Book Review
Title: The Moth in the Mirror (Splintered #1.5)
Author: A. G. Howard
Genre: YA/Fantasy/Romance/Retelling
Rating: *****
Review: So this is the novella spanning the gap between Splintered and Unhinged and all I know about it is that it is a short story told from Morpheus’ point of view as he digs into Jeb’s memories of Wonderland mainly because he is Morpheus’ rival for Alyssa’s affections. Morpheus is obviously doing this with the intention of pushing Jeb aside and claiming his spot as the object of Alyssa’s desire, but I have a feeling this is going to forge a connection between Jeb and Morpheus that he wasn’t expecting. This is also told in a strange format as it is from Morpheus’ point of view but when he is inside Jeb’s head he almost becomes Jeb, so it may be hard for some to distinguish Morpheus from Jeb during these scenes.
The first memory; Kryptonite centres around what happened to Jeb while he was being contained by Gossamer and the other sprites at the same time Morpheus is watching over Alyssa while she sleeps. Jeb learns that the sprites are affected by iron like folklore suggests and he manages to get quite a lot out of Gossamer, but he also learns that he isn’t influenced by their powers of seduction and that he might know more about Alyssa’s true nature that she knows herself.
The second memory; Carnage is about the encounter Jeb and Morpheus have after Alyssa has to leave Jeb in the canyon before heading off to the Twid Sister’s cemetery. Jeb here proves himself to be “smarter than the average mortal” as he figures out Morpheus’ plan for Alyssa long before she does, and Morpheus takes Jeb hostage in order to force Alyssa into the role he has designed for her.
The next memory; Caged is what happened to Jeb after his capture and how he ended up in the Jabberlock box forcing Alyssa to make the decisions she did at the end of Splintered. This was by far the most heart-breaking scene and it almost made me cry. However, after this memory ends Morpheus comes back into his own mind and despite being enthralled by Jeb’s human emotions and reactions he is more determined than ever to make Alyssa his and only his but what he doesn’t see that we do is that Alyssa needs the pair of them to survive. She needs Morpheus to free her netherlings side, but she is also dependent on the security and stability that Jeb offers her.
This was a great little novella to bring the gaps between the first two novels and even has little hints to some things that are going to happen in Unhinged which I can’t wait to dive into all over again.
Buy it here:
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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