Sarah's Reviews > Unhinged

Unhinged picks up a year after Splintered left off. Alyssa is about ready to graduate high school, and from there she intends to move to London with Jeb, her supposedly artsy boyfriend who acts like a Neanderthal and has no memory of their adventure in Wonderland. Her parents, understandably, are worried about her moving across the ocean with a man, and encourage her to at least marry him first—although they really don’t like Jeb at all (I don’t blame them) and are trying to hold on to their daughter as long as possible.

Alyssa has made grudging peace with her netherling identity—a human-looking creature with gauzy wings and sparkles below its eyes, whose abilities range from the cute (communicating with bugs) to the macabre (painting with one’s own blood). But she really wants to forget her royal lineage and be “normal,” and she resents the visits of Morpheus, the dashing Wonderland leader who appears in her dreams to teach her magic.

But Alyssa left a lot of trouble behind her in Wonderland, and since she’s not there to fix it, it will follow her until she gives in. What follows is a surprisingly thrilling tale with a great theme: the foolishness of trying to thwart destiny. Alyssa and her mom both learn this the hard way.

Content Advisory
Violence: There’s fairly gruesome, Tim Burton-esque imagery throughout. People and things get swallowed by evil bookshelves (it makes sense in context) and spit out as grotesque caricatures of themselves. Alyssa sees some scary things in her paintings and dreams, such as a woman getting swallowed whole by a flesh-eating plant, or a dead man bound in cobwebs. Our heroine is stalked through the school halls by what appears to be an evil clown toy come to life.

Sex: Jeb and Alyssa kiss way too much—especially since he’s such a loathsome character—and there’s a few times where they consider consummating their relationship on the spot (nothing of the kind actually happens). But luckily Alyssa realizes that she has growing feelings for Morpheus, and she kisses him too. One of Jeb’s clients wants him to paint portraits of her in faerie-themed lingerie, and Alyssa is understandably hurt. When Morpheus gets gravely injured, Alyssa sets him up on her bed, and he jokes that he always knew he’d end up there.

Language: A few uses of “bloody” from Morph.

Substance Abuse: Some characters eat magic Wonderland mushrooms to help them shrink. Obviously not a literal drug reference, but given what the book is based on, a lot of people will be thinking of drugs already.

Anything Else: Nope.

Conclusion
Unhinged is a fantastic second installment, capitalizing on the strengths of the first book while expanding the world and its lore, developing the characters, and upping the stakes.

Howard subtly outdoes many of her fellow YA authors by taking common tropes—especially that old “I kept this secret from you to protect you” chestnut—and examining how a real person with human emotions would react to that. While many of these writers still look at things from a myopic, adolescent perspective, she actually seems able to separate herself from Alyssa, and look at the girl’s angst and confusion with a knowing smile.

That said, while Alyssa makes a number of questionable decisions, she has more psychological depth than the average YA urban-fantasy heroine, and her actions are usually believable. She insists that she’s in love with Jeb, but really she’s infatuated with him because he represents safety and sameness to her. Whereas Morpheus, who any reader can see is the superior catch, is repeatedly rejected because he’s asking her to grow up, put aside childish things, and become what she was born to be.

Alyssa, whose life has never been stable, understandably clings to those things that have gotten her through up until now: her painting, her skateboarding, her Hot Topic wardrobe and makeup, her crush on Jeb, her friendship with Jenara, and her hatred of Taelor. Then Morpheus appears, and he asks her to

Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams
Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before
...let your spirit start to soar
And you'll live as you've never lived before…
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind…
Let your mind start a journey through a strange, new world...
Let your soul take you where you long to be
Only then can you belong to me…

But she’s scared, understandably, and refuses.



Yet he won’t give up on her. He teaches her, and tests her, knowing she can handle any challenge he gives her.



And slowly, she begins to realize that she’s not made for this world, but for that one, and she is even granted a vision to prove it:



Jeb is a regrettable character with no need to exist. He is the long-lost twin, or maybe distant ancestor, of Aspen from The Selection, albeit in fairness The Selection is a chick-flick with dystopia sprinkles and a love triangle comes with the territory. But there is enough going on in the Splintered series that the love triangle is needless. Take away Jeb’s status as Alyssa’s boyfriend and all he does is get captured and force her to act. That’s nothing that a family member—say, a younger sibling—couldn’t do (see Labyrinth).

I have a feeling that this is going to end the same way as Garth Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom series did, but I guess I’ll find out when I get there.

All in all, this was a superlatively enjoyable YA novel that I happily recommend. Just beware of Jeb.