The Blair Book Project

There is always a trend in everything, and trends do happen with books. One example would be retellings or reimagining s of the classic stories and fairy tales. Behold, Splintered – on of the many reimagined stories of our generation. But wait, it’s not just some random reimagining; it takes us back to the story of our beloved Alice Lindell from Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. And it seems that Wonderland wasn’t that all of such wonder... it’s a dark and twisted world. And Caroll’s story was made to appease children to happily dream of this land. There is no white rabbit, but rather white Rabid and there is nothing dreamlike about Wonderland. The truth is, it’s a nightmare. And Alyssa Gardner (a descendant of the Alice herself) is just about step into this horrendous land. I must say the premise was quite tempting. I’m a sucker for retellings after all so this was definitely a high priority on my to-read list. I was at about 15% on Splintered; I found out that Alyssa is an artist. She uses dead bugs for art. A bit appalling as it was, I found it interesting. Reading through, I found this book a lot more eerie and downright creepy sometimes but wow was it creative! So I really thought that this darker version of the classic Alice in Wonderland story was going to be awesome.But alas, Splintered has failed me...Right after Alyssa stepped into the mirror and transported herself, unintentionally dragging Jeb along, things just got dreary. Don’t get me wrong, the twists on the tests and all that were commendable, the way it was narrated and solved just wasn’t as exciting as I hoped it would be. When Morpheus came into picture, things just got worse. While I pitied Alyssa’s struggle to belong in the real world, she just came out annoying once she stepped into Wonderland. In fact, I don’t find much of the characters in this book likable. Alyssa’s irritating although I understand her indecisiveness due to her family’s curse and all, Jeb’s okay but he’s too overprotective, and Morpheus is just a downright, good for nothing asshole! Sorry. I really don’t like him. No amount of chivalry or heroic acts would make me like him after all he’d put Alyssa through.I have to admit that for the most part of Alyssa’s journey it didn’t make sense to me. When it finally did, I thought it was a pretty neat trick. The idea of having a rather complex story behind the classic was wonderful (pun intended)... the amount of reading I had to go through and the tedious progress however made me think – was it even worth it? Somehow, I guess... but not so much.For more of my reviews, please visit my blog: The Blair Book Project @ www.theblairbookproject.blogspot.com