Brilliantly done, Mr. Kirby! The architecture of the story is really first-rate in how it weaves prior events and current events. Exquisitely described, this story has nail-biting tension, mystery, artful characterization, and a lot of deep-thinking material around what exactly defines a person and whether science really can reduce that to a mere series of bytes.
For readers that need to have everything tied up in a bow, this book might cause consternation, but that is probably somewhat by the author’s design. This is a thoughtful, sci-fi read that threads the needle on what is explained and what is not. Science fiction’s Achille’s heel is that it usually falls apart and stops making sense in the last chapter or so of the book; Star Splitter elegantly dodges this bullet. This is a highly recommended book for YA sci-fi lovers.
Review of a Digital Advance Reading Copy provided by Dutton-Penguin Publishing
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 3 religious exclamations; 19 mild obscenities; 1 religious profanity; 2 derogatory names; 25 scatological words; 1 anatomical term; 15 F-word derivative.
Violence/Gore: Dark stains and handprints on wall that look like smeared, dried blood; recently dug graves observed; character explains briefly how individuals died from injuries; brief violent scene in which a character attacks another and kills them with a shard of ceramic in the throat, mention of blood and some description; character gets many abrasions and cuts in a fall; character comes upon skeletons piled in large piles and fossilized, scene of long-ago deaths/massacre; two teenagers assist an adult in putting a character’s body in a body bag and transporting it to be disposed; character is pursued and fears for life; discussion about procedure called “refactoring” which involves killing one physical body of a person; female slaps a male across the face (hard); character tackles another and they struggle; character is violently strangled with intent to kill; character is knocked unconscious; character tackled and falls to death; another character falls to death; character hears over the radio disturbing sounds of violent death; character has gaping wound from an attack/injury and is bleeding; reports of deaths; implied deaths and injuries.
Sex/Nudity: Naked after a procedure (non-sexual); upon a few separate occasions a girl thinks about girl that she has a crush on; character is briefly told that a girl likes/has a crush on another girl; passing reference to a man’s husband back on earth.
Mature Subject Matter:
Ethics (science), death, death of a family member, mutiny, sabotage, something similar to euthanasia (called “refactoring” in the book), trauma.
Alcohol/Drug Use:
Character believes they have been poisoned by breathing in a dust; passing comment about psychedelics drugs.
