Book Review: Splintered by A.G. Howard

Title: Splintered by A.G. Howard
Series: Splintered #1
Finished on: March 8, 2013
Released: January 1st 2013 by Amulet Books
Rating: 5 out of 5
Source: Kindle E-Book

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

Ooh, what to say about this wonderful book! I'm such an Alice In Wonderland fan: the books and movies, etc. Let's just say that this take on the story didn't disappoint. A.G. Howard came through as an amazing story-teller with her debut novel.

Howard uses the original tale as a guideline but manages to make this version of Wonderland all her own. And this one is even more creepily fantastic. It was so much fun journeying through this "new" Wonderland with Alyssa and Jeb and meeting the inhabitants of this world.

One of the greatest things about this novel are the plot twists. In true Wonderland fashion, nothing is at it seems. You're just frolicking along with Alyssa thinking you know what's going to happen next, etc, and then bam, uhm no. I definitely had a few "edge-of-my-seat" moments, especially in the last quarter of the book.

By the end of the book I was disappointed to leave this story. I still wanted more. Honestly, it ended so perfectly though and I felt everything got wrapped up nicely. This would have been fantastic as a stand-alone so I'm not sure how a sequel is going to work. I won't complain about another chance to be in Wonderland, however.

This was a short review, but it's truly one of those books that a reader needs to experience on their own. I definitely recommend everyone that is into this type of genre to read this book, meet the characters and get absorbed in this world.

Read this for:
2013 Debut Author Challenge: 1/12