Thursday, 2 January 2014

Review: Splintered

Splintered
Author:

Publication Date: January 1st 2013        
Publisher: Amulet Books





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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.

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I was hesitant to pick up Splintered the first time I read it, because I wasn't really into retellings. How wrong was I? I loved it, and now, the second time around I love it even more. Even if a certain moth drives me crazy at times.
I think with retellings, why I was hesitant to read any was because I thought you basically know the outcome, and the whole setup, but the clever thing about Splintered is that it takes everything from Alice in Wonderland- from a child's mind- and re-imagined every bit from an adults mind and twists it. The tale from Alice in Wonderland is a sweet version, those little things that weren't quite right were turned innocent in her head, and it takes that, and uses it to it's advantage to re-imagine what you thought you knew about wonderland. A Wonderland that although is familiar, completely new.