Unhinged by A.G. Howard (ARC)

Unhinged (Splintered #2)
A.G. Howard
Pub.: January 7, 2014

Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she's always dreamed of.

That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.

As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.

If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she'll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head.

See my review of Splintered (Book #1) here.

While I absolutely loved Splintered, Unhinged fell short of my expectations. And let me say straight away that this had nothing to do with the writing or the story (mostly - prom fell flat for me). The reason I loved the first book so much was because I was transported to the crazy world of Wonderland. Unhinged didn't offer that to me. Instead of getting the fish out of water story I was expecting, a few of the Wonderland elements made their way to Alyssa's world, wreaking a little havoc here and there. And to me, the main focus of the novel just seemed to be Morpheus trying to derail Alyssa's relationship with Jeb instead of the Red Queen's attempt to attack Alyssa. I honestly think that if Morpheus had been given a point a view, I would've enjoyed this novel a lot more - because just getting a peek into that mad little mind of his would be incredibly whack-a-doo.

 

It was nice to see Alyssa's mom play an important role for once, and now that I know Alyssa will be forced back into Wonderland for the next book, I'm sure my rating will go back up for this series. Check it out peeps. It was just my personal preferences that made me go meh for this book.

 

ARC provided by Amulet for honest review.