Unhinged

Splintered Series, Book 2

By: A. G. Howard

Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel

Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole. She was crowned Queen of the Red Court and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the boy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly appealing Morpheus. Now all she has to do is graduate high school.

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 at school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland - where she (partly) belongs.

Could she leave Jeb and her parents behind again, for the sake of a man she knows has manipulated her before? Will her mother and Jeb trust her to do what's right? Listeners will swoon over the satisfying return to Howard's bold, sensual reimagining of Carroll's classic.

©2014 A.G. Howard (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Darker Than Book One

This second book in the Splintered series is a little weirder than the first even though it is wholly set here in the modern world.

It’s exactly a year after the events of the first book and Wonderland is in chaos. Alyssa struggles to keep the two parts of herself in check. The human half of her heart is devoted to Jeb, her family’s blossoming new dynamic, and the future she’s been dreaming of in London as soon as she graduates. But the Netherland Queen half of her heart longs to give in to her budding powers, Morpheus’s increasingly hard to ignore advances, Wonderland and everything it has to offer...
On top of all that she’ll be fighting old enemies and new while still managing to make it to prom!

Plot twists!

When I saw that this was a twist on Alice in wonderland I was immediately intrigued. I love all things Alice and thought I had read and seen them all. Splintered drew me in with every trim of events. Just when I thought I knew what was going to happen, something else entirely happened and kept me in. This book was no different. A little slower than the first but just as good. Left me wanting more! It was so easy to get sucked into their world.

A great reading for a decent book

a very good book in terms of story and plot with a few overtly cliche and eye rolling moments at time. otherwise in terms of audio, an amazing story teller. she really made the book fun to listen to and it was easy to immerse yourself. sometimes I forgot it was only one person doing multiple voices.

this book was like a leap down the rabbit hole

It was so exciting and beautiful. Alyssa's view on the netherlings and the thought of flying made my wing buds tingle

Wow!

SPOILER ALERT 🚨

This book had so many twists and turns and the love triangle is HOT! I mean both of them have good and bad points and hot beyond all reason, I love the possibility of happiness all around. What a revelation about her family and she is really coming into her own. They left a huge cliff hanging this time!! I can not wait for the next book!!

Wowww!😍

It’s only getting better and better ya’ll this is book 2 in this series I’ve listened to this in 1 sitting took the day off for this
It’s was very exciting and had me on edge from time to time can’t wait for book 3 🥰😘

Awesome!!!

I liked the first book, Splintered. I really liked this one. The series is a riff on Alice in Wonderland mixed with the teen angst, love triangle of Twilight. I can picture the Team Jeb and Team Morpheus shirts. I had to stop listening when it got too angsty for me, that's the problem with being in your 30's and still listening/reading YA fiction. Once I got over wanting to slap Alyssa for being a whiner I really got into it. Rebecca Gibel is the perfect narrator for this book. Great book!

So in Love with this Series

I am so in love with this series. The addition of having her mom becoming more in the series was a delight and I highly enjoyed that. Rebecca does an amazing job with being a narrator for the book. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat. Can't wait until the next one.

Captivating, Amusing, Macabre...

What did you love best about Unhinged?

Rebecca Gibel, the narrator, is the perfect narrator for this series. Her voice was spot on for each character - and that's saying something since there's quite a quirky array of characters. I never once lost interest as Rebecca spun this wickedly inventive adventure with appropriate pacing, pauses, accents, and tones that held my rapt attention. I already have the next book, ENSNARED, on my phone ready to go and am so glad that Rebecca is narrating it! Actually, after listening to Rebecca's narration of both SPLINTERED and UNHINGED, I can't imagine reading these books without Rebecca's interpretation. If you have read the books and not listened to these in audio, you have missed out!

What other book might you compare Unhinged to and why?

UNHINGED is a testament to the author's brilliant imagination. She has a way with words like nothing else I've ever read or listened to - so I can't think of another book to compare this to besides the other installments in this same series. The author has woven an incredibly chaotic world of quirky characters where there are no rules. If you loved Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as a child, you should definitely delve into Howard's captivating, amusing, macabre new version! I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys entertaining, vividly dark fairy tales!

Which character – as performed by Rebecca Gibel – was your favorite?

Her voicing of Jeb made me swoon each time while her voicing of some of the creepy characters gave me the chills. I would be remiss if I didn't mention her talented rendition of Morpheus' cockney accent. Wow! She made me feel like I was listening to multiple narrators when, in reality, it was her alone.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I actually listened to the last twenty minutes of this particular audible sitting in my garage; There was just no way I could stop it without hearing the end. The ending of this one is a terrible cliffhanger that left me reeling. It's one of those cliffhangers to end all cliffhangers endings. Thank goodness, I have ENSNARED, the next and final book in this trilogy, ready to go.

Any additional comments?

I have a few complaints about the book. I wish there'd been more about Wonderland, a little less adolescent drama, and a lot less of the love triangle. All the action takes places away from Wonderland in this book. I missed that magical element of falling down the rabbit hole and interacting with all the crazy inhabitants there that was in the first book. I really, really, really dislike love triangles!

It appears that the next book will take the reader/listener back to Wonderland. I can't wait!

I loved it !?!

Book two is as amazing as book one ! Like wow! It will keep you on the edge it your seat wanting to know what’s going to happen next, the details make you feel like your there. I love this series !!!