♥!The Young Adult Book Club!♥ discussion

Splintered by A.G. Howard



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.

this is how I felt when I first read it back in March 2013

i HATE don't like this book at all. the characters might as well been stick figures with all the depth they had. they were completely blank and i felt nothing for them. no, that's a lie. i HATED disliked them a lot. the writing was okay but nothing to talk about. and that ending...are you kidding me? it was a complete cop-out for dealing with Morpheus and total bullshit for how Alyssa and Jeb (who i wanted to strangle) end up together.


and why is there a second one? no, i'm not reading any more of this shit. NONONONONO

I've only read a few chapters and so far I haven't had a strong reaction either way. I like the idea but I'm not gripped by the story, though that may change. My main problem thus far is the massive amount of info dumping in the first few chapters. I wish the author had chosen to slowly let the backstory slip out over the first third of the novel instead of stating it in Alyssa's thoughts in the first few pages. I enjoy the description of the art pieces but find that Alyssa's classmates constantly teasing her for being related to the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland both odd and underwhelming. I am on the fence but hoping I will like the novel.

I have to say that I'm struggling so far. I find Jeb to be oddly controlling and I'm not as lost in the fantasy of Alice in Wonderland as I thought I would be. Anyone else feel the same way?

I haven't had a chance to try it yet but I've seen mostly great things about it. But everyone is different. There are some popular books that never worked for me.

I loved this book so much, I loved all the characters, they are so authentic and complex with real issues. Alyssa is not the average selfish, silly, rebellious teenager you see on so many tv shows and books. She is intelligent, mature, and she is unique, she not afraid to express her indivisualality, and she has a great relationship with her father. Its so easy to dive into this version of wonderland. Great book!

I was very moment ch drawn to the story only because it was a Wonderland twist. on the other hand much of the characters did not satisfy my taste, on the other hand....I do like it. 3/5

One of my friends read Splintered and highly recommended it, so when I knew we would be reading it this month I was excited. So far I am having to push myself to read it. I'm just not captivated by it. I'm only slightly in it so maybe with a few more chapters I will be hooked. Gotta say though I'm very borderline on how I feel at this point.

Kyla wrote: "One of my friends read Splintered and highly recommended it, so when I knew we would be reading it this month I was excited. So far I am having to push myself to read it. I'm just not captivated by..."

I feel the same. I was so excited to read it but so far I can't seem to be interested in it.

Ok so I finished Splintered today, and I can honestly say once you really get into it you get pulled in to Wonderland. I enjoyed it once I got past the first part and I really think that I'll read the next one. Though this book did leave me satisfied enough I don't know where the next one will go.

Sadly, I never grew to love the book. I loved moments and thought some of the creepy parts were cool. But I never connected with Alyssa and wanted to be in a more detached POV because her constant thoughts about Jeb and Morph felt like overkill. I really wanted to like the book because I love Alice in Wonderland. Oh well, we all have different tastes and I know I'm in the minority here judging by the ratings this book has received. I wish the best of luck to the author and I'm glad she's found an audience.