Splinter in the Sky

384 pages

English language

Published Feb. 3, 2023 by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.

ISBN:
978-1-6680-0847-8
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3 stars (5 reviews)

The dust may have just settled in the failed war of conquest between the Holy Vaalbaran Empire and the Ominirish Republic, but the last Emperor’s surrender means little to a lowly scribe like Enitan. All she wants is to quit her day job and expand her fledgling tea business. But when her lover is assassinated and her sibling is abducted by Imperial soldiers, Enitan abandons her idyllic plans and weaves her tea tray up through the heart of the Vaalbaran capital. There, she learns just how far she is willing to go to exact vengeance, free her sibling, and perhaps even secure her homeland’s freedom.

2 editions

Splinter in the Sky

3 stars

Splinter in the Sky is an sf book about a tea-making political prisoner, caught between multiple factions all wanting to spy on each other. The book pitch here is "sapphically taking down an empire from within".

It's hard for me to not think of A Memory Called Empire while reading this. Mahit in that book felt very conflicted about the Teixcalaanli Empire; she both studied and dreamed about wanting to be a part of it (and knowing she couldn't ever truly be so), but also knew with eyes wide open how that empire consumed and absorbed everything it touched.

Here, it feels like Enitan has no such ambivalence. Her culture isn't appreciated; she's looked down on (at best); she certainly doesn't want to emulate said empire; her people aren't even seen as real people. She's traumatized by trying to find her sister, but I don't understand why she's not more …

A fun revenge fantasy for the colonized

4 stars

Imagine your little moon was conquered and colonized, your people exploited. You live with it and try to get by. Then one day your sibling gets abducted. When you ask your ex, who happens to be the governor, to find out what happened, your ex dies rather suddenly. Then, unexpectedly, you have the chance to travel to the heart of the empire, there possibly to seek revenge for your people's insults and maybe even find your sibling.

As noted in other reviews, the book strains belief occasionally with the protagonist's many lucky breaks. A couple of details were inconsistent--like an android who can't go undercover for long because he doesn't breathe, but he does sigh once. In my opinion, these aren't enough to outweigh the interesting development of a character who's far from a spy or assassin having to cope with spy/assassin type problems. Plus, the author clearly has an …