Splintered (Splintered, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Sep 24, 2013 Cee rated it it was ok

Shelves: romance, paranormal, young-adult, love-triangle, fairy-tale-retelling

Great concept and lovely world, but the story got ruined for me by the annoying love-triangle and even more annoying characters.

Alyssa is the daughter of a mad woman that thinks Wonderland is real. It doesn't help that she's a far descendant of the real Alice Liddell. But her mother might not be as crazy as she seems, and Alyssa soon gets wrapped up in family curses and lost childhood memories.

This book sounds absolutely perfect for me - I'm a great fan of the original Alice in Wonderland, and t Great concept and lovely world, but the story got ruined for me by the annoying love-triangle and even more annoying characters.

Alyssa is the daughter of a mad woman that thinks Wonderland is real. It doesn't help that she's a far descendant of the real Alice Liddell. But her mother might not be as crazy as she seems, and Alyssa soon gets wrapped up in family curses and lost childhood memories.

This book sounds absolutely perfect for me - I'm a great fan of the original Alice in Wonderland, and the cover looks beautiful and the blurb amazing. Splintered was a disappointment though. The Wonderland Ms Howard creates was interesting, but having to see it through Alyssa's eyes was cringe-worthy.

Alyssa is a strange hybrid between a cyberpunk/goth girl and a skater, befriended with Jeb that's a skater too (that wears ribbed tank tops though). We went off on a rocky start, since both Alyssa and Jeb are about the opposite from the "skaters" I know. But once we got past that and the story focusses more about Alyssa's crazy family and her own crazy skills (she hears voices from flowers and insects), I gladly forgot our past differences.

I like the general plot, but I hated how Alyssa runs around like a headless chicken. She never thinks things through. Ever. Yet somehow she never fully connects with the way things work in Wonderland. One of the awesome things about Wonderland for me is that everything is possible - it's an absolutely unreasonable crazy world. It felt as if Alyssa spends the entire book struggling against Wonderland. I was constantly waiting for her to become fully emerged, because her reluctance translated into a reluctance of my own.

The dynamic going on between Alyssa, Jeb and Morpheus (resident Wonderland moth-man bad-boy) is absolutely dreadful. Jeb and Morpheus are constantly bickering over Alyssa, about what she will and won't do, while she just stands by and watches them. What the hell? Grow a pair, girl. You decide for your own, and you should tell them to shut the hell up and demand some answers. Jeb is insanely patronising, and Morpheus is a lying son of a bitch, yet somehow Alyssa luuuurves them both. The romance and Alyssa's indecisiveness grated on my nerves.

I heard the sequel to Splintered, Unhinged is darker, and maybe that's more what I'm looking for. I hope Alyssa grows some common sense in the main while. ...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Mandi rated it it was amazing

Because I love everything 'Alice in Wonderland,' I decided to read 'Splintered' when I was putting up new books at work. I saw the cover and thought it was absolutely beautiful. After reading the inside cover, I knew I had to read the book. I was surprised at how much I actually enjoyed it. I didn't want to put it down. It has been awhile since I've been able to see every detail of a book so clearly. But, it came so easily to me while reading 'Splintered.' It was a great twist on 'Alice in Wonde ...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Rachel marked it as series-to-consider

Shelves: retellings, ya-fantasy-series, completed-series, 1st, zz3-book-series

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Nov 22, 2012 Ashley ~twisted_illusions~ marked it as to-read

Shelves: 1st-in-ongoing-series, wishlist, fairy-tale-retellings, series-starting-with-s, released-2013, young-adult, fantasy, paranormal, magic, romance

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