by A.G. Howard
Genre: YA fantasy retelling
My Rating: ★★
Description:
Alyssa Gardner is not crazy. At least, that's what she keeps telling herself. All her life, she's been able to understand the language of plants and insects, a secret she's kept hidden from everyone, including her father. Because as the descendant of Alice Liddell -- Lewis Carroll's real life inspiration for Alice in Wonderland -- crazy just seems to run in the family. Alyssa knows it only takes one wrong move to end up like her mom -- in an asylum.
But a series of strange events soon forced Alyssa to confront a terrifying truth: Wonderland is real... and in reality, it's deadly...
Overall Thoughts
What I was expecting when I opened Splintered: dark Alice in Wonderland retelling, creepy, pulse-pounding, quest-style adventure. What I actually got from reading Splintered: a rambly plotline and an increasingly annoying love triangle.
I'm kind of sad that I didn't enjoy Splintered, because I feel it had a lot of potential. But it just didn't live up to my expectations.
I can't really tell you what the theme was... and maybe this is because it's been a while since I read it. But I don't recall any particularly stand-out themes, except maybe one tossed in at the end about not having to conform to your destiny? But it wasn't handled as well as it could have been.
Setting/Worldbuilding
I'm going to start with what I did like about the novel, because there were things I liked. I loved the creepy, Gothic aesthetic, particularly in the beginning chapters -- these chapters were probably my favorite parts in the whole story. The setting choice in these early parts of the story were so cool... it almost makes me wish the author had chosen to set her whole Wonderland story in this location. (I understand that the plot makes this hard to work around, but I feel like it could have been done.) So I would say that the setting of the novel was it's strongest point. However, once in Wonderland, the setting became more random, and the world felt less cohesive and defined. It became confusing -- maybe the author's point, but one that definitely lessened my enjoyment of the work as a whole.
The Characters
In terms of characterization... I didn't really connect with any of the characters. Or, that is to say, I did, but then the stupid decisions they made later undermined any likeability they originally possessed.
Alyssa was definitely the most developed character, but I had a hard time following her motivations for following Morpheus once the quest began.
Morpheus is a typical "bad boy with a heart of gold", and while I've seen this type of character done well (I.E. Nik from Gemina) Morpheus never made me feel any kind of sympathy for him.
I liked Jeb in the first chapters (again, before Wonderland). But he quickly lost all the elements of his character that made me like him to begin with, and I ended up being very disappointed by him. (For more in-depth discussion about this, see my Goodreads review.)
Taelor was a stereotypical "mean girl", and she never really got much development apart from that, which is a shame. This stereotype is way too overused, and it shows.
Plot/Pacing
The plot... My feelings about the plot are a little complicated. I loved the premise -- Alyssa is Alice Liddell's descendant, and has to try to break her family's "curse". But the way it was carried out... that was what bothered me.
It's mostly because Alyssa, to be frank, knows nothing. The author holds back key elements of the plot to reveal later, and so for a good portion of the book, Alyssa's actions seem random. Her goal wasn't very well defined, and I think this caused the book to lag for me -- what Alyssa wanted to achieve kept changing from one chapter to the next, and that bothered me.
There was a good plot twist towards the end -- one that I actually really liked. And it explained a lot of why her quest was set up the way it was and everything. But it still felt too random to me, and I wish more had been explained earlier.
Content
Recommended for ages 15 and up.
I can't really tell you what the theme was... and maybe this is because it's been a while since I read it. But I don't recall any particularly stand-out themes, except maybe one tossed in at the end about not having to conform to your destiny? But it wasn't handled as well as it could have been.
Setting/Worldbuilding
I'm going to start with what I did like about the novel, because there were things I liked. I loved the creepy, Gothic aesthetic, particularly in the beginning chapters -- these chapters were probably my favorite parts in the whole story. The setting choice in these early parts of the story were so cool... it almost makes me wish the author had chosen to set her whole Wonderland story in this location. (I understand that the plot makes this hard to work around, but I feel like it could have been done.) So I would say that the setting of the novel was it's strongest point. However, once in Wonderland, the setting became more random, and the world felt less cohesive and defined. It became confusing -- maybe the author's point, but one that definitely lessened my enjoyment of the work as a whole.
The Characters
In terms of characterization... I didn't really connect with any of the characters. Or, that is to say, I did, but then the stupid decisions they made later undermined any likeability they originally possessed.
Alyssa was definitely the most developed character, but I had a hard time following her motivations for following Morpheus once the quest began.
Morpheus is a typical "bad boy with a heart of gold", and while I've seen this type of character done well (I.E. Nik from Gemina) Morpheus never made me feel any kind of sympathy for him.
I liked Jeb in the first chapters (again, before Wonderland). But he quickly lost all the elements of his character that made me like him to begin with, and I ended up being very disappointed by him. (For more in-depth discussion about this, see my Goodreads review.)
Taelor was a stereotypical "mean girl", and she never really got much development apart from that, which is a shame. This stereotype is way too overused, and it shows.
Plot/Pacing
The plot... My feelings about the plot are a little complicated. I loved the premise -- Alyssa is Alice Liddell's descendant, and has to try to break her family's "curse". But the way it was carried out... that was what bothered me.
It's mostly because Alyssa, to be frank, knows nothing. The author holds back key elements of the plot to reveal later, and so for a good portion of the book, Alyssa's actions seem random. Her goal wasn't very well defined, and I think this caused the book to lag for me -- what Alyssa wanted to achieve kept changing from one chapter to the next, and that bothered me.
There was a good plot twist towards the end -- one that I actually really liked. And it explained a lot of why her quest was set up the way it was and everything. But it still felt too random to me, and I wish more had been explained earlier.
Content
Recommended for ages 15 and up.
Typical YA novel content. Some swearing, no f-bombs that I can recall, but some more "intense" language than something you would find in, say, The Lunar Chronicles.
Several scenes of passionate kissing. A couple sleeps together in a boat (nothing else happens.) One thing I had an issue with in this novel is how saving yourself for marriage was treated almost... negatively. There were a few times where Alyssa referred to her virginity as a "problem", which made me kind of upset. No one should be shamed for saving themselves for marriage! I'm not sure if this was the author's intention, but that's the way it came off to me.
Violence was moderate, nothing gory as I can recall. Near the end there were a few more intense fight scenes.
A lot of disturbing imagery, reminiscent of a Tim Burton movie.
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