Booksword

Unhinged
By A. G. Howard
Published January, 2014
Reviewed by Charlotte Brindley

Unhinged is the sequel to Splintered, and if you read my review on Splintered then you’ll know how much I love this story and the author’s writing style – if not, care to let me elaborate.

Unhinged starts off where Splintered left off; Alyssa has returned from Wonderland and is adjusting to human life with Jeb as her boyfriend and her mom finally at home after being released from the Asylum. Howard continues with her dark themes and madness that she used so eloquently in Splintered to draw you back into Alyssa’s world – the first line immediately yanking you into the situation with Alyssa’s new medium of art stemming from pricking her finger – something that reminded me of Sleeping Beauty.

And Alyssa definitely is a Sleeping Beauty: I enjoyed how she blossoms from a confused and stressed teenager into a dark and powerful netherling queen throughout the novel. In true Howard style, the descriptions of Alyssa’s fashion, artistic skills, thoughts/feelings and actions make her one of my favourite female protagonists of all time.

In Splintered, the reader went on a journey to Wonderland – and even though such trip isn’t made in Unhinged, the madness and chaos of Carroll’s land is everywhere. I thought I’d be disappointed that Alyssa and Jeb didn’t go back to Wonderland to reunite with some of my other favourite characters – Sister One, Ivory Queen, Chessie and Rabid White. However Howard brings Wonderland to our world and that made the situation even… scarier.

Howard definitely explores darker themes in Unhinged, the tulgey trees and the truth behind Alyssa’s parents’ past definitely made the story more gripping. As well as the events, Howard makes the people darker: Jeb who was the one I wanted Alyssa to be with the most seemed to have developed an aspect of darkness himself. He tries to evenly split his attention between his career and Alyssa, and while this is respectable, I believe he made some stupid moves that proved Alyssa’s netherling side had rubbed off on him. On the other hand, Morpheus seemed to show a gentler side – even though he caused even more trouble than he did in Splintered, his vulnerable and caring side was exposed and I felt myself wanting him as much as Jeb. No wonder Alyssa has trouble deciding between the two of them!

I also loved how Morpheus and Jeb represented the two sides of Alyssa – Morpheus represented the dark, powerful and sultry side of Alyssa and Jeb the light, good and innocent side of her. Even though it’s a fantasy story, this element made Alyssa even more relatable because I believe we all have different sides to ourselves.

Overall, I loved Unhinged and I highly recommend it to anyone – teenagers and adults alike (though it’s definitely not for children). If you haven’t read the first one, then I suggest you read Splintered, but be warned that you probably won’t be able to shift the Wonderland bug once it’s bitten you (giggles). The only problem I have with this series is that the final book ENSNARED won’t be out until 2015! Definitely looking forward to last instalment of Wonderland goodness!