Author: A. G. Howard
Genre: Teen Fiction, Fantasy Fiction
Publication Date: January 16, 2013
Publisher: Amulet Books
ISBN-13 Book: 9781419704284
Audiobook Publisher: AudioGo Ltd.
Narrator: Rebecca Gibel
Audiobook Release Date: 1/1/13
Length: 12 hrs. and 42 minutes (Unabridged)
Disclosure: I received a copy of this audio book for review from AudioGo through Audiobook Jukebox. This is my honest review!
Splintered by A.G. HowardMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Summary:
Alyssa Gardner’s mother was institutionalized because she can hear bugs and flowers speaking to her, but Alyssa has a secret. She hears them too. She always knew that she was a descendant of Alice Liddell, the little girl who went down the rabbit hole. Little did she know that all the female descendants in Alice’s line are cursed. Alyssa must go back to Wonderland and right the wrongs of Alice. Only then can she save her mother from the shock treatments that await her at the asylum.
Review:
This is one seriously warped and twisted tale, and I loved it! Alyssa is a skater girl, and about as different from Lewis Carroll’s Alice as she can be. She is a descendant of Alice though, and as such, lives with the curse that all the women of her family have had since Alice first went down the rabbit hole. Howard’s characters are brilliant, and Alyssa is the pinnacle. She reacts and acts like a real teen. Sometimes she is uncertain, sometimes she is impulsive, and she certainly isn’t perfect.
Yes, this book does feature a love triangle between the guy next door (literally), and the mysterious Morpheus. Both these characters are well developed, and are realistically motivated. You can understand Alyssa’s attraction to both of them, though sometimes it felt like the story tripped over this love triangle, or maybe got too caught up in it, but you can get past this small flaw.
The setting of this book is wild. I loved traveling through Wonderland, never knowing what to expect next. Howard draws you into this magical, wacky, place and makes you want to stay. With each scenario weirder than the next, you can’t stand to put this book down. I had no trouble visualizing the sometimes bizarre places and creatures Howard describes—it would make a wonderful movie.
The pacing of this novel might be one of the minor flaws. At times, this novel just flew from one situation to the next at breakneck speed. In other places, the novel would slow to a crawl, and you would find yourself yelling at it for that next big great revelation. I’ll admit this certainly created tension and suspense, but at other times, you found yourself impatiently waiting for the other shoe to drop. Still the fact that I was loathe to walk away from this novel for long tells, you that despite that minor frustration, I really wanted to know what was going to happen next, and I was willing to keep reading to get there.
Audiobook Review:
The unabridged audio book version of this novel is produced by AudioGo and narrated by Rebecca Gibel. Gibel does a great job with the narration and the voices of the various characters. At first I thought her voice for Alyssa might have been too husky, but her reading was so well done, that after a while I no longer noticed. Some of the best audio books are the ones where you get so involved with the story and the characters that you forget that this is a book being read by a single person. This was the case with this novel—Gibel had me believing she was Alyssa and all the other characters she was voicing. The audio book is 12 hours and 42 minutes long, but it is worth every minute. I found myself sitting in the car, not wanting to get out because I wanted to hear more. The audio book production is free of flaws, and was a very enjoyable way to experience this remarkable novel.
Overall:
Overall, this has to be one of my favorite books in recent memory. I couldn’t put it down, and was hooked until the very last page. It is making me want to go back and read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The rich storytelling, and the fantastic characters make this a book I won’t soon forget. I only wish there was more to come—I love Wonderland and would welcome a trip back. Highly recommended.
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Very well written review! That's the third straight good review we've had for Splintered. Thanks for participating in our reviewer program.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeff! I loved this book and I had so much fun listening to it. I am so glad I got a chance to review it.
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