Series: Splintered, Book 2
Author: A.G. Howard
Publisher: Amulet Books
Release Date: January 7, 2014
Genre: Young Adult Dark Retelling
Told: First Person (Alyssa), Present Tense
Content Rating: up to Chapter 6 (sensuality, disturbing situations)
Format Read: ARC (trade)
Find On: Goodreads
Purchase On: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
Summary:
Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she's always dreamed of.
That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.
As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.
If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she'll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head.
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I did not finish this book. I stopped at Chapter 6.
I did not finish this book. I stopped at Chapter 6.
Series: This is the second book in the three-book Splintered series. You can read my 2013 review of Book 1, Splintered, here, and my 2019 re-read notes here.
While I somewhat enjoyed Splintered, there was always something about it that rubbed me the wrong way, although I could never put my finger on it. Still, I decided to try and binge the entire trilogy.
As I began Unhinged, I quickly realized that my earlier problem was probably a lack of happy mediums. The overall story is one of madness and normalcy, but while the madness is expectedly disturbing, the normalcy is almost just as unsettling with dark art and fashion, unsavory hangout spots, and unstable families - not a happy medium to offer a madness respite. Then there's Alyssa: she is so strong and yet also so weepy and weak - I recall her screaming and generally flailing a lot in Splintered but it didn't fit her actions or personality. And then there are the boys, aka love interests: on the "normal" side we have a suffocatingly protective human who would rather Alyssa be a damsel in distress who can't do a thing for herself, and on the "mad" side we have a man who would actually kill her to force her to do everything herself. I have never liked either, and Unhinged escalated my dislike of both boys by leaps and bounds in only the first 6 chapters.
Conclusion: Although I am an Alice's Adventures fan and will always try a retelling, with its constant madness, contrasting MC, and no boy worth shipping I just can't bring myself to waste any more time on this series.
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