Splintered by A.G. Howard
Publisher/Year: Amulet Books | January 1, 2013
Read by: Rebecca Gibel
Pages: 400
Audio Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Time: 12 hours 38 min
Series: Splintered Series Book 1
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Retelling
Format: Audiobook
Source: Cincinnati Library through Overdrive
I read this book before I started blogging, so this is what I remember about the book, granted this one has been a little more recent so it’s a bit easier than other books.
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.
What I remember
First of all, Rebecca Gibel does a great job of reading this series. From the beginning her voice seemed to fit as Alyssa. She adds great characterization and by the end of the book, you feel like it really is Alyssa that is reading the book to you.
Now as for the story.
So I really don’t like the classic story of Alice in Wonderland, but I’ve loved every re-telling and twist I’ve ever read or watched (weird, right?), and this book was no different. I loved this story and how well it took pieces of the original story and made it new and fresh. I thought Alyssa’s character was strongly written. I loved that she wasn’t the scared nobody that turns into a sombody by the end of the book. Rather she knew who she was and was a real person in the beginning and you get to see her struggle with parts of normalcy mixed with the skeletons in her families closet.
I thought the other characters in the book developed nicely. They each have their own struggles and burdens and driving forces. Some which you know and others you don’t find out till later. But all the characters work well to further the story. I really don’t want to say much more than that, since I’m on book 3 and can’t remember what was said when in the trilogy. But if you start the series, you won’t want to stop till you’re done with all three books.
In the End
This is a great retelling of a classic book. By the end I couldn’t stop listening. So much happens in this book and, whether listening or reading, you won’t be able to stop till you get to the end of this book, and really the trilogy as a whole.
One day I’ll own the whole series in Hardback. It’s a great story with pretty covers, so why wouldn’t I?