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 I love a good fairy tale retelling and so when I heard of Splintered, I immediately requested an ARC. Splintered sounded very promising but I was really let down. Alice in Wonderland is one of my all-time favorite novels and I am obsessed with Tim Burton and the original Disney film. The problem with Splintered is that it doesn't feel like Alice in Wonderland at all. Alice in Wonderland is a fun children's book about discovering who you are and growing up. Splintered lacks the charm that made Alice in Wonderland, possibly one of the best books ever. Splintered had potential to be a great retelling of Alice in Wonderland like The Looking Glass Wars was. 
 Splintered is nothing like Alice in Wonderland at all which in my opinion isn't a great thing. Splintered takes all of the characters from Wonderland and complete alters the characters until they are unrecognizable. It's fine to change characters in a fairy-tale retelling but shouldn't the characters feel a little tiny bit similar? I simply couldn't connect to any of the characters at all because they weren't like able. Morpheus was very irritating in my opinion because he was too self-centered and just straight out rude. My problem with Jeb is that he was too generic with his whole "child-hood friend" attitude. The whole love triangle in Splintered in my opinion was unnecessary and really ruined Splintered. 
 The plot was extremely slow and reading Splintered felt like a chore. The whole idea of Alice Liddell being mad is nothing new at all and was the subject of American McGee's Alice. 
 Much of the book seemed like it was trying to mimic Tim Burton's wonderful 2010 remake of Alice. This book is a mishmash/medley of American McGee and Tim Burton's Alices which really was disappointing. Splintered doesn't feel original at all, it feels like a washed up book. Splintered tries hard to differentiate itself from all other Alice retellings and as a result this book felt lacking. Action scenes in Splintered just weren't fun to read at all because they felt anticlimactic. I really wanted to like this book but I can't overlook it's overwhelming faults. 
 Splintered wasn't for me, maybe you will like it. I have seen phenomenal reviews for this book and so many readers loved this book. Am I mad that I didn't like this book?? 
 Something that really bothered me is that the Mad Hatter isn't MAD and the Cheshire Cat is absent for the majority of the book. That is utter madness that an Alice in Wonderland retelling would be lack a true Mad Hatter and a Cheshire Cat for the majority of the book. I had a similar experience reading Splintered as I had reading Alice in Zombieland. If you're looking for a fun Alice in Wonderland retelling pick up The Looking Glass Wars instead. Splintered was a slowpaced read that lacked in character development and plot. Splintered was definitely not the book for me but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I don't recommend it now excuse me while I cry an ocean.