*Review* Splintered (Splintered, #1) by A.G. Howard

Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers, the very same affliction that landed her mother Alison in Soul's Asylum mental hospital. The family's curse stretches back to her great, great, great grandmother 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 by creating vivid and imaginary paintings and being a skater girl who is pretty slack when it comes to her image and the clothes she wears. 

When Allie is visited by a mysterious moth named Morpheus, she formulates a plan to find a way into Wonderland and a way to break the Liddell family curse before it is too late to save her mother. When she enters Wonderland with her secret crush Jebediah Holt alongside, she realizes that the Caterpillar from Alice's time, is really Morpheus who guided her as a small child in her dreams. 

One of the things I liked about Splintered was that it was re-imagined to be an even darker, grittier, and dangerous place than Wonderland was portrayed. Apparently everyone has an agenda that goes back a hundred years, and all their goals and plans ride heavily on Allie doing anything to save her mother, and passing a whole boat load of courageous tests.

“Raising one hand, he tilts his hat to that sexy slant. "You want me. Admit it."
Even if he's partly right, I'll never tell him. "Why would I want you?"
He lifts three fingers to countdown. "Mysterious. Rebellious. Troubled. All those qualities women find irresistible."
"Such an optimist."
"My cup is never empty."
"Too bad your brain is." The words bite, but my smile softens with affection.” 

I can't fathom the likability factor towards Morpheus by Allie. As far as I am concerned, he was a scheming, diabolical, menace to society who got into the mind of a child and twisted her so that she had no choice but to follow her destiny for fear that she would lose not only her mother, but Jeb as well. I hated the fact that there was even a hint of any romance towards Morpheus after all he did to Allie. 

I didn't have any problem with Jed even with the fact that he was with someone else until the trip down the rabbit hole. Jed backed Allie up. She did what needed to be done in order to help her along the way. He really didn't get much in return until the ending. 

Allie isn't an awful character. She's got a lot riding on her actions and her ability to trust those like Morpheus who have waited years for Alice's descendant to fall down the rabbit hole and face challenge after challenge in order to be worthy to be the Red Queen's replacement. 

I think the world building and imagination that Howard has created is utterly brilliant. I liked that used characters like the White Rabid, Humphrey Dumpty, and Cheshire cat and wasn't afraid to give Allie a bit of paranormal abilities of her own. I will be reading Unhinged as soon as I can. I would love to see what happens next for Allie, Jeb, Alison, and yes, even Morpheus. 

Published January 1st 2013 by Amulet Books

Author - A.G. Howard
Title - Splintered (Splintered # 1)
Publisher - Amulet Books
Released January 1, 2013
Genre - YA Fantasy
Borrowed via the Library