Unhinged by A.G. Howard

You can read my review of the first book in this series, Splintered, here.

Splintered introduced us to Alyssa. She is a descendant of Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. She fears becoming insane like her mother, who is living in a world of Lewis Carroll-inspired delusions in an asylum. It turns out that Alyssa's mother was never crazy, she was faking it to protect her. Wonderland is a real place, full of fantastic creatures and very real danger. Alyssa's old childhood friend, Morpheus, is one of the Netherlings (Magic creatures) who live in Wonderland, and he lures her down the rabbit hole. Unexpectedly, her friend (and secret crush) Jeb follows her. The trio participate in all kinds of Wonderland-inspired quests in order to defeat the Red Queen and save Wonderland.

At the beginning of Unhinged, everything seems great. Alyssa decided to remain a human rather than taking her place as Queen in Wonderland. Now, her mom is out of the asylum and back home. If only she would stop mothering Alyssa about her punk rock clothes, or her boyfriend. Alyssa and Jeb are now dating (He left the poorly named Taelor at the Prom as she was being crowned Prom Queen, kind of a jerky move, Jeb), and they hope to get an apartment together in England after Alyssa graduates. He has no memories of his time in Wonderland, which makes Alyssa feel as though she isn't being completely honest with him.

Despite everything, Wonderland is still on Alyssa's mind. She has unsettling dreams about it, and she has been creating disturbing mosaics with her blood, depicting ominous events yet to come. It seems as though Morpheus is up to his old tricks, especially when she hears about a new exchange student matching his description. When she finally talks to him, he refuses to admit to sending the dreams or the evil clown doll that attacks her. It turns out that something is rising in Wonderland, and it's spilling over into the real world. Alyssa won't be able to keep her family safe unless she deals with the threat.

Alyssa really bugged me in this book. It was the whining about her mother, jealousy when Jed gets a job to paint a rich heiress, and the Aria Montgomery-level alternative style outfits. I will always and forever love Morpheus, but I wasn't as into him either. He didn't even name any of his hats. Jed is kind of boring, but okay. The end of Ensnared set up some pretty amazing things for the third book, so I plan to keep reading when it comes out in January.

I received my copy of Ensnared from Netgalley, courtesy of Amulet Books. It's available for purchase now.

Splintered by A.G. Howard

“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, or you wouldn’t have come here.”

Splintered is an updated version of Alice in Wonderland, one with more grit and unexpected horrors. Horrors along the lines of a skeletal white rabbit, man-eating flowers, and pretty much everything and everyone wants to kill you. I'm always game for a twist on the classics, so I was excited for this book.

Our heroine, Alyssa, is the great-great-great granddaughter of the original Alice. Lewis Carroll based his character on her and the stories she told him of disappearing down the rabbit hole. Alice's life took a turn for the worse in old age. She woke up one day claiming to have spent 75 years trapped in a cage in Wonderland, and was unable to identify her family. Then her grandmother jumped out a window under the belief that she could fly. Now, Alyssa's mother, Alison, resides in a sanatorium. She talks to flowers and insects, dresses like Alice from the story, and only eats or drinks from a teacup.

Ever since hitting puberty, Alyssa has heard the same voices from flowers and insects. She never told anyone because she was afraid to end up in the same place as her mother. After a stressful visit, and news that her mother will be undergoing electroshock therapy, Alyssa is determined to visit Leeds, England, home of the original Alice. She will find the rabbit hole and break the family curse before it destroys her mother, and her as well.

Once Alyssa arrives in Wonderland, things aren't as simple as she'd hoped. First, she accidentally drags along her childhood friend/love of her life Jed. Second, this Wonderland is a far cry from the children's story. Emphasis on the "everyone wants to kill and/or eat you." The biggest obstacle of all is her forgotten childhood friend. He is sort of evil and dark, but also believes in her and her abilities while Jed only tries to protect her all the time. I'm a big fan of the anti-heroes in these books, and I loved Morpheus.

This was a fantastic story. I was very impressed with how well it followed Lewis Carroll's books and turned the details around just enough to be unique. After finishing the book, I read some of the beginning over again, and I was even more impressed with the details I recognized after the fact. Of course, I also love adding to my collection of young adult boyfriends. I don't know why the bad ones are always more attractive than the good ones. (It doesn't hurt that Morpheus is described as having a Cockney accent, so I pictured him as Klaus from The Vampire Diaries, who is my favorite on that show right now) My issues aside, Splintered was a great read and I highly recommend the book for any young adult fan out there.

I received my copy of Splintered from Netgalley, courtesy of Amulet Books. It's available now for purchase.