I devoured this. The pacing is wonderful and engaging. The world building is lush and gritty in the best way possible. The action and mystery kept me enthralled without being too over the top. This gave me some delicious Altered Carbon vibes while being super original and different. I can not wait to purchase my own physical copy and then immerse myself in future explorations of this complex world. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and the way the mmc broke the fourth wall at times was seamless and intriguing in a way that added to his characterization. I want to know more- more about the world both virtual and real, more about Chroma, Raz and the Fatillas. Five stars, I want more.

Overall: 3.5/5
Spice: 0/5
Themes/Tropes: Futuristic dystopian sci-fi, virtual reality vs reality, neurology(brain) jargon, hired mission to find people/truth, Altered Carbon & The Matrix vibes

"I think of the great irony of this city. No one forces its inhabitants to connect with Onyros. There is no scan code embedded in our bones, nor are we held at collective gunpoint. Onyros is a choice."

This book felt like a mind trip. It was captivating and definitely made me think about the future, especially with how deeply technology is integrated into our lives today.

The story follows Logan Bochniak, who works to sever people from "digital paradise" before their minds deteriorate, also known as being a "Splinter". He's an outcast, and his own mind is teetering on the edge of failure. The setting is Onyros, a world where virtual reality has replaced the real world. But this comes at a cost: over time, the mind deteriorates, leaving you with nothing but mush for brains. Logan embarks on a journey to uncover an anomaly that could offer hope and save humanity from the grip of the virtual world.

At times, the main character would address the reader directly, and then shift back to past or present events. I thought this was a unique touch. The only reason I'm giving it 3.5 stars instead of 4 is due to the jargon used throughout. It could be a bit confusing at times, and I found myself looking up words frequently—at least, I did. I also wish there was a glossary or index at the beginning of the book to explain the different types of people and jobs. I often found myself forgetting what certain characters did, forcing me to flip back through the book to refresh my memory.

The world-building was excellent and very detailed! It gave me strong Altered Carbon vibes, and the whole concept of plugging in and out of reality through a port reminded me of The Matrix. Since I'm a huge fan of both, I was thoroughly intrigued. The last 60% of the book was absolutely wild. And the ending? It left me questioning everything.

This book was such a fun read! I really loved the concept and world building here. Something that was a drawback for me was I never felt connected to the characters the way I normally do! I'm not sure if it was just because of this or if it was the uniqueness of the world building, but it really felt like I had to chew through the first half to get invested.
All in all, still super fun!! Thanks so much to NetGalley for this ARC!!

I am always looking for a good sci-fi, and I think Splinter had a lot of promise, but unfortunately I felt that overall, I didn't connect with the story the way I wanted to. Whilst Splinter delivers on extravagant worldbuilding, this came at the expense of character development that I would have loved to see. The focus was more on the world overall, and from the beginning it felt like a fair bit of info-dumping that got confusing and difficult to follow.

I can see why this book might be a great one for the die-hard science enthusiasts, but as someone who doesn't have much of a science brain, a lot of the jargon went over my head, so I was left with elements of the plot and worldbuilding that were confusing and I didn't understand. Overall, I think the writing is very solid, but the way the book was focused just wasn't for me.

A great read for true sci-fi lovers! I was initially very drawn in by the description of this book, as it’s very futuristic and dystopian, and it certainly lived up to expectations in this regard! The writing was excellent and the author clearly has a very vivid and broad imagination! I suppose the only thing I really struggled with throughout was keeping up with the jargon and picturing the world in my mind. I just couldn’t get an image of what things might look like and found the technical terminology to be very confusing! Perhaps it would be a good idea to create some sort of glossary for readers to refer back to?