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A review by ana24gs
Splintered by A.G. Howard
challenging
medium-paced
2.0
Ok, I honestly don't know what I just read. At first, I thought it was just an easy book to read, and the first third of the book was easy to read. A silly book for young people with corny dialogue and silly fights, but with a cute romance. But then it became the worst of the genre.
First, the characters. Alyssa is fine, at the beginning I was on her side wanting her to achieve everything she set her mind to. Then we got to the second third of the book and I don't understand why the author decided that she was not going to make Alyssa smart, I don't understand the level of unconsciousness that girl has. First, every time it seemed that she had managed to solve something, one, everyone already knew the answer and they are waiting for Alyssa to figure it out, or two, someone else solves it just as easily as she does. When she discovered the biggest revelation in the book, she also did not discover it on her own. And the options of men she has are depressing. Jeb is a fool and if it weren't for him protecting her in Wonderland, I would say that he is one of the worst friends in existence. I don't understand his logic in dating the girl who bullies his best friend. And then there is Morpheus, abusive, manipulative, weird as hell, and just wtf with this man. The worst thing is that they want me to believe that he and Alyssa have a past when they barely show it to us and he always behaves in the ugliest way possible. Honestly, I wasn't liking Jeb and without meeting Morpheus I preferred him with Alyssa until I met Morpheus and said, "Jeb is looking really good now."
My bad experience with the characters was so awful that I couldn't focus on the main plot, it was confusing for me, I can say that I was so disconnected that when there was a highly relevant plot twist I could only react with a "lol, I didn't saw that coming".
The relationship between Alyssa and Jeb seemed very co-dependent to me, and I couldn't enjoy it because Jeb cheats on his girlfriend emotionally the entire book. And I honestly do not understand why he started dating her in the first place, his logic to do it made no sense. And the relationship Alyssa had with Morpheus is even worse, this man is much older than her, the worst thing is that he says "I have no age", EMMMM, is it a way of saying that you are definitely much older than her? And you have lived a lifetime harassing a little girl? I do not understand why it is so difficult for the authors to make a relationship where there is not such a worrying age difference.
I add that this book does not touch on topics as I would like, I do not know whether or not it is disrespectful towards people suffering from schizophrenia so I will not comment on that. But if I will comment on how Alyssa's virginity is unnecessarily repeated as if it were something vital to her character, virgin or non-virgin, no one should bother you, and you should not feel superior for being or not being one. Each one lives their sexuality as they please.
I liked the end of the book more than I expected, but I don't know if I would recommend it to anyone. Nor did I comment on the issue of how Wonderland was represented because I do not know about that.
First, the characters. Alyssa is fine, at the beginning I was on her side wanting her to achieve everything she set her mind to. Then we got to the second third of the book and I don't understand why the author decided that she was not going to make Alyssa smart, I don't understand the level of unconsciousness that girl has. First, every time it seemed that she had managed to solve something, one, everyone already knew the answer and they are waiting for Alyssa to figure it out, or two, someone else solves it just as easily as she does. When she discovered the biggest revelation in the book, she also did not discover it on her own. And the options of men she has are depressing. Jeb is a fool and if it weren't for him protecting her in Wonderland, I would say that he is one of the worst friends in existence. I don't understand his logic in dating the girl who bullies his best friend. And then there is Morpheus, abusive, manipulative, weird as hell, and just wtf with this man. The worst thing is that they want me to believe that he and Alyssa have a past when they barely show it to us and he always behaves in the ugliest way possible. Honestly, I wasn't liking Jeb and without meeting Morpheus I preferred him with Alyssa until I met Morpheus and said, "Jeb is looking really good now."
My bad experience with the characters was so awful that I couldn't focus on the main plot, it was confusing for me, I can say that I was so disconnected that when there was a highly relevant plot twist I could only react with a "lol, I didn't saw that coming".
The relationship between Alyssa and Jeb seemed very co-dependent to me, and I couldn't enjoy it because Jeb cheats on his girlfriend emotionally the entire book. And I honestly do not understand why he started dating her in the first place, his logic to do it made no sense. And the relationship Alyssa had with Morpheus is even worse, this man is much older than her, the worst thing is that he says "I have no age", EMMMM, is it a way of saying that you are definitely much older than her? And you have lived a lifetime harassing a little girl? I do not understand why it is so difficult for the authors to make a relationship where there is not such a worrying age difference.
I add that this book does not touch on topics as I would like, I do not know whether or not it is disrespectful towards people suffering from schizophrenia so I will not comment on that. But if I will comment on how Alyssa's virginity is unnecessarily repeated as if it were something vital to her character, virgin or non-virgin, no one should bother you, and you should not feel superior for being or not being one. Each one lives their sexuality as they please.
I liked the end of the book more than I expected, but I don't know if I would recommend it to anyone. Nor did I comment on the issue of how Wonderland was represented because I do not know about that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, and Death