Splintered

Today's post is on 'Splintered' by A. G. Howard. It is 377 pages long. It is published by Amulet books which is an imprint of Abrams books. The cover has a pretty blond girl looking at the reader with vines, flowers, and bugs all around her. The intended reader is YA. There is nothing in this book to raise the YA rating; there are some kisses between the main characters but nothing too graphic. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Alyssa Gardner hears the thoughts of plants and animals. She hides her delusions for now, but she knows her fate: she will end up like her mother, in an institution. Madness has run in her family ever since Alice Liddell told Lewis Carroll her strange dreams.
But perhaps she's not mad. And perhaps Carroll's stories aren't as whimsical as they seem.
To break the curse of insanity, Alyssa must go down the rabbit hole and right the wrongs of the real Wonderland, a place full of strange beings with dark agendas, a twisted fun-house reflection of Alice's childish tales. Alyssa beings her real-world crush- the protective Jeb- with her, but once her journey begins, she's torn between his solidity and the enchanting, dangerous magic of Morpheus, her guide to Wonderland. But no one in Wonderland is who they seem to be- not even Alyssa herself...

Review- This is a interesting sequel to Alice in Wonderland. It is and is not a retelling because is does change somethings about the original story but all the changes are believable to the story and as the reader I had no trouble seeing the changes and moving on with the story. I wanted to like book more than I do. It is not bad. The writing is good but not great. The characters are interesting but I do not think that they are unique. The plot could have been more but in the end it is just okay. I think part of the problem is nothing is a surprise to me. Maybe I have just read so much that I can guess what is happening in the background or maybe the author just dropped too many clues but from start to finish I was not surprised by this story. The only real interesting and unexpected thing in the story is the other love interest Morpheus who was the caterpillar. That part of his character was unique but other than that nothing. I do not want to turn anyone off from reading this because I know many fellow readers who would truly enjoy this book but sadly I am not one.

Three stars out of five. I get nothing for my review. I borrowed this ARC from a children's librarian to read and review. This book came out in January.