Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook and reader copy of Splinter Effect by Andrew Ludington in exchange for an honest review. This book had all the making of a great book, time travel, adventure, light romance, humor, history, but I found it hard for me to get into. For me it was just a good book, but I might pick it up in the future and try again, sometimes I'm just in the wrong place to enjoy a book.

This was an absolute action-packed novel from start to end. It gave me Lara Croft meets Indiana Jones vibes, and I wish there were more books like this! Time traveling back in time is common and Rabbit (nickname for Robert) goes back in time to Constantinople to find an ancient relic and hide it so people in the future can reclaim it. First, I absolutely loved the historical references and wish that I can go back in time to brush elbows with generals, leaders, and philosophers. The book was atmospheric and also felt a bit like a Dan Brown novel featuring Robert Langdon. Rabbit knows his history very well and cannot mess with major events. I am a bit jealous of Rabbit because he got to eat and stroll around markets. However, there are twists and turns, and I am definitely not envious of Rabbit. Such an amazing novel!

(4.5 stars)
I love a good time travel story and I love reading about ancient civilizations and archaeology (I even thought about majoring in that, back in the day). Add in a significant amount of Jewish interest, and you have a trifecta. So Splinter Effect was a perfect book for me

“Robbit” Ward is a chrono-archaeologist. In Splinter Effect, there are ways to time travel back to a specific time and place. Chrono-archaeologists use this technology to go back to a particular point in history right before a significant treasure was lost (lost to history or destroyed). As the book opens, Rabbit is in Egypt in 48 BCE, as the Alexandria Library is being burned by Julius Caesar. Rabbit is there to save some manuscripts, plays by Sophocles, that were lost forever in that fire.

Rabbit’s “white whale” is the lost menorah, stolen, along with other treasures, from Jerusalem by the Romans and immortalized on the triumphal arch still standing in Rome. His efforts to retrieve the menorah before it’s lost to history form the bulk of the story. Much of the action takes place in Constantinople in 535 CE. In addition to the search for the menorah, Rabbit is consumed by the tragedy of losing his young partner, Aaron, twenty years earlier, in an ill-fated attempt to retrieve the menorah during the sacking of Rome by the Vandals in 455 CE. He also seems to have a rival at many of his “excursions,” a woman he refers to as a “stringer,” someone who isn’t funded by the government, the way Rabbit is.

This is a strong debut by Andrew Ludington, and I hope that there will be more adventures for Rabbit in our future.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook and to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

An interesting historical fiction adventure set during the 580s AD and the search for a missing menorah. "Rabbit" is the present-day agent who goes back in time to find it. He has to deal with warring factions, bad bookkeeping, and time-traveling competitors. To me, the story was occasionally gripping and occasionally snarky/funny. By taking the middle ground, it did neither adventure nor humor exceptionally well. 3.5 rounded up. A better historical time-travelling tale is Connie Willis' classic, Doomsday Book.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @MacmillanAudio, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #SplinterEffect for review purposes. Publication date: 18 March 2025.

OH MY GOSH I FREAKING LOVED THIS BOOK. Sorry to shout. Actually, I'm not. I'm going to shout about this book from the hilltops until I get everyone I know to read it. Time travel? History? Murder? Intrigue? Mayhem? What is not to like?

As soon as I saw the phrase "time traveling archeologist," I knew I had to bring this debut novel into the store. Dr. Robert "Rabbit" Ward is from the Indiana Jones school of archeology. There's a lot of artifact hunting, enemy evading, and running for his life. And in between, there are big action sequences and hints of romance. There's also the exotic travel of an Indiana Jones film, but the travel isn't just to a place, but a time. Mr. Ludington does a great job with both the action and the history elements of this first book in a series. He's also created several compelling characters. Given the premise, I imagine there are some we'll never see again, but other's will definitely be back.

I was worried, as the novel's end drew near, that we'd be left on a cliff-hanger. Fortunately, that was not the case. Splinter Effect comes to a satisfying conclusion, but it's clear that there are many more stories to be told in this world. This was pure fun, and I can't wait to see what Rabbit gets up to next!