Book Review: Splintered by A.G.Howard

Title: Splintered
Author: A.G.Howard
Release Date: January 1st 2013
Publisher: ABRAMS
Imprint: Amulet Books
Source: Received from the publisher via NetGalley

Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on.

There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

My Thoughts

Splintered, although it has a pretty cover, is sadly thrown on the Did-Not-Finish pile...

I've tried, I really have, but I just can't read it...
After just a few pages I knew it was going to be a chore to read. It just didn't capture my attention and I was bored.

By the time I struggled to whichever page it was that I finally stopped reading, all I could hear was the buzzing of bees in my head and I was afraid of going quietly mad myself!!

Terribly boring, and a 'voice' I just couldn't stand to read anymore from - sorry.
1 Star only :[

Book Review: Redemption by Veronique Launier

Title: Redemption (Hearts of Stone #1)

Author: Veronique Launier
Release Date: September 8th 2012
Publisher: Flux Books
Category: Fiction - Juvenile (YA): Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
Source: Received from the publisher via NetGalley

Guillaume: For five hundred years I've existed as a gargoyle. Perched atop an old Montreal church, I've watched idly as humanity wanders by. With the witch Marguerite gone, there is no one left to protect, nothing to care about. I never planned to feel again. But then a girl released me from my stone restraints, allowing me to return as a seventeen-year-old human boy. I must find out all I can about this girl's power . . .

Aude: Getting attacked twice in as many days is strange in itself, but even stranger is the intriguing guy I keep running into. There's something so familiar about him, like a primal drum rhythm from my dreams. But spending time together only raises more questions--about my heritage, a native Mohawk prophecy . . . and an unearthly magic threatening our city...

My Thoughts

This book sounds fantastic - Gargoyles finally freed after decades of watching  the world pass them by. Strange and awkward girl with untapped power mysteriously releases them from their concrete prison.

Sadly I got as far as page 145 and put it aside.
I just couldn't read another word.
There is too much stuff going on, and yet nothing really happens, the story just isn't going anywhere. And its boring - I want to read about the gargoyle Guillaume and Aude, not the dead witches/Mohawk's/band/crappy friends or the many flashbacks that do nothing but distract the reader. And the dialogue is poor at best.
There just isn't any real consistency, the story jumps from one thing to the next without any clear path of where the story is going, it doesn't flow and lacks the ease of great storytelling.
 
As I said, I didn't read through to the end as I was bored beyond reason, so I can't say whether or not it improved.

A really great idea, but poorly executed.
1 Star :[