Highly entertaining read. And the narration is stellar—pitch perfect tone and delivery. The somewhat flawed protagonist gets in his own way as he ruminaover past failures. The antagonists are great variations of hurt and evil humans. The love interest SUPER interesting (can we have her story soon, please?), and the ending a perfect mix of losses, wins, and teasers for what’s next. Highly recommend.

Here’s the digs: Smithsonian architect Rabbit Ward (Ha!) is a paid time traveler helping recover precious lost artifacts. Bad luck for him, this next job is sending him straight back to his biggest failure, one that he can’t forgive himself for. More bad luck, he’s got competition, and not only is she probably more talented than him, she’s HOT. And 6th century Constantinople is cool and surprising. Duty, bad guys, and misadventure keep calling in a page-turning win. Perfect for history buffs and adventure seekers, and if those need distraction from modern civilization, THE SPLINTER EFFECT is calling your name (maybe in multiple versions of the universe ;) ).

**3.5-stars**

Splinter Effect is a Time Travel Thriller that features heavy historical aspects. I found it to be a unique read, that definitely improved for me in the 2nd-half of the book. While it started slowly and was a bit heavy-handed in the historical politics, there were definitely some fun twists towards the end that hooked me back in.

In this story, we follow Rabbit Ward, a Smithsonian Archaeologist tasked with traveling through time in order to rescue precious artifacts before they are lost to history. Even though Rabbit is quite successful in his career, there was an epic screw-up decades ago that included the loss of his mentee, Aaron, and it has haunted him ever since. They were after a special menorah during that mission, and recently evidence has surfaced that the menorah has now been located in another time and place.

Rabbit sets out again to try to recover it, mistakenly thinking this time, it won't be quite as difficult. However, from the moment he arrives in the past, things go wrong. Apparently, there are others, contemporary competitors, of his searching for the same artifact. One in particular, Helen, becomes a real thorn in his side.

In addition to this though, the time and place they're in, 6th-Century Constantinople, is on the brink of revolution. It's a dangerous place for anyone to be, and Rabbit and Helen find themselves thrust right into the middle of it all.

I listened to the audiobook and am glad that I did. The narrator, Roger Wayne, had a film noir quality to his voice, which I feel worked very well for this story. I would recommend that format if you're going to pick it up.

I think as a start to a series, this is strong. I have a feeling the longer the series goes on, the better it is going to get, as the Reader becomes more attached to the MC, and also gains a better understanding of the time travel system. The concepts did take a minute to get used to, as it is sort of a fresh take on time travel, and one I did thoroughly enjoy.

For me though, it did lean a little too heavily into the politics and societal happenings of the time that Rabbit traveled back to. I felt that brought the pace of the story down, which detracted from the high-stakes mission Rabbit was on by sucking some intensity out of it. As mentioned above, there were some great twists towards the end though that I definitely didn't see coming. One in particular, helped to completely reinvest me into the story, which was starting to lose me.

I would be interested in continuing on with the series. I think my decision will most likely be made after I read the synopsis for the 2nd-book; if the mission sounds intriguing enough to me, I will continue. Thank you to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I do enjoy checking out different styles of Time Travel stories, and this one was fascinating. Even though I had some few issues with it, I still think the author did a great job in developing the plot, settings and characters.

I just finished Splinter Effect by Andrew Ludington and here are my thoughts. Firstly, the audiobook was a tad bland but I did get used to it after a while and got sucked in.

We are introduced to Rabbit Ward… A time traveling Archaeologist who has gone into the past to find a long lost menorah (candelabrum used in Jewish worship) from Ancient Rome. Things couldn’t have gone more wrong from the second he arrives and when a rival, Helen arrives to find the very same item… He knows there's a mole in his organization… Yet the only way to find the Menorah might be to work with the very person who is here to steal from him…


Genre - Time Travel - Science Fiction
Date of Release - March 18th 2025
Publisher - @minotaur_books


It was an interesting book. It was a tad monotonal but I think that was done on purpose. Rabbit is very rigid and I think the tone of the book was to match him. I didn’t much care for that but I did get used to it.
The plot is insane!!! I loved the storyline! The author did a phenomenal job of creating this story and I couldn’t find a hole in it. Not one plot hole… That right there is incredible because the story has a ton going on and most of the time there is something in a book that doesn’t fit or get explained.. Not here so bravo!


I liked Rabbit ok. I think he was growing on me towards the end of the book but I did love Helen! I know I'm not supposed to have warm feelings for the “bad guy” but I couldn’t help it. I am really glad this is book 1 and it’s a debut novel so honestly, if this is the level the author is already writing at… I am excited to see what comes next.
I adored all the sights of Rome and all the wonderful backstory delivered in a really clever way. Honestly the only things I can say about the book is the tone was a tad off for me and it could have had a slightly faster pace but these things are like a grain of rice compared to how excellent this book is.


4.5 stars! I know you are looking at the genre and thinking… I don’t read sci-fi… It’s really so much more than that! It’s a Historical Fiction, Adventure, Mystery Thriller so give it a go!


Thank you to Minotaur books for my gifted hardcover and @netgalley for my ALC!


#splintereffect #andrewludington #scifi #historicalfiction #mysterythriller #scifiread #scifireader #minotaurbooks #alc #audiobookreader #netgalley #bookinfluencer #booksbooksbooks #booktok #booktuber #bookishpodcaster #bookalorian

This story had a pretty interesting premise of time travel to recover lost artefacts. I really enjoyed the plot and found Rabbit to be a fascinating character. The story is part heist novel, part sci-fi time romp, and part historical fiction, in which missing historical information can be explained by the time travels actually causing these events. The rival character was interesting as there was certainly some tension between the two characters both in the competitive and s3xual ways.

It was a pretty fast read for me and I overall really enjoyed it. The audio for this was fantastic. I really enjoyed the narrator’s ability to bring this story and the many different voices to life.

Thank you to @stmartinspress @minotaurbooks for the ARC. Thank you to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for the ALC. All thoughts are my own.

Splinter Effect by Andrew Ludington

This was a very promising debut!
I have been trying to read outside my comfort zone - I try to make sure I don’t get into a rut where I only read the same authors all the time. Also, I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately and I decided to more actively seek out more science fiction books.

So a few months back, when I got an email from NetGalley telling me I was auto-approved for a bunch of books by authors I had never heard of, I decided to say “what the heck!” And I downloaded all of them, thinking maybe I’d find something good, maybe I wouldn’t. So I was very pleased when I started reading and realized/remembered that this was a time traveling archeologist book!

In premise, this book felt like it was trying to be Connie Willis mixed with Indiana Jones.

Now, I absolutely adore Connie Willis and her Oxford time traveling historians, and the premise revealed in To Say Nothing Of The Dog that items about to be destroyed in history can be removed from their original time and brought back to the present/future. At first I thought this book might be in conversation with that book, but I don’t think so. I don’t think this author is that familiar with a lot of other SF books, because this book often felt like a trope-fest crossed with a Byzantine history course - But fun! I’m not adequately conveying how much fun this book was or how much of a page turner it was. Even though the main character was too morose and too good at everything, and the twist was able to be seen a mile away, and the science of the time travel did not seem well thought out, I didn’t want to put this down! I really enjoyed it, flaws and all, and look forward to the next book in the series.

Rabbit Ward is an archaeologist, who happens to use time travel to search for and recover priceless items lost to time.

Rabbit is a difficult person, and he's never played all that well with others, including possible patrons. He's also still reeling with guilt for leaving a young colleague behind on a job several years ago.

Given a chance to recover a menorah, he heads to sixth century Constantinople, meets a sympathetic and young soldier, has an audience with the king and his advisor, and also has to outwit a frequent competitor, Helen, whose methods are a little suspect, but who has been highly successful in the past.

It's clear author Andrew Ludington knows this time in history, as the time spent in Constantinople felt lived in and real. There is action, intrigue, violence, betrayals, and a surprise in store for Rabbit.

Though this story was not really my thing, despite its premise of a time travelling Indiana Jones. I could appreciate the historical detail, the action, and the intrigue in the novel, however.

I have a feeling that we'll be seeing Rabbit again, based on the ending.

I went back and forth between the text and the audio, and voice actor Roger Wayne did a good job voicing Rabbit, but I found his Helen a little less convincing, which is too bad, because Helen is clearly the more interesting of the two characters. I did like Wayne's work as the king's advisor.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and to Macmillan Audio for these ARCs in exchange for my review.

Splinter Effect is the time-travel debut from Andrew Ludington.

"Rabbit Ward is a chrono-archeologist for the Smithsonian. He travels back in time to preserve artifacts before they are lost to history. He jumps at the chance to fix his biggest mistake. He lost a valuable Menorah and his assistant back in time. When evidence shows it popping up in Constantinople, he rushes to find it. But there is a time crunch and others are out to find it first."

Rabbit is a great character. (You get the story of his nickname later in the story.) He is desperate to correct his big mistake. He struggles trust the one person that can help him the most.
Lots of facts about Romans and ancient Constantinople. Ludington is right on the line about over-explaining what it was like then. It's all interesting but could probably be dialed back just a bit. There are plenty of twists and surprises. I loved the ending. Hopefully, this is the start of a new series. We need more of Rabbit (and Helen...you'll see)

Great job on the audio from Roger Wayne, especially with some surprise voices. Lots of good Roman soldier voices too.

Nice debut from Ludington

What if Indiana Jones had the ability to travel through time? I have no doubt that was the elevator pitch for Andrew Ludington’s debut novel Splinter Effect. And honestly if that doesn’t get your attention I don’t know what will. Rabbit Ward is a time traveling archeologists. And over the years he’s earned a reputation for being one of the best. Now that doesn’t mean he’s always successful, and now he’s getting a second chance to partly make up for his most disastrous mission where he not only didn’t retrieve the object he was after but he lost his young assistant as well. Of course when it comes to time travel things are never easy. Not only does he have to ensure he doesn’t mess with time enough to cause a splinter effect, but it turns out he’s not the only one in the past gunning for the ancient holy relic. Not only do I enjoy a good Indiana Jone-is archeological adventure, but I’m a sucker for a good time travel adventure. So this book was right up my alley. This is one heck of an impressive debut. Ludington does a fantastic job of bringing the past to life, making you feel as if you are in the ancient city of Constantinople. A fascinating storyline, good action, and interesting characters made this one an absolute delight to read. And as I also had the opportunity to listen to the audio version as well, narrated by the talented Roger Wayne, it was a pleasure to listen to as well. I hope this is only the first of many adventures to come. I’d like to thank St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Splinter Effect, and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to and review an advance copy of the audio version as well.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R39Q9X16YTUI11/ref=pe_123899240_1043597390_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Thank you Minotaur books and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copies of Splinter Effects.

I went back and forth on this one, but in the end, I really enjoyed it… and now I need book two like yesterday.

This book started sloooow. And I don’t just mean it took too long to get to the action (which it did), but the early chapters themselves were so boring.They do lay the groundwork for how time travel works in this universe, but I think it could have been done more efficiently without losing impact. That said, I’m chalking it up to this being the first book in a series.

But about 40% through, it got reeeeeal good and I completely lost myself in the story. When it ended, I was like WHAT?! because I needed more.

So if this book sounds interesting to you, give it a shot—and don’t give up after a slow start! It’s worth sticking with.

Audio: Roger Wayne is an easy listen, and his voice felt like a great fit for the main character. Definitely a solid choice for audio.

The premise of this book really intrigued me - a time traveler working for the Smithsonian, who goes back through history to recover artifacts before they are lost.

Rabbit is one of those time travelers, and he's still reeling from losing his young partner Aaron on a previous trip to find the great Menorah, a trip that failed. During a recent trip he ran across a fellow time traveler Helen, who is working for a rival, and who is determined to prevent him returning with his finds.

After a few failed missions, he expects to be sidelined, before a benefactor offer to fund another trip to find the menorah. This trip is the focus of the book, as he and Helen form an unlikely partnership to try and retrieve the artifact while others are willing to kill for it. As neither trusts the other, they constantly try to outmaneuver each other.

There are a lot of characters, and a fair bit of action in the book. Lots of historical facts and figures are shared, which to be honest I found distracting. I started to struggle to keep everyone straight and sort out which information was important to the plot.

I loved the premise, but it didn't quite hit the mark for me.

I listened to the book, and I liked the narrators voice. I think they did well to make the characters as distinct as they could. You certainly got the sense of urgency and the feel of the time in history from their presentation.

Rabbit Ward, a time traveling archeologist, travels through time on sponsored trips to recover ancient artifacts before they are lost forever. His latest mission is to recover the menorah of the second temple, the one he lost on assignment 20 years ago with his hot headed mentee, Aaron. Tracking back to 6th century Constantinople is not without its dangers, but he will have his redemption if he succeeds.

Science fiction is not something I dive into a lot, but when combined with historical fiction, I’d thought I’d give it ago. This book has been characterized as a time traveling Indiana Jones, and I would have to agree with that. Plot definitely takes a front seat in this action packed book sprinkled with historical characters and conflicts. I enjoyed the history lessons and atmospheric feel of being transported to the Roman Empire in the 6th century. The time traveling aspect was not overcomplicated so it didn’t feel too science-y. Overall an interesting read for a weekend.

Archeologists that time travel? One of the main rules of time travel is to not alter history. If history is altered,  an alternate universe is created referred to as splinter effect. Rabbit is an archeologist with tge Smithsonian.  The concept of Rabbit is to travel back, located treasures, and hide them from destruction, so the artifact can be located by future archeologists.  He encounters a foe that foiled a previous trip, they are both seeking the same artifacts. There is a pretty cool sequence that involves the hippodrome.

5 stars

Than you to Macmillan audio for the ALC. The narrator ad production quality was top notch

Splinter Effect by Andrew Ludington is an ARC I was able to read immersively. I need to thank Net Galley, MacMillan Audio, and St. Martin's Press (Minotaur Books) for my advance copies. The narration on the audio book is by Roger Wayne - and it is really well done. This is time travel and historical fiction. Rabbit Ward, our main male character, is saddled with a desperately terrible name. He is an archeologist and a time traveler. He travels back in time to ancient lands and times to retrieve artifacts that have been lost to time. Here is the key - he can't bring the artifact back with him - everything in the past must stay in the past - he has to hide the artifact in a location they can find and when Rabbit returns to the present, he lets them know the location and they dig and find the artifact. That's all well and good, but something terrible happened on one of his trips to ancient Rome, and, for his last few jumps, someone has known what he was going back to retrieve, and stolen the artifact from him. Now his funding is drying up and he needs to figure out how to turn this situation around. There is a lot of history in this story - traveling to save scrolls from the Library at Alexandria and a menorrah from Constantinople. It's a blend of historical fiction and science fiction, and I thoroughly enjoyed this read. This book comes out March 18, 2025.

Splinter Effect is a time-traveling science fiction story. It reminded me of the short-lived (but great) TV show Timeless (after reading this book, I want to rewatch the show).

I was intrigued by the premise: an archeologist who can travel back in time. I'm sure there are archeology finds that we have gotten wrong as to its function or relevance (e,g, a priceless piece of pottery to us was the equivalent of Tupperware in its time). So it would be really cool to go back in time to understand the period. However, Rabbit Ward isn't just going back in time to understand the items found. No, he is going back in order to find the artifact.

If you are looking for an action-adventure story, then this is definitely a book to read.

I enjoyed the world-building in the story. There were enough details to understand it without feeling overwhelmed. Details are also sprinkled through and not just dumped all at once so that helps with the understanding. Ludington relied on some already known time travel rules that will be familiar to readers (I'm pretty sure Ludington watched Timeless too or at least the same materials in building his world). I liked how he handled changing to the future (or not) by traveling to the past.

There are two adventures in this book. One is the search for a menorah. Ancient history is not really my time period but I still enjoyed the story. I won't tell you about the second adventure as that is a bit of a surprise.

I enjoyed the narrator Roger Wayne. I did have some trouble with following the story. There are a lot of characters to meet both in present day and in the past so while it took me a bit to keep the characters straight it wasn't because of the narrator. He did a great job with all the voices. Listening to this book took a good bit of concentration.

I'm not sure if this is the start of a series. Everything is wrapped up in the end but there is some wiggle room at the end for a new adventure. I know if there is a sequel, I would read it as I think there is a lot more that can be explored with the characters.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Saturday -

You say Constantinople, I'm there. You can take a girl out of Istanbul, but cannot take Istanbul out of a girl. When I see my beloved city, the capital of 3 empires, as a main character in a story, I'll wistfully sigh first (for not being there now) and then start flipping those pages like it's my job.

Splinter Effect is the sci-fi version of Indiana Jones. Rabbit Ward is the archeologist hopping from time to time to look for long lost wonders of the world and bring them to our time. He seems to have less capitalistic ideology in his search for these artifacts, but not everyone who could do the time hopping shares his objectives. His presence did not appear to tweak the history at first, but it sure impacts his own history and relationships. He lost a mentee in his search for the menorah, but he didn't know whether people really die or get lost in other times. This question and many other like this initiate a new series of events Rabbit might or not like.

I can see this book turning into 4-5 book series (or maybe more, who am I to say?) with so many missing magical and mystical artifacts got lost in the history. I'm sure Rabbit Ward would love to continue playing Indiana Jones in Dan Brown like settings and I would be interested in to see where he will go next.

An archeological time travel adventure featuring a harder Indiana Jones type MC and a mysterious female antagonist as they compete on their hunts for historical objects. The story isn’t bad, full of interesting but suspect pseudo science on paradoxes and ethical quandaries, but I felt like it had been done better a few times over. You can still enjoy it for its historical tidbits and action sequences but if you’re looking for something really entertaining, try Jodi Taylor.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my copy. These opinions are my own.

Splinter Effect: if a significant change is made by a time traveler, another universe is created, one that splinters off our own timeline.

I like a really good time travel story and this one sounded like a good one. The summary made it kind of sound like a time traveling Indiana Jones, which is a pretty good description. Rabbit definitely has that whole Indiana Jones vibe going on. The book summary pretty much lays out the whole premise for the primary storyline. What it doesn’t say much about is the secondary storyline where 20yrs ago, Aaron, a newbie time traveler, got left behind and stuck in 455 Rome.

In an alternate universe, there are now laws that allow time travel under certain circumstances. However, because of the tremendous expense, the only people who can afford it are groups of extremely rich people who only fund expeditions that will benefit them in some way and almost none of the time travel that is done is for research purposes; Aaron’s parents are among this group. Rabbit’s reputation as a successful time traveler (he has experienced yet another failure) is basically over until an anonymous benefactor has agreed to finance another trip to obtain a renown Jewish artifact, the same one that Rabbit and Aaron tried to obtain 20yrs ago. It’s here that my armchair detective pretty much narrows in on two potential suspects.

Most of the story has Rabbit traveling back to 535 Rome to try and obtain this Jewish artifact – again. There are obstacles everywhere and those who are determined to see Rabbit fail – again. One of those would be Helen, who foiled Rabbit on his last unsuccessful trip. They form a tenuous alliance to obtain the artifact, but there is absolutely no trust whatsoever so they are trying to outmaneuver each other the whole time they’re working together, which is pretty much the whole second half. I was so far off the mark!

There is so much going on from the war between the Christians and Jews, and the tenuous alliance between Rome and Constantinople and the search for the Jewish artifact as well as the hunt for Rabbit by a gang of Christian defenders. Throughout the story, Rabbit is constantly reciting a boatload of obscure historical facts about the locales, people and time period that would probably be unknown to anyone but a historian. History buffs would probably love this kind of story. I found the constant info dumps kind of interrupted the flow of the story and the characters activities at those moments. Then again, I’m not a historian or much of a Greek/Roman history buff.

The character development for Rabbit was pretty good, and ok for a few other characters, but really thin for the rest making most of them nothing more than talking heads. The pacing was steady to fast and the storyline intriguing. The writing was ok, I guess, not terrible. Although, I did really enjoy the ending, which left an overall good feeling and a smile on my face. I’m looking at an overall rate 3.8 that I will be rounding up to a 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley, St Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #StMartinsPress #MacmillanAudio #SplinterEffect

Andrew Ludington's Splinter Effect is a thrilling debut that masterfully intertwines time travel, archaeology, and history. The narrative follows Rabbit Ward, a Smithsonian chrono-archaeologist, as he ventures into 6th-century Constantinople to recover the long-lost menorah of the Second Temple—a quest that previously cost him dearly. Ludington crafts a fast-paced, inventive adventure that will captivate fans of history and puzzles alike. If you're seeking an exhilarating journey through time filled with historical intrigue and enigmatic challenges, Splinter Effect is a must-read.

This was an extremely fast paced action packed book, but sometimes a bit too much. There are a lot of plots to keep track off and it got a bit confusing at time. I really enjoyed the historical descriptions. It brought these ancient cities to life. Rabbit himself was pragmatic and kind of fond of deadly situations. While the premise was good, I did check out times, as the book got tedious.

Roger Wayne kept the momentum going with his narration.

#netgalley #splintereffect

I enjoyed the audio version of Splinter Effect, a time travel for a purpose book. "Rabbit" Ward's job is to travel to ancient cultures and hide treasures, such as books from the Library of Alexandria grabbed and hidden prior to the fire. As with all time travel books, there are some things to attend to. First, one cannot do anything that would actually change history. One must return to the present from the exact place of arrival. Some of the times visited are inherently dangerous. Rabbit is not in great standing with his employer because, after being pressed to bring the twenty-something, well-educated and smart son of very wealthy donors, things went south. Rabbit and Aaron were set upon and Aaron got captured and carried off. Rabbit had to leave him and Aaron's parents, once very friendly to him are naturally furious. Funding is affected. Rabbit is totally ashamed. And, he also failed to secure a famous and already ancient menorah for a future find. The novel opens with a mission meant to restore Rabbit's tarnished reputation by taking another shot at securing the menorah. However, he has competition, a female privateer who has caused him issues in the past. I am not one to read a lot of fantasy but seem to be a time travel geek. This scratched that itch nicely, with a variety of fun twists, scary stuff in ancient Rome and challenges faced from other time travelers with different priorities that are at odds with Rabbit's mission. It's a good, adventurous story with a number of twists, some fun characters, many near misses with violence and one less of a miss and more of a getaway story. The narrator was enjoyable in this audio version. I recommend Splinter Effect as an enjoyable escape worth your time.