Star Splitter

Matthew J. Kirby

Apr 2023 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

A 2024 Edgar Award Nominee!

Survival and self-determination collide in this haunting, pulse-pounding science fiction novel from Edgar Award–winning author Matthew J. Kirby that spans both space and time.

“An intense, read-in-one-sitting kind of ride.″—Kirkus, starred review


2199. Deep-space exploration is a reality and teleportation is routine. But this time something has gone very, very wrong. Seventeen-year-old Jessica Mathers wakes up in a lander that’s crashed onto the surface of Carver 1061c, a desolate, post-extinction planet fourteen light-years from Earth. The planet she was supposed to be viewing from a ship orbiting far above.

The corridors of the empty lander are covered in bloody hand prints; the machines are silent and dark. And outside, in the alien dirt, there are fresh graves carefully marked with names she doesn’t recognize. Now Jessica must unravel the mystery of the destruction all around her—and the questionable intentions of a familiar stranger.

Ratings and reviews

I don't think I have ever read something with this type of concept in a YA book. I like that it's being brought in more and more. Sci-fi is not usually a genre I read, but I took a chance on this book. I'm glad I did because I found the book to be interesting and thought-provoking. There was something that left me not completely satisfied with the book. I can't tell if it was the ending, or something within the story itself. It does leave some questions unanswered.

This book made me think a lot about what makes up a person. Is it the sum of their experiences? Or something more? The way that they traveled/teleport is very intriguing to think of because of that. So, I do like it for that, even if the book left me questioning so much. I don't want to give away too much because the fun of reading this was not knowing what was going to happen next. There was a nice creep factor with the before and after slowly revealing what had happened to Jessica.

Wow! This book completely surprised me in all the best ways and grabbed me from the first page and never let go. The futuristic setting and 3-D printing of humans kept me guessing the entire time; it was very well written so that I had no trouble understanding and accepting that the technologies were happening and being used by future generations. The suspense kept me reading and wanting to get back to this book as soon as possible. The characters popped off the pages and had both good and ques

About the author

Matthew J. Kirby is the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of the middle grade novels The Clockwork Three, Icefall, The Lost Kingdom, Infinity Ring Book 5: Cave of Wonders, and The Quantum League series, the Dark Gravity Sequence, and the Assassin’s Creed series, Last Descendants. He was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start, he has won the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery, the PEN Center USA award for Children’s Literature, and the Judy Lopez Memorial Award, and has been named to the New York Public Library’s 100 Books for Reading and Sharing, and the ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults lists. He is also a school psychologist, and currently lives in Utah with his wife and three step-kids.