Monday, January 6, 2014

Mark This Book Monday: Unhinged by A.G. Howard!!!

For the first edition of Mark This Book Monday of the year, I'm sharing a review of one of those books in the very much awaited list! My favourite retelling or reimagining of an absolute favourite of mine as is Alice In Wonderland!



Unhinged: Bk. 2 (Splintered Series)Unhinged: Bk. 2 by A.G. Howard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After Splintered that was one of my favourite debuts from last year when I found out that Anita was planning to write a sequel, I was very excited and very intrigued about how was she planning to continue the story!

I preordered Unhinged quite ahead of time and for once, The Book Depository shipped it quite in advance, so much that it arrived well ahead of release date (Jan 7th), it could have been a Xmas present even, because it arrived on Dec 26th!

As usual I will be trying to keep the review spoiler free, cause I wouldn't want to spoil any of the shocks for you! But be warned since there will be spoilers for Splintered.

Unhinged was what any good sequel should be about. Full of twists, shocking revelations, unexpected information and constant surprises. The stakes are getting higher with every turn of the page.

Alyssa chose to leave Wonderland behind and return to her normal life with Jeb and her parents, to try and save her mother from the curse of the Liddells. But Red is still on the loose and Morpheus is not giving up one his claim on her.

Unhinged focuses in Alyssa's fight with who she is. Her human half and her netherling half. She doesn't realize her strenght and seems to be scared of accepting who she is. She keeps on fighter Wonderland and herself and despite understandably not trusting Morpheus, she keeps on venting her frustrations on him.

Wonderland keeps on creeping into Alyssa's "normal" life cause quite a lot of trouble for her. And she keeps on finding out that most of what she thought she knew isn't right, and she has to face loads of revelations about Morpheous, Wonderland, her mum and her parents.

Sometimes I must say I wanted to shake Alyssa when she kept asking Morpheus for help and then treating him like vermin. I agree that he deserves quite a smack here and there and eye rolling more often than not, but you can't just automatically blame him for everything! But you cannot fault Alyssa for not trying her best to protect those she love from harm, even at the cost of her own sanity or appearance of it.

Alison, Alyssa's mum was quite a surprise. I had no idea of her side of the story and I'm so glad that we get to know about it and she and Alyssa finally have an honest talk! The lack of trust and truth is one of the main obstacles here in Wonderland, too many secrets leave Alyssa and the other vulnerable to Red and other enemies.

Anita Howard's writing is immensely visual, she brings to life every scene in my head in a way very few books can, and her Wonderland has what I call a Burtonian Wonderland quality: vivid, extra creepy and full of madness! And if you add to it a creepy clown toy, wood that can eat you and a zombie prom... Sometimes I fear to think what else she can concoct!

For all of you, yes, there is a love triangle, Alyssa is getting torn between her two natures and Jeb and Morpheus, but for once I was not feeling aggravated about it! I don't find Morpheus so irritating at all, but so far, I remain Team Jeb.

The ending... well that ending was freaking cruel and heartbreaking with a proper evil cliffhanger. But Anita redeemed herself with the final pages of Alyssa taking charge of her future, embracing herself as she is, human & netherling! I just cannot wait to read the next book NOW!!

More than well deserved 5 stars!




View all my reviews

25 comments:

  1. Oh, nice! I love it when hotly anticipated books come early, that never seems to happen for me---they usually end up coming late, hah. With Clockwork Princess I was especially enraged because there were so many huge spoilers floating around, so I ended up driving over to Target to pick up a second copy so I could read it immediately.

    I'm very glad the sequel didn't disappoint you, Pili. I had the feeling that love triangle was going to develop, but it sounds like you're happy with what's happening for the moment, anyway. Hope you get your hands on the next one as soon as it's available!

    Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

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    1. Thank you, Wendy!
      It's so frustrating for me waiting for newly released books when I preorder them! Here in Spain so very few bookstores have books in English! Even less YA's, so if I want a book online is my best option, either Amazon or TBD. I remember wait for my copy of The Dream Thieves, it arrived a week and a later after release date! Ugh! But it is even worse with spoiler floating around...

      I guess the love triangle didn't bother me so much due to the fact that it's sort of reasonable, two side of Alyssa attracted by a different guy, and since both have been there for her all the time. And also, I really was expecting it to happen, it was not a surprise at all!

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  2. Totally agree with your review! I love Anita's vivid imagery and thought she was able to make the real world as enchanting and interesting as Wonderland (that clown--shivers). So happy that you loved this one!

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    1. Thank you, Kristen! Everytime the clown was mention I got a case of the shivers!
      I cannot wait for Ensnared and the new world we'll discover in it!! =D

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  3. I read Splintered back in December, mostly because I didn't like the cover (yes, weird!). Anyway, I loved it, and I hope I can read Unhinged soon, this is the first review I read and I'm so glad you loved it. I honestly prefer Morpheous, and I hope I can see more of him.

    PS: I know, it sucks when you can't buy the books you want in your country. In El Salvador we have to wait 1 month to get the books from TBD!!

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    1. It's weird that you didn't like the cover but I'm glad that you loved it when you read it! Unhinged awesome too, I hope you can get to read it soon too! And don't worry, there's plenty of Morpheus in this one!

      A month?? Ugh!! Two weeks seems like a lifetime for me!!

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  4. I'm sorry to say I did not like the first book in the least, mostly because of Jeb. But I'd be very curious to learn Alison's story although I'd probably be too annoyed with Alyssa for treating Morpheus that way to even care about other things.
    And yay for books arriving sooner than planned! Let's always do that, TBD!

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    1. I think Anita wants to write a novella about Allysa's parents story! You could always read that!
      And yes, please TBD, make sure books arrive early!! (or at the very least on release day!!!).

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  5. I love when preorders come early instead of late. That's the way it should be!
    I enjoyed the first book -- except for the love triangle aspect -- glad you loved this.
    Jen @ YA Romantics

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    1. Agreed! In only they'd arrive at the latest on release day! But the post doesn't always help with that!
      I'm not a fan of love triangles, but the author made it work here!

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  6. downloading this now after reading your review. thank you, twin!!

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    1. Twin, you need to get Splintered first, is the first book, this is book two, and YOU SO NEED TO READ THEM!! Damn, I thought I had sent you a suggestion for this two via Goodreads!

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  7. Yay :D I'm glad you loved this book. <3 I'm planning on reading this next. Starting it tomorrow. Though I am worried about how I will feel about it :\ But makes me happy you loved it. AND that you are Team Jeb :D Thank god. I didn't like Morpheus at all in book one :\ And I can't stand love triangles.. but I'm still hoping to enjoy this, as I do adore Anita :) Thank you for sharing :)

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    1. Thank you sweetie! And yes, Anita is amazing!! =D

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  8. Such an amazing review, Pili! I agree that Howard's Wonderland is slightly Burtonesque. It's so creepy and exactly how I imagined Wonderland to be! I'm so glad we get to learn about Alyssa's mother! She's definitely got a lot she can tell Alyssa so I'm excited to discover that. Plus, MORPHEUS <3 Although he's creepy and weird, I find him strangely attractive and I'm really drawn to him.
    Cliffhanger ending?! Is it like a REALLY cruel ending? Because my heart might break.
    Your review has made me even more excited for Unhinged, Pili! My copy only got dispatched today so it better HURRY UP AND GET HERE!
    Great review :)

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    1. Ugh, I'm gonna be keeping my fingers crossed so it arrives super fast!!
      Well, about the ending... it is a bit of a cruel ending, but it also has a very awesome part at the very end! It's not as bad as The Iron Traitor's ending, but more in the Crown of Midnight sort of ending...
      And if you like Morpheus... you're in luck! He's quite swoony & irritating as only he can be in this one!

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  9. The love triangle is gonna be quite important in the next book too, or so I think... mostly with how this one ended.
    Maybe you could give a try to the first book, Splintered and see how you felt about it, Aman!

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  10. It sounds like this one really extrapolates on the world of Wonderland that was presented in the first one. I like the idea of hearing about the MC's mother. Unfortunately Splintered just didn't work for me so I don't have this one on my TBR. Happy that you enjoyed it though!

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  11. How fantastic that you received the book so early. What a treat! That has never happened to me; I occasionally receive a book from Amazon one day early, and that seemed special enough!

    I LOVED the revelations about Alyssa's parents. Don't you think it would be great if Anita wrote a spin-off series (or even just one book) telling that tale? I'd even settle for a novella.

    Oh, and sorry, Pili, but I'm Team Morpheus. :P

    Stephanie @ Inspiring Insomnia

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    1. It was the best treat ever, Stephanie! I did a happy dance! =D

      I can totally understand you being Team Morpheus, if I hadn't read Splintered, based on Unhinged alone, I'd be Team Morpheus too! As it is, I'm still Team Jeb, buuuuut mostly Team Jebpheus! ;)

      Btw, about the story about Alyssa's parents, Anita said on Twitter that she really wants to write a novella about them, hopefully having time to have it done & out before Ensnared!

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  12. I had to skim your review because I haven't read Splintered yet, but this sounds amazing! I'm only hearing good things about both of these books, I'll have to read it sometime. Great review Pili.

    Jeann @ Happy Indulgence

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    1. If you like retellings and like Alice In Wonderland, you really must read them soon!

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¡Muchas gracias por vuestros comentarios, leerlos me alegra el día!/ Thanks a lot for all your comments, reading them brightens my day!!