A review by jayisreading
The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

2.75

I wouldn’t call myself an aficionado of the science fiction genre, but I have enough of a grasp that I have some expectations. Ashing-Giwa’s The Splinter in the Sky is a welcome standalone novel, in the sense that the genre is always in need of more marginalized voices, especially ones drawing attention to topics such as the consequences of colonialism (a prevalent theme in the genre yet rarely critiqued). That being said, I found that this commentary was far too heavy-handed, to the point that by the time I was a quarter into the novel (not even halfway), I found myself thinking, I get it, can we please get to something new now?

On another note, I always felt that standalone sci-fi novels are especially tricky to write, particularly because of the incredible care that must go into good worldbuilding. This is the author’s one chance to craft a convincing world that won’t be expanded any further, so the stakes are a bit high on this front. Unfortunately, I felt that there was a lot left to be desired in this novel. There were a number of ideas and elements introduced throughout that I found fascinating, but many of them came and went in a blink of an eye, leaving the reader very little time to actually appreciate the universe Ashing-Giwa created.

Relatedly, one would think this must mean the plot was especially interesting to make up for the worldbuilding. While there was political intrigue (and a bit complex, too), I didn’t think it came together as well as it could have, which was in part because of the worldbuilding that was somewhat hastily put together, it seems. The plot was fairly predictable, the characters and their relationships lacked complexity (and, in the protagonist’s case, flaws), and I felt there were one too many deus ex machina moments.

One positive thing I will say about The Splinter in the Sky is that it is a very approachable and straightforward science fiction novel. I know the genre can be daunting for some readers, but Ashing-Giwa’s writing style is an accessible one—even with its flaws—and it could make for a good jumping point into denser novels.

Ultimately, I think this novel could have afforded to have been longer (or even turned into a duology or something) to really flesh out the universe and characters. The pieces were there, but they didn’t come together as well as the author may have thought.
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