Reviews

Atrás do Espelho by A.G. Howard

maddie_orart's review against another edition

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3.0

Review also posted on Of Reading and Random Things

First of all, if you ever have to choose between being human and being a netherling Queen in Wonderland, ALWAYS choose to be queen. Being human is so boring. If it isn’t, no one would be reading Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Lord of the Ring, etc.

In Unhinged, a year has passed after Alyssa returned from her adventure in Wonderland. Her mom is home, Jeb ( :( ) is her boyfriend and all is well until she starts having nightmares and her art shows horrible visions about Wonderland. Queen Red is back and she’s out for revenge, secrets are revealed and once again, Alyssa must fight a battle with the help of Morpheus, Jeb, her mom and her friends from Wonderland.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I think this book could be shorter. I didn’t think it was boring, just that I wouldn’t mind if it’s a bit shorter because most, if not all, of the action, happened towards the end of the book and nothing really happened at the beginning. I was hoping that Alyssa would go back to Wonderland and all the action/battle would happen there, but sadly, that did not happen. Although, I do like the parts where Wonderland merged with our world. The creepy Wonderlandians (that’s what A.G. Howard calls them. I checked on Goodreads :) ) joined Alyssa in the world of prom and high school and it’s very nicely done. We got to know more about Alyssa’s parents, and even though I like their story, I don’t really like Alyssa’s mother. She kept a lot of secrets that she shouldn’t have. The writing is beautiful and descriptive, and just like the previous book, I could easily picture the scenes in my mind. The story is highly imaginative and in my opinion, it’s a very good retelling of Alice in Wonderland.

Alyssa annoyed me a lot in this book. Her relationship with Jeb made her insecure and I don’t know why she’s determined to stay in the human world because of him.

“Sure it was a mistake for Jeb to take me to get a tattoo behind my parents’ backs. But he didn’t do it to make them mad. He did it against his better judgment because I pressured him. Because I was trying to be rebellious and worldly, like the people he hangs out with now.”


She’s very determined to stay human even though she wanted to unleash her netherling powers, to fly, etc. If she wants to stay human because of her parents, fine, I get it. But the only reason she’s rejecting Wonderland is Jeb. Sigh. Even though she knows that Wonderland is unraveling and in danger, and no matter how many times Morpheus told her to go back to Wonderland to fight Queen Red and set things right, she waited until the last possible moment because she always needs to find Jeb. I really don’t like the way she’s always giving Jeb the benefit of the doubt but always thinks the worst with Morpheus. Every time something bad happened, she just goes “Oh, this must be Morpheus’ fault!” However, I did like her at the end, when she embraced her madness. Hopefully, she’ll be much better in the next book.

Morpheus is great, as always. He has the best lines :D. He’s always pushing Alyssa to be better, challenging her to be stronger and although he protects her, he also knows that she’s capable of taking care of herself. I know that Morpheus always has a hidden agenda or a scheme to help him get what he wants, but at the end of the day, he would always do something selfless if it meant saving Alyssa from harm. I don’t understand why there had to be a love triangle in this book, because to me, there shouldn’t even be a choice. Jeb is holding her back from her potential, smothering her and keeping her trapped in the human world for no reason, while Morpheus is always helping her become a more confident, powerful version of herself.

So to sum up, I like this book. I don’t know if I like it more than Splintered, but I like it. The story was interesting and I want to know what happens next, the writing is beautiful and easy to read, and I love the ending. I’m looking forward to reading more about Wonderland so I’m going to read the next book. I hope Alyssa will be a better character in Ensnared :).

“All I have to do is set the power free. Escape the chains of humanity, let madness be my guide. If I forget everything but Wonderland, I can become beautiful pandemonium.”

adelle_bookworm's review against another edition

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3.0

O čem jsem si myslela, že to bude?
Spoiler- Alyssa se chystá na ples a život se Zachem, přiletí Morfeus s tím, že Červená ohrožuje Říši divů, Alyssa se do ní vrátí a akčně to s Morfeem vyřeší.


O čem to bylo?
Spoiler- ALYSSA CELOU DOBU SAKRA STRÁVILA MEZI LIDMI, MUCKALA SE SE ZACHEM,
FLIRTOVALA S MORFEEM A ZÁROVEŇ HO NESNÁŠELA A UDĚLALA ÚPLNÝ HOVNO.


Takže asi tak. A to se mi Šepotání docela zamlouvalo. Alyssa je tak neskutečně pitomá, až to bolí. A ostatní postavy taky. Jen Morfeus stojí za to. Do dalšího dílu jdu jen kvůli jeho šťastnému konci, protože fakt doufám, že si to Alyssa trochu urovná v hlavě a shodí Zacha ze srázu.

stuckinafictionaluniverse's review against another edition

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3.0

Quick rundown of my thoughts:

* The plot suffered from the change of setting, and was a little slow. While the first installment mainly takes place in Wonderland, we do a 180-turn and mostly hang around at Alyssa's high school in Unhinged
I missed the chaotic beauty of Wonderland, yet appreciated the less messy reality. It made room for interesting characters, and Alyssa's relationship with her parents was unexpectedly interesting. They all get more backstory, and I loved that.
This book takes place in the human world, and is less packed with events

* For the first time in forever I actually care about a love triangle. Just because one of them is mysterious and swoon-worthy and the other is lame.
Morpheus is my current favorite antihero. He’s a well-rounded character with darkness and a surprising amount of complexity. He's seductive, funny and teasing.
Surprisingly, Jeb barely got on my nerves. He really loves Alyssa, and my eyebrows didn’t raise every time he was in a scene.
He’s nice and cute, if a little too one-dimensional with a typical good guy persona.

* A.G Howard has a knack for descriptions, particularly of clothing and personalities. I could picture it all with perfect clarity, Again, I have to give credit to her for creating a wildly imaginative story and not being afraid of going away from the original fairytale.
The writing was good, besides for the frequent use of the word "luv". I get it; Morpheus has a Cockney accent, I'm over it.
The next thing shouldn't come as a surprise. My favorite piece of dialogue was ''Fair warning, I intend to make good use of that time. I will be gentle, but I will not be a gentleman. You will be the center of my world. I'll show you the wonders of Wonderland, and when you're drunk on the beauty and chaos that your heart so yearns to know, I will take you under my wings and make you forget the human realm ever existed. You’ll never want to leave Wonderland or me again.’’

*fans self*

Bonus round:
''Of all the times you've undressed me in my fantasies, I never remember feeling this.... unfulfilled.''
''Please, Morpheus,'' I beg upon hearing Jeb stir in the background.
''Ah, but those delectable words,'' Morpheus says with a provocative smirk, ''those are always in the fantasy.''
I glare at him. ''You're unbelievable.''
''And that sentiment is reserved for the end.''
''Shut. Up.''


There's plenty of banter like that in the book, and I loved it.

* THAT ENDING. I'm so happy that I don't have to wait for the 3rd book, since it's already out. Anyway, it was awesome, left off on a bit of a cliffhanger and the series seems to be heading in a new direction. I'm up for it!

burnsys_books_811's review against another edition

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3.5

I think I like this one better than book 1 despite the setting, but I still hate Jeb and am starting to hate Morpheus. And I find the portrayal of mental illness and the treatment of it to be problematic in this series.

magikspells's review against another edition

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3.0

IDK! I just don't know. Warning, crazy rant to follow.

I have a lot of issues with this book. I had made a shelf, it would be 'love-hate' because I don't know what to feel. I didn't hate this book, because honestly I didn't hate the last one. I didn't love it either. I just sort of liked and hated it at the same time.

Lets have a talk here about this. Unhinged takes us back to the world a year after the events of [b:Splintered|12558285|Splintered (Splintered, #1)|A.G. Howard|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1340134213s/12558285.jpg|17562095]. Great, so we've got Alyssa and Jeb who are living out their silly gothic art dreams together. She's getting ready to finish high school, they're going to move to London and leave this whole madness of wonderland behind them.

As is always the case with these matters, things never go as planned. Things steadily start to spiral out of control until finally Alyssa can't stop fighting the pull that wonderland has on her. Blah blah.

Like I said before, I have issues with this book. My main one is the lying. It is one stupid lie that makes up a bulk of the content in this book. One lie perpetuated over an entire year. Alyssa could have told Jeb what happened in wonderland, instead she was being stupid and selfish. If she thought she had any semblance of a stable relationship with that as one of the cornerstones, she's so full of shit. And yet the entire course of the book, she fails to take credit for her role in all of this. She continues to put Jeb into harms way even after she's warned about it. It's so infuriating to see her claim that she loves this boy, this boy who said he was willing to die for her, and yet keep lying to his face. I want to rip her fucking red streak out of her hair! Ugh.

My second issue, is this whole shady parent situation. Honestly, this didn't bother me as much as the previous because it was painfully clear that her father was involved in this mess somehow. That just wasn't very good build up. But the whole story with her mother is such a broken record. A parent locks herself up in an asylum to keep her child safe. In a shocking twist, that doesn't work!

Lastly, I'm growing increasingly tired of love triangles. And the problem is, I don't even feel like this story is a love triangle. I feel like it's two guys pining after one girl who doesn't seem to give a shit about either of them. This goes back to my previous issue with Alyssa and her lying. For some ungodly reason both Morpheus and Jeb are willing to worship at the alter of Alyssa despite how shitty she treats them. She continually argues with and and berates Morpheus, despite the fact that he's been trying to help her. She's always mad at him even though she knows the tricks he pulls. She lets herself fall for them. I don't even like Morpheus and I'm angry for him. Then theres Jeb, who continually gets lied to, left behind, and half ass saved just so that her conscious doesn't have to feel the weight of her own lies. And I don't even get me started on that prophecy shit. I mean are you kidding me???
SpoilerShe could get to live out her human life with Jeb and then die, go to wonderland and be the queen there with Morpheus as her king????
WHAT! You cannot be serious. I'm having [b:Clockwork Princess|18335634|Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices, #3)|Cassandra Clare|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1376663659s/18335634.jpg|6309710] flashbacks.

UGH.

So fine, thats what I don't like. So why would I even bother. Because I do enjoy this world. I think it's fresh and imaginative. I'm not even a fan of Alice in Wonderland, but I liked the uniqueness of the story. I love all the characters because they are so tremendously real and flawed. I just really hate the way that they interact with one another. It's enough to drive me insane. HA! That's almost a funny pun given the end of this book.

Oh well, I hope there's only one more book, only because I need to make sure a certain few characters who's names aren't Alyssa, make it out alright. Maybe she can die off and they can find someone who doesn't treat them like shit.

hansonkali's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition

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5.0

You know that a book really made an impression if the plot all comes back, including all its details, while reading the first chapters of its sequel months and months later. Splintered was one of the first English books I read after I decided I wanted to read more English and it proved quite challenging at the time, but worth it. It was nice to discover, while starting and reading this book, that my English has really improved over time.

It's still not the easiest book I've ever read. Howard has a flowery writing style and really takes her time to build her world, craft the details and deepen her characters and their relationships. But the flowery style is beautiful to read and it's easy to get lost in the world that comes to life, just like I feel like I've lost a little part of my heart to our main three characters.

Even though this book is clearly the middle book in a trilogy and written to get the characters ready for their final adventure in Wonderland, it did keep me on the edge of my toes. I loved the little glimpse we got into Al's childhood and her adventures in Wonderland and I loved how Howard incorporated and twisted elements of the original story. But, I loved it even more when elements of Wonderland were brought into our world to mess a lot of things up completely.

I also think that the love triangle in this book is really well done. Al's love for Jeb is really feeleble and he's the safe and good and normal choice. He sacrificed his own life for hers and he is all she needs. But there is this dark side in Al that just longs for Morpheus and he clearly longs for her too, which leads to a perfect tension. I kinda feel that in the end Al will end up with Morpheus (the good and normal guy never gets the girl), but for now I'm really enjoying the two guys loving her that much that they're truly willing to fight for her.

And I also like Al in general. She's smart and brave, but she's not that smart and brave that it becomes too much. She does make mistakes, she does mess up, she is naive at times and doesn't always see the games people are playing with her. But she's also resourceful and willing to do everything for her friends AND the world of Wonderland. (In that order)

I can't wait to read the next book and I promise this time it won't be that long before I read it!

freadomlibrary's review against another edition

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5.0

Where to start with this book...

I should mention that I read Splintered, The Moth in the Mirror and Unhinged back to back. Immidiately, this became one of my favorite series.

I loved this sequel!

One of my favorite things about this book was getting to learn about Alyssa's parents' past. It was interesting to find out how deep the family's connection really does run through Wonderland. It's not just their connection to Red, it's so much more than that.

I was slightly annoyed with the love triangle mostly because I am Team Jeb, but I understood the triangle better now with the sequel. All the new revelations from this book make me very nervous. I have no idea how the romance will play out after everything. Especially with the way things ended. Which brings me to....

THAT CLIFFHANGER!

What am I going to do with myself until January?? I tend to marathon read to avoid these waits between books!

I feel blessed to have been able to connect with the author through Twitter while reading her books, and she is one of the nicest people I've ever had the chance to speak to. She helped me along through my reading and it definitely made it a better experience for me, though her presence has no bearing on my love for these books

I am anxiously waiting for the final books release!

kaeliwolf's review against another edition

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5.0

I am very not okay. It is nearly 1 am and I want to but also am afraid to read the next book. I actually cried. I am not okay. I am definitely not okay. My heart is broken and I don't know how to feel anymore. This hurt my heart more than words. I'm not letting the next one out of my hands ever it shall forever be a part of me and I am not being dramatic.

rebelkiss's review against another edition

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3.0

Might contain spoilers.

I didn't like this book nearly as much as the first one. The back and forth between Ally and Jeb and Morpheus was tiresome. There's a twist concerning her parents and I figured that out rather quickly when the dad mentioned something.