She handle plot well, building momentum as she goes, tossing out one dark adventure after another. “You’ll live in one of those artsy, upscale apartments in Paris with your rich husband.” Actually, her fate is far more interesting - which is where Howard’s genius enters in. Jeb, the novel’s chief romantic interest, tells Alyssa, “You’re going to be a famous artist.” His voice is deep velvet - soothing and sure. Take this description of Morpheus: “He’s a contradiction: taut magic coiled to strike, gentleness at war with severity, a tongue as sharp as a whip’s edge, yet skin so soft he could be swathed in clouds.” The novel’s fantasies are typical middle school fantasies, rooted in rebellion, desire, ambition. There is lyricism, but little true poetry. “Splintered’’ is neither for the faint of heart, nor the lover of deep character or slow-building drama. One there, she faces a series of challenges proctered by the dark, brooding Morpheus whose allure is clear but whose motives are murky. When Alyssa’s mother, Allison, descends into deeper madness, Alyssa journeys to Wonderland with Jeb, her troubled, artsy friend, to find the solution to the ancestral curse.
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