By Matthew J. Kirby

“Crash-landed on a desolate planet lightyears from Earth, sixteen-year-old Jessica Mathers must unravel the mystery of the destruction all around her–and the questionable intentions of a familiar stranger.For Jessica Mathers, teleportation and planetary colonization in deep space aren’t just hypotheticals–they’re real. They’re also the very real reason her scientist parents left her behind six years ago. Now she is about to be reunited with them, forced to leave behind everyone she knows and loves, to join their research assignment on Carver 1061c, a desolate, post-extinction planet almost 14 lightyears from Earth.Teleportation is safe and routine in the year 2198, but something seems to have gone very, very wrong. Jessica wakes up in an empty, and utterly destroyed, landing unit from the DS Theseus, the ship where she was supposed to rendezvous with her parents. But Jessica isn’t on the Theseus orbiting Carver 1061c. The lander seems to have crashed on the planet’s surface. Its corridors are empty and covered in bloody handprints; the machines are silent and dark. And outside, in the alien dirt, are the carefully, and recently, marked graves of strangers (Goodreads).”

Apparently I’ve been on a “books-with-a-surprise-style” kick lately, because I was definitely not expecting this book to go where it did or to follow the style format that it did! Both The Reappearance of Rachel Price and Star Splitter really succeeded in flipping their respective genres around in an entertaining way. I would definitely recommend this book to any and all science fiction/thriller fans, but also anyone looking for a surprisingly deep look into the nature of the soul and the body.

The plot was probably one of the weakest points in the book, mostly serving as a way to explore the main theme of soul “scanning” and the ethics of this world’s teleportation process. After an initial period of very slow exposition and very little action, the stakes started to pick up in both timelines (see style) and definitely got me hooked once I reached that point. If you decide to pick up Star Splitter, don’t give up those first few chapters, it gets a lot more exciting 😉

Other than that, I did enjoy following Jessica’s story and seeing how she reacted to different events (spoiler – maybe don’t read the rest of this paragraph) and how even the small memory deficit between her and her second copy really changed her behavior. The author did a great job of keeping her small mannerisms and personality the same between the two girls, but also showing the effects of the added trauma – reflecting the complexity of person hood.

Some may be disappointment in the way the book ends – it kind of seems to negate the experiences of the characters of the book entirely and downplay the importance of what they’d lost (I’m trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible guys, I promise), but I think that was on purpose and done very well.

Overall, the plot definitely kept my attention and I liked the elements of thriller and horror thrown in over the sci-fi. I do wish some more mysteries could have been answered – more information on the aliens on the planet, what happened to Jessica’s dad – but I also think the author made the right choice in keeping it vague. It really does keep the focus on the ethical problem at hand and the reader’s frustration can help to reflect the tension of the ending.

I looooved this style of writing. The chapters alternate between two timelines: Jessica being printed for the first time on the ship above the planet, and Jessica being printed for the second on the planet. At first, this seemed kind of useless while nothing was going on. It seemed as though both timelines were just showing Jessica being arrogant and grumpy that her parents had brought her to space (see characters) and nothing was actually getting explained. But as soon as the stakes started kicking up, the format began making so much sense.

The disconnect really showed the power and complexity of the “teleportation” process (explaining more would spoil it so I apologize that this is so vague) and helped to reveal certain truths to the reader at the same time as they were revealed to Jessica, creating a connection to the MC and upping the thriller vibe. I was also obsessed with the way the smallest details built this connections between the Jessicas of both timelines: the statements they made, the things that were important to them… it created this uncanny feeling that really came to fruition in the ending. None of that makes any sense if you haven’t read the book, but trust me. I hope I’m at least convincing you it’s worth it to find out what I’m talking about.

The characters were another slight weak point: I felt that the motivations and personalities of the characters were either not fully explained or very basic. For example, the parent’s reasons for leaving Jessica in the first place were slightly explained (they said they were selfish), but they also didn’t say why. I’m sure it’s something simple like “we had a passion for space and the world needed our research” or something like that, but the author could have very easily explained that. There were also a few traits in certain characters that felt like they could’ve been explained better: Jessica’s mom’s anger at some points. Her reasons for reacting in certain ways to different events should have been explored more.

Jessica herself also seemed a little bit surface level: she was mad at her parents, missed her Pop-Pop, and was stubborn. She wasn’t entirely unlikable, especially as the story went on and the rude mask she put on for other people went away, but I did feel that the author’s main point on the soul and the body would have been a lot more effective if the characters had had more complete development. I will not complain about the more action driven plot though 🙂

Duncan, the boy Jessica’s age on the ship, seemed like a little bit of a character foil for Jessica and not really a strong character on his own. His motivations are also very unclear. I guess he likes being in space?

Finally, while I was disappointed about the character development, I still think the author was able to accomplish so much under the surface of the writing in so little space and I was very impressed. He succeeded in making some very interesting statements on the nature of a person.

Overall, this book gets a 4.5 star rating! Once I got past the slow pacing at the beginning, I was definitely hooked and finished the book so fast. I liked the way it was able to balance that YA simplicity and lightness (something I really need in this season of life) with the darker elements of sci-fi horror and scary existential questions. This book is definitely worth your while, and sparks some really interesting questions that will probably stick with you for a while.

Alright, I have one more thing to say, and this is unrelated to the book, but what’s the point of having a platform (as measly as it it) if you’re not going to use it for good? I want to remind anyone who might be discouraged by the results of the election a few days ago: Jesus is sovereign. He is “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:21). The Lord will use whoever is in office and whatever situation our country is in for his purposes, and we can trust him that he has good plans for us.

On a more earthly level of reassurance, I want to remind you that the president has way less power than everyone seem to think he does. He cannot take away your children, your voting rights, or even your abortion rights (because of the Supreme Court’s decision, that is a state decision, not federal). I will not attempt to convince you of or even explain my own political beliefs, but I just want to say that you do not have to be scared. It is going to be okay.