Review: Unhinged by A.G. Howard

Unhinged by A.G. Howard
Published: January 7, 2014
Publisher: Amulet Books
Pages: 400 (Hardcover)
Series: Splintered #2
Source: Bought
My Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she's always dreamed of.

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

As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.

If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she'll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head.

Lately I haven't been having the best luck with series. I remember loving Splintered but for some reason this book just didn't live up to my expectations and I feel like I'm the only one. It was actually quite slow and a bit boring.

Even in the first book, I did not like Jeb and I think that's the main reason why I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I wrongly assumed that since Morpheus is on the cover, the book would mainly be focused on him. Instead it was mainly about Alyssa and Jeb's relationship. To me Alyssa seems a little too obsessed with Jeb, especially by the end when their relationship is kind of rocky and to be honest I don't think there's anything special about Jeb. Their relationship is very sappy and Alyssa is overly dramatic when it comes to Jeb.

Alyssa also refuses to accept that she's a part of Wonderland, which basically causes all the problems in this book and also means that this book takes place in the human world, not Wonderland. All the character development from the first book is gone and all she cares about is Jeb. What does she do when Wonderland is seeping into the human world? She thinks about Jeb and she ignores all her problems because she thinks that since she chooses to live in the human world it doesn't concern her.

The only redeeming quality of this book are the Wonderland characters. However I was not a fan of Morpheus pretending to be human and going to school with Alyssa. Was that really necessary? He can talk to Alyssa whenever he wants and he decides to attend her school. And then there's the fact that Alyssa believes that he's completely evil, but sometimes he's a good person that she finds attractive. Yes he lied to her, but it is later explained why he lied and that he's actually a good person, yet Alyssa still doesn't give him the benefit of the doubt. But Jeb could do whatever he wanted and she would still think he's this fabulous person.

I was pretty excited about learning a little bit more about Morpheus and his past. I just wish the book hadn't focused mainly on Alyssa and Jeb and that it had more Wonderland in it.