why I'm chalking it up to another freak thing where I am the only one who didn't like a book between all the ones that did. Be sure to check it out and give it a try, I am sure you'll enjoy it way more than I did.