Review: Splintered by A.G. Howard

Title: Splintered

Author: A.G. Howard

Publisher: Amulet Books

Publishing Date:  January 1st 2013

Pages: 371

Genre: YA Fairytale Retelling

Series: Splintered

Source: Hardback

  

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

Pretty much this is a really dark and twisted Alice in Wonderland retelling. Imagine Alice meets Tim Burton. It's that awesome. 

What made me pick this book up?

Jenn actually pointed this book out to me. I have a thing for Alice in Wonderland. Anything Alice I love. And when I picked it up in the store I absolutely loved the cover. So of course, I had to get it. 

What do I like about the cover?

Everything. No really. I love everything. Well, I don't think I like the color of her lipstick, but that's not concerning. I love how the bugs play into the story. And she certainly looks like Alice. 

What made me read it?

Just Alice. I have never passed up an Alice retelling. 

What did I like the most?

I loved seeing all the different things that are darker. Instead of white rabbit, they have rabid white. Which is like this little skeletal creature with white antlers. And instead of just Cheshire, they have Chessie. And he has wings. In the actual Alice in Wonderland, in this book, they play it off like because Alice was a child, that she saw everything through a childs eyes. But of course, when Alyssa goes to Wonderland, she sees things the way they really are. Dark. Very dark. 

The least?

One of characters, he just gets on my nerves is all. 

Would you read the rest of the series/Other books by this author?

About a thousand times over.

This is most definitely one of my favorite books, I'm reading the second one right now, and I'm almost done with it and loving it of course.

Possible books of likeness... Alice Retellings

A.G. Howard was inspired to write SPLINTERED while working at a school library. Her pastimes are reading, rollerblading, gardening, and family vacations which often include impromptu side trips to 18th century graveyards or condemned schoolhouses to appease her overactive muse.SPLINTERED & UNHINGED, books 1 & 2 of her urbanized /gothic Alice in Wonderland series, are now available from Amulet Books. Book 3, ENSNARED, launches 2015.
Author photo by pamlaryphotography.com