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Splintered
400 pages
A delightfully creepy, sensory-rich descent into a twisted wonderland where madness is a weapon and the grotesque is beautiful.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into a Tim Burton painting, where everything is simultaneously beautiful, grotesque, and deeply unsettling. The narrative moves at a brisk, feverish pace, pulling you through a surreal landscape dripping with lush, sensory-heavy prose. It is a darkly whimsical experience, steeped in a gothic atmosphere that twists childhood nostalgia into something edgy and macabre. The emotional texture is rooted in the tension between fearing one's own mind and ultimately embracing the dark, weird parts of oneself. It delights readers who love their fairy tales with a heavy dose of YA angst, a brooding romance, and a heroine who discovers that madness might just be her greatest strength.
- Mood
- darkly whimsical
- surreal
- gothic
- trippy
- Tone
- edgy
- macabre
- romantic
- earnest
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- embracing inner darkness · madness versus reality · generational trauma · twisted nostalgia · coming of age
- The writing
- Lush, sensory-heavy, and dripping with vivid, Burton-esque gothic imagery that brings the grotesque to life.
- The arc
- The protagonist moves from a deep fear of her own mind and lineage to a fierce, unapologetic embrace of her inherent strangeness and power.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave dark, edgy fairy tale retellings with a gothic aesthetic, a love triangle, and a heroine who learns to love her own madness.
Content notes
- mental illness and asylum settings
- mild body horror
- insects and creepy-crawlies
- manipulation
About the book
A descendant of the inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, sixteen-year-old Alyssa Gardner fears she is mentally ill like her mother until she finds that Wonderland is real and, if she passes a series of tests to fix Alice's mistakes, she may save her family from their curse.
Description from Open Library.
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