Rating: 
Summary: 5 Stars for Starsplit
Review: This book rocked! Kathryn has really outdone herself. The book's main character is a 13 year old girl named Darci. Darci lives in the year 3038. You need a good vocabulary to read this book. I'd especially recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense. This book has a happy ending and an exciting plot. If you plan on buying this book, don't hesitate.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit confusing, but......
Review: This book was a mixture of good and bad. I'll get the bad things out of the way first. 1.The start was really confusing. (As I tend to be hard to confuse where books are concerned, this means a lot.) 2. The only difference between the books setting (1000 years in the future) and today was the genetic technolegy. 3. The ending didn't really make sense. There are plenty of good things about the book, though. It's really interesting, it's easy to understand (I think the author made it almost exactly like today so it would be easy to understand), and it makes you wonder about how good genetic technology really is. I'd recommend reading this book if you don't mind having to tie up the loose threads at the end yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: dense and uninvolving
Review: When I purchased this book for our library, I must have read a good review or two. I certainly looked forward to reading it when it came in. But I was both disappointed and frustrated. Although there is life and death involved, nothing actually seems to HAPPEN. Lasky gets bogged down (or the reader does!) in the science of "umbellation", i.e. cloning. And given that today it is well understood that identical twins share the same genetic traits but can still be very different, it is hard to believe Darci's concerns (both pre- and post-Vivian) about her individuality. I also found Darci's musings on the meanings and origins of words in the middle of physically and emotionally difficult moments such as rock climbs or when discovering that her very existence is illegal very hard to swallow. In addition to all those quibbles, I am still confused about certain aspects of the climax. Are we supposed to understand that the sacrifice that is made and the events which immediately follow it (which we are, unfortunately, only briefly told about rather than allowed to experience) are part of a plan? If so, although an Underground is discussed, we are not given enough evidence to support that.I never felt that I got to know any of the characters well. And I regret that Max, the most interesting character of all, is given so little page-time and so little to do. Kathryn Lasky has a reputation as a very good writer. I wish I felt this book lived up to that reputation.
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