I was given an advanced copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

I will start by saying that I have not read any of Christopher Paolini's previous books so I was going into this one with no expectations.

This story sounded AWESOME and I was really excited for it. The novel was quite interesting with the different species and worlds and just deep space and futuristic, all things I love! At the same time, this novel felt WAY too long and way too descriptive at times when I felt it was not necessary. I often got lost in this novel and did not retain pages worth of reading because I just got bored. I feel like this did NOT need to be as long as it was. If this was made into a television series or on Netflix I think that I would love it because visually this could really be amazing. This definitely touched on bits of sci fi and space that I love and felt akin to the Alien and Predator franchise and of course Star Trek and Firefly. I feel bad in saying that it was just so long and it made me quite bored. Maybe if I hadn't read it through it would have been more interesting? At the same time, I feel if it is that easy to put down a book maybe it's not for me? Again, so many positives about this....just too stinking long!

Content-wise this book is a complete departure for Paolini fans. It's hard scifi which is completely different from the fantasy world he is known for. Structurally and thematically the plot and characters are familiar enough to be comfortable - you definitely get Paolini's style from them, especially in the characters. This book is decidedly more adult than his earlier works. It's a very rich book and well written, he explains in the acknowledgements how long it took him to write and you can see the care he put into it. It's serious but still fun and you fall in love with the characters. In terms of comparisons to known and beloved scifi I am more familiar with scifi in the mediums of TV and film than I am books - To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is closer to a Star Trek-esque story than it is Star Wars and I say that as a fan of both types of scifi. But it's still different than other scifi that I personally have experienced. The story opens on a terraforming colony but after making first contact with an alien species it becomes much more space opera in scope but with more hard science and realism than many space operas. The main character, Kira, doesn't just make physical journies through space, she also spends the book on an emotional and spiritual journey. There are three sentient alien races introduced in this novel and each of them is interesting in their own way. The main species is the Jellies and they're unique among scifi aliens in my experience to make a comparison between Star Trek and Star Wars again - think about a hybrid between the Borg from Star Trek and the Mon Calamari from Star Wars and that's what the Jellies seem like. My only major complaint about this book is that there are times where it dragged but it clocks in at over 600 pages and any book over 500 usually has parts where it drags a bit especially between action scenes. But even when it drags there's enough to keep it interesting. If you're into space adventures this is a great one, and if you're into Paolini but unsure about scifi give it a shot I think you'll enjoy it there's enough classic Paolini in it to keep you engaged.

DNF 40%

Having read all of The Inheritance Cycle series, I was curious if I would like Christopher Paolini’s writing better since he was an adult and several years have passed since he wrote these novels. Plus, I was intrigued by the synopsis of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, which sounded like an epic sci-fi story with a badass female protagonist named Kira. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get through this novel. Reading it was a struggle as there were tons of pacing issues, very shallow character development, lots of telling and not showing, strange metaphors, and it suffered from the classic case of a male author not knowing how to write a female. As with The Inheritance Cycle, I also never felt any tension while reading the few what-should-have-been climactic parts of the novels.

I was determined to finish this novel, but I found at around 40% of the way though the galley, I simply could not go on. It took me 8 days of forced, painful reading to get even that far. Though the Inheritance Cycle had the benefit of dragons, which is obviously more to my taste, I found that the allure of the science fiction elements of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars was not enough to get me to finish reading the novel. I found that the novel really didn’t add anything new to the science fiction genre. In fact, the beginning of the novel seemed almost exactly like the movie Prometheus, but more poorly executed. Kira, a xenobiologist is part of the League and of a team that thoroughly researches planets to see if they are habitable for future colonization for humans. Right before she’s about to leave, she researches a strange grouping of rocks, and climbs into a mysterious looking crack of the same unknown material, only to fall right into a dome-like room clearly created by aliens. 

"Her apprehension deepened. It really was the nightmare scenario. They'd finally made contact with another sentient species, but the species was hostile and able to fly circles around any human ship, even the unmanned ones."

Kira is knocked unconscious, forgetting everything that happened to her. The readers remember that the last thing she saw was a black dust swarming her, and choking her. When she wakes, she is covered in an alien suit, and accidentally murders every single one of her teammates with it, including her fiancee, Alan. Kira is picked up by a military ship, and tortured, before they are attacked by an alien race referred to as Jellies--perhaps the most non-threatening name for aliens ever--which destroys their ship. Frustratingly, though she gets in an escape shuttle, Kira wants to save the other survivors who tortured her, in a frustratingly goody-goody move. She has literally no dimension other than to hate how she looks now that she’s bald and covered in an alien suit. She doesn’t give much consideration, except a passing thought not to think about it, to the fact that she murdered the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with and to whom she just got engaged. No PTSD, no guilt motivating her every action, or anything remotely realistic--she has virtually no issues compartmentalizing all the people she murdered and the alien war she started. Laughably, Kira suggests someone else sees a psychiatrist, but never stops to think that she should need one. 

"Just like with--She ground the heels of her hands against her temples and shook her head. Don't think about it. Even if she'd played a role in first contact, blaming herself for the war wouldn't help. That way lay madness."

Kira’s picked up by yet another ship, where she lies about the circumstances of the suit she’s wearing, and the fact that she killed practically everyone on her first ship. She stabs and impales a refugee of the ship who breaks her nose and is instantly forgiven. None of it makes any sense. The crew of the ship, the Walfish, is full of Archetypes rather than actual characters with dimension. There’s the tried-and-true tough captain who takes questionable jobs to put fuel in the ship and money on the table--there’s a buff former marine passenger named Sparrow--think Private Vasquez from Aliens--there's also a ship mind that is supposed to be a Jarvis-like figure and that we are repeatedly told is eccentric--and a bunch of other forgettable plot devices, er, crew members that are ripped from better science fiction media. There's also a pet pig and cat on the ship, and the whole thing feels like a desperate attempt to create a rag tag group of people that will be much beloved, like Firefly, but I simply could not care less about a single person or animal in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.

"Everyone messes up. How you deal with it is what determines who you are."

The constant ship jumping through space, torture, and alien spacesuit may sound somewhat exciting, but really nothing of note happens in this book except in the very beginning. Sure there may be some fights with aliens, but there’s no tension. You know Kira and her alien suit--apparently called The Soft Blade, of all things--will overcome everything and everyone will immediately move on with no lasting repercussions. Get badly injured in a fight with Jellies? Regrow your organs and limbs with stuff printed from a 3D Printer. Most of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is spent flying around on different space ships and deciding where to go next, with Kira convinced she is the only one who can save humanity, while incessantly lamenting that she has to wear the suit, even though it constantly saves her life. She’s shallow and completely unlikable and what men love to refer to as a Mary Sue. I had to laugh when the novel started referring to Kira as the "fury of the stars," as all she ever does is murder people and internally and incessantly complain about every little thing that's happened to her. What's worse is this is the method that the reader finds out about everything in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars--we are told, and not shown, through Kira's internal venting.

"No one--not even the Soft Blade--ought to be to be able to dictate what she could do with her body. If she wanted to get a tatto or become fat or have a kid or do anything else, then she damn well ought to have that freedom. Without that opportunity, she was nothing more than a slave."

The actual point in this novel that finally got me to say “no more” was when I hit the really low point where the classic male author writing a female character became indigestible. The first cringe-inducing experience was when Kira decides to “explore” where the alien suit covers her body and the author tells the reader that she has to stop herself from masturbating due to the weird sensations of the suit--and this occurs right after she escaped torture and you know, murdering her fiancee. Doesn’t really seem like the time to be in the mood. But I thought maybe it was a fluke, so I kept reading. Near the 39% mark in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, Kira starts experiencing pains in her abdomen. We are told by the author that the suit has turned her periods back on, even though she had them turned off years ago, because it thought that there was something wrong with a woman having control over her own body. But it’s great because the author tells us she doesn’t have to deal with pesky bleeding because the suit covers her vagina fully! And if that’s not bad enough, he then goes on to detail to the reader how she can never have sex again, because she’d have to exert the willpower to pull the suit back from her genitals, and then if she lost control, it might cut off the man’s genitals. I literally could not believe what I was reading and how I was reading it.

Why did the author think that any of this was something he should just tell the reader in a TMI info dump? Kira is run through tons of experiments and torture by doctors who want to learn the secret of The Soft Blade. But none of these factors were discovered during these experiments, and the author just has Kira tell the reader. Instead of Kira, I don’t know, maybe wanting to have a baby with her stupidly bland fiancee Alan, who she “made love” with more than once before she murdered him, and revealing that she might not be able to give birth to her dead fiancee’s child due to the suit covering or any kind of somewhat logical plot, we just get dumped this strange information through the narrator, who I already couldn’t stand. I was appalled by how desperate the story was to have Kira be a virginal messiah/martyr figure even though she was murdering people left and right and finally quit reading To Sleep in a Sea of Stars at this point. 

"Kira hated that expression: Homeworld. Technically it was correct, but it just felt oppressive to her,as if they were all supposed to bow down and defer to those lucky enough to still on Earth. It wasn't her homeland. Weyland was."

There just wasn’t anything that interested me enough to keep going. Sure, it was kind of cool that the Jellies used scent as a language, but Kira just knows this because of her suit. There's no mystery or tension as she tries to figure out communicating with her nose. Likewise, the world-building was pretty much an afterthought. We know that affluent humans live on Earth and colonized Venus and are expanding outward in colonization efforts run by the galaxy League, which controls mostly everything. There are some people who choose to worship numbers, others who are great lab researchers and are super weird and call everyone “prisoner.” We know Kira worships a god named Thule, but we never learn anything about it--she just constantly takes this figure’s name in vain. Likewise, Kira grew up on the planet Weyland, but we never learn anything of note that sets the planet apart from other colonies, except that her family still lives there. I would've been interested in seeing how Kira’s upbringing was different from ours or what her education was like, or what a normal life was like in a colony, but nothing like that is ever alluded to, at least in the 40% of the novel I read. 

What's more, is To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is peppered with strange metaphors like “her voice [was] as hard and as rough as broken stone,” that took me right out of the boring story and made me think things like--how hard was the stone really if it broke? Another one that struck me as weird was "without the xeno, she'd be all the more vulnerable, a shell-less turtle waving its legs in the air, exposed before it's enemies." It's so bizarrely specific and out of place in a science fiction novel to refer to turtles, especially when the narrator didn't grow up on Earth, the home planet of turtles. You’d think in a space story filled with attacking aliens, I’d be more interested in this war than with oddly chosen metaphors, but nope. Sadly, nothing about the writing is on par with other heavyweight contemporaries of the genre. And that fact that To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is marketed as a “space opera” is laughable to the extreme. 

The one attempt at romance, between that of Kira and Alan--who was as bland as the name Alan in a science fiction novel that spans the universe--was so vanilla and basic. Alan is never fleshed out at all, except as the perfect guy for her, who was also nerdy and seemed to anticipate her every want and need. When he proposed to her, she instantly responded “Yes, a thousand times, yes.” Not only does literally no one talk this unnaturally in real life, it’s repulsively and saccharinely trite and unoriginal. The rest of the dialogue was similarly artificial. I will give the author kudos for trying to add diversity to his story by including a lesbian romance between the Walfish's crew members, but with the caveat that it was a pre-established relationship that wasn’t elaborated on at all and was kind of just thrown into the novel for giggles or to fill the diversity quota.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars was just not for me. I couldn’t get past it’s portrayal of the female protagonist, lack of tension, the pacing issues, very little character development, lackluster dialogue, and strange metaphors with an insufferable heroine. I think the only people who will enjoy To Sleep in a Sea of Stars are going to be superfans of either Christopher Paolini, or people who indiscriminately adore any and all science fiction novels.

As many are, I was excited to read this newest work from Paolini. Having read the Inheritance Cycle when I was younger, I was ready to see an improved writing and world building experience.
I was disappointed.
While the overall plot had potential, the execution was just not there. The writing is unimaginative, the characters had very little depth, and the length was tiresome.
I had little to no connection with any of the characters. There was never a time that I felt drawn in and worried about their fate. As the same thing happened over and over, I started hoping for something dramatic to happen, which never did. The devices used to learn the little we do about each characters seemed forced and disjointed.
The plot dragged, was repetitive, and full of mass info dumps that did little to progress the story. At almost 800 pages, I really had to force myself to finish.
The small element of “romance” involved is cringe worthy. There is by no means any romance in the book, but the two moments that relationships are in focus, I felt like it was still a 16yo writing.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for providing an early copy.

4.5 stars

I'm an avid Paolini fan. Probably a bit obsessive when it comes to the Inheritance Cycle. So I was curious to see what the mind behind Alagaeisia would do once given a whole universe to play with. Boy, I wasn't expecting this at all.

Firstly, I had no expectations going into this book other than it's Paolini, so it'll be good writing and characters. From the beginning, I had no clear idea of where the series would go, and even in the middle, I didn't. This series is one massive twist after another, and the poor characters don't get a break.

I found Kira to be a fascinating character, dealing with things way far outside what she ever imagined to deal with, and yet, at some point, accepting that this was her life now and simply rolling with the punches as best as she could. I don't feel like she had huge amounts of character development, but I also didn't feel like she needed it as she was a well-developed character all ready. This is a very introspective book, so you get a lot of time in her head where she puzzles through all of what's going on, but it doesn't feel like the plot is being paused for that to happen. The way the story is written, there's a natural flow as to when Kira, or other characters, have really slow, introspective moments.

I found the universe as a whole fascinating and well-developed, though that wasn't too much of a shock considering how well-developed the Inheritance Cycle's world and lore are.

The only real stumbling block for me was the science. I'm not a science-y person. Those were the classes in school, second to math, that I struggled with the most. I can understand the concepts, but don't try to explain it to me too much because at some point you're speaking another language. This is probably why fantasy typically appeals to me more because it doesn't have to be rooted in reality. The level of scientific/mathematical detail in this book is staggering. I do not doubt that Paolini actually spent 4 year studying as to whether or not the science in this was even plausible. You can see the research carefully structured into a way to make this book work with how the ships move and function, as well as everything else. This isn't a "press the warp drive button and we zip off" type of book. This is the "okay, everyone get into cryo, and sleep for 3 months because that's how long it's going to take to get to Planet A to Planet B" type story. It feels real and tangible and very much like this could literally be the world in 2300. Also, side note, but I love how 3D printers were in this and used. Just super cool.

As a whole, this is a great story. It's a chonk, and it'll take time, but it's worth it for the adventure and mayhem.

I read the excerpt galley first, and absolutely fell in love. But when reading the full text, I felt almost dragged along, reaching for the initial interest and excitement. This novel is a fun read, but not one that easily absorbs readers. I plan to listen to it as well to see if that makes it more enjoyable.

My thoughts

Rating: 5

Would I recommend it?yes


Would I read more of this author? Yes in fact he writes one of my all time favorite series The Inheritance Cycle Series

WOW just wow , I can't put into words how good this I just couldn't stop reading it ,it just came out of nowhere and bam I was hooked. It had every thing i could want in a SCI fi book: a bit of romance , space trivial , aliens, space battlers and the fate and humankind in the hands of one person. This definitely a win for Christopher Paolini and it just might be right up there with his The Inheritance Cycle Series . Can't wait to get my hands on the book Once again thank you so much Tor books for inviting me to read this.

Space nerds rejoice! Christopher Paolini’s space opera is a grand adventure, and you can tell that he had enormous fun writing “To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.” The book is not too cerebral or nerdy on the surface; Paolini put all the weird science in Appendices I and II so that you can take a deep dive if so inclined. You should not read this book without consulting “Appendix III, Terminology." As for the bizarre dream sequences, hang in there: all will be revealed.

Xenobiologist Kira Navárez hopes for a happily-ever after with her fiance on a faraway planet. Instead, while Kira is exploring her possible new home, she catches an alien parasite which bonds to her and creates a second skin or “suit” with healing powers. The “xeno” says its name is “Soft Blade,” and Kira has become a sort of a combination Venom and Wolverine. Soft Blade doubles as body armor and also has the ability to take her into a hibernation state without the need for cryogenics, which is handy for space travels.

When Kira ends up on board the Wallfish with a temperamental motley crew of space smugglers, she and her symbiotic Soft Blade lead them on potentially deadly missions, fighting alien races that are hostile to humans and to each other.

This is a miniseries-ready novel. In fact, Paolini went ahead and wrote the whole miniseries. It seems overlong in parts, and there are multiple names for the same thing, even accounting for human vs. alien vocabulary. This is me trying to find flaws, however; my patience with some of the slower chapters was more than rewarded by space hijinks galore: annoying bureaucracy, a sly Wodehouse reference, funny dialogue, steamy romance, epic gory battles, and artful brush-strokes of characterization that made me slowly fall in love with every last Wallfish crew member.

I particularly adored the AI Ship Mind, Gregorovich, who never says a word when 20 words will do. Gregorovich was once accidentally marooned in space for five years and is a bit. . .off.

Just when you think Kira has reached the limits of Soft Blade’s powers, she makes more discoveries, each more amazing than the last. The ending of the final mission was not at all what I expected, but I found it to be very original and moving. As it turns out, the universe can’t just be saved once and for all.

Most highly recommended for fellow travelers through this universe who don’t like to take themselves or their books too seriously.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher and was encouraged to submit an honest review.

When I finished this book, I texted my friend and said "I should title my review 'I was right to not read Eragon."

This is a book with not a lot of interesting stuff going on. The characters are dull, the locations are dull, the plot is unoriginal and tired. It got to the point when I was reading towards the end of the book I thought it was getting interesting and then I realized that I'd read this sort of stuff before.

I wanted to like this book, but it just didn't work for me. If you enjoy Eragon, you'll probably like it.I would not be shocked if this wins best SF book 2020 on Goodreads.

This has been a long time coming. The way I see it, this book had a lot to prove the world. The Eragon series success that the teen- CP garnered, could it follow him into mature adulthood after he became better acquainted, not only with his craft but his likes and dislikes? Many things change, tastes in reading especially from when we are younger. So getting to read a book by the adult CP is a treat. I want to say that once I undertook the journey of reading this book, I understood what an immense labor of time, energy, and love that is this story. It is memorizing; captivating and very hard even now to fully grasp the thought provoking feelings that this story leaves you with. So prepare yourself for a journey.

Let me lay some things down up front about this book.
1) It is an epic odyssey across time and space unlike anything I have read that I can remember (I read a lot, too). This puppy is 801 pages long. Around page 200, there was so much going on and I thought "How can there be more to this story?" But there was so much more to happen. This story isn't really a "Space Opera" as romance isn't a key theme. Think of it as a space odyssey and buckle in.
2) Wipe Eragon from your mind. That was then, this is now. Don't let it cloud your thoughts. Only think how much CP has grown since then.
3) Don't get attached to ANY of the characters. You will find out very early on in this book that everyone is expendable (sadly for the betterment of the story). CP holds no love for any one character, especially if it means sacrificing the story, so be warned.
4) Kira is a scientist through-and-through. It may seem at times that she is heartless or emotionless, but she is coping the best way she knows how given the situations she is in. As a scientist myself, when I get overwhelmed it is easier to shut-down the emotions and not think about what can't be controlled and focus on what I can. That is what Kira is doing. She is falling back on her 'scientific brain' to get her through this war.
5) Kira is not a warrior so keep in mind her first thought is to run or hide, to freeze or throw her hand up to keep away. She is constantly fighting herself to be something different this whole book.
6) CP did some intense research to make this book great. This book takes place in the stars, interstellar space. You will learn more about space than you probably remember from school thanks to the amazing amount of research that when into not even world-building because this is more, it's interstellar-space-building.

Alright, with all that being said. I hope you would like to hear more about this book. Let me see if this can put you into the mindframe I was in while I was reading this book - think Bastian, with the blanket over his head, hunched over the book while he was reading Atreyu's story in The NeverEnding Story. That was how riveted I was while I read this book. I barely ate or slept. I ignored my family talking to me while I was reading it (I think they finally got the hint and stopped including me in conversations). I had to finish this story. It has become my own story somewhere along the way. I couldn't keep but be invested with the characters, with the story. I needed to see it through to the end.

This book has epic space battles, aliens the likes of which I would have never imagined, and imagery that brings worlds and space alive. It's a fine line between the science and the fantasy but he does such a good job balancing it with facts, so for those of my fellow geeks out there, I hope you enjoyed that side as much as I did. 😘. He is definitely putting the science back into the Sci-Fi genre, especially when as of late it has been Sealy lacking.

CP is merciless to his characters. He could have made is easier for them, even a little (I found myself several times saying that other authors would have given their characters 'that' win, but no not him). He is constantly dealing the deck against them. It is a constant all-out war, high-stress situation he places his characters in. There is no reprieve, no easy-going, no 'I'll give you this one'. This is way and CP hammers these characters relentlessly non-stop from the being of the book too the end. You will curse him and shake your fist, but that is a mark of a good story. I'm sure I won't be alone in thinking that there were points in this book, battles, that CP could have said 'alright, this is good enough.' Did the man stop there?!? Did he want a 'good enough' book?!? Hell 😜 no. He wanted an EPIC science fiction space odyssey and he got it. Ask yourself when was the last time you became so into a story.

Now for some of the negatives. Though I don't think they take way from the book as a whole, so please keep in mind I'm just wanting to give a well-rounded review. The dream sequences tend to get very enigmatic at times and can meander a ways until you forget what they are about. . . Ah, what were we talking about. Any good, they are sometimes so far between sequences that you don't remember if there was even a point to needing to know about the dream in first place. Even now I don't know if all of the dream sequences where needed, resolved in the waking world. They are the hardest part to understand and read due to the POV and I feel some are more powerful than others, but not all were important. As someone who who lives and breathes science, I enjoyed what learning about the science behind why something worked, but I don't know if everyone would (even if it is only a blurb in the book). It make some people weary about reading the book.

Overall, this book has given me faith going back into the realm of space again if CP decides to continue in this genre. The world of SciFi better watch out because this story will instantly became one to be known as a standard in Science Fiction.

On a side note, see if you can find the Eragon Easter egg hidden amid the story 🤔

** I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. **

It has been 10 years since we have seen anything from Paolini and while this is what we could have hoped for i expected more. He has shown us in the past that he can create wonderful characters but these felt stiff. maybe there were too many of them to be flushed out properly or something but there was something off about them. there might have also been to much detail. I understand that he was building a new world and technology but i kept getting bogged down. we shall see though as my ARC was only part 1

I was commissioned to write music for the book and came to read it very early on. TsiaSoS is a great Sci-Fi book that feels more sci than fi. Paolini really tries to make the world, the characters and the science believable, and he exceeds at it.
It is a giant book, but it is such a joy to read, that you don't realize you just went through 200 pages.
Highly recommend this book to any sci-fi fans and especially to those who like Mass Effect, Halo, Alien and other franchises of that style.

I really wanted to like this book and have been looking forward to it from the moment it was announced. However, it is long and feels that way with slow pacing that makes it feel like a slog to get through. The premise is interesting and the beginning starts out great with quick set up enough to make me like the characters and then events that turn everything upside down and make me want to keep reading to see how it all turns out. But then the rest of the book is just. so. slow. I like the characters and I like this futuristic world, but the pacing takes away all suspense and I feel like I'm spending too much time with them. I get it, space is big and it takes a long time to get anywhere. I get it, aliens are intimidating and the unknown makes people suspicious and hesitant to act rationally. But every other space opera I've read (which is a lot at this point) has dealt with those issues in ways that still make me intrigued and eager for more. This book had enough to make the long read good enough to keep reading, but halfway through I was already exhausted with it. Still, it had to have some things that made me keep going and for me the unanswered questions, what ifs, and cast of characters I cared about made it worth finishing. I'm not sure who the ideal reader is for this book. If you are new to sci-fi, do not start here or you'll be bored and give up on the genre. If you love sci-fi, you might be like me and keep thinking of books that do this better as you're reading. But if you enjoy space operas and aliens, this book will give you everything a good sci-fi book has with a mysterious discovery, space battles, new worlds, hidden agendas, bad politics, quirky ship crews, and humans finding new alien species.

Wow!! This was an epic read.

The story shoots out the gate at top speed. It has a fantastic, breathtaking plot that has a sci-horror feel in places, which I simply adored and admired. The alien aspect was utilized to perfection, unknown, terrifying, and fascinating.

The characters are real and well drawn. I easily and immediately bonded with Kira, which made everything even more intense. She is my kind of hero. The crew of the Wallfish also won me over. I loved the way everyone interacted.

But that end... so much love. While this can work as a standalone, I'm greedy. I need more, crave it, hope it comes soon.

I liked this science fiction novel - quite a change from the Eragon series. Personally, I thought the ending fizzled, but a good book overall.

First of all I have to say I am so glad for Paolini's determination and drive to write this story. I usually have a love hate relationship with science fiction. It intrigues me but a lot of writers make it so heavy and over complicated. Paolini had the perfect balance. He draws you into Kira's world and his character development kept the pacing moving effortlessly. Never did I feel like I was reading an 800+ book. I just was so sucked into what would happen to Kira next.

This book was like if Alien's met Venom but with more feeling. This book has a lot of action and is definitely intense but it had a lot of heart to it. I am giving To Sleep in a Sea of Stars 4.5 out of 5 stars. My .5 mark off of it being 5 stars was I wanted the ending to be a little more descriptive or visual but it still was fantastic. I highly recommend this!

Xenobiologist Kira Navarez travels to various planets for the Lapsang Corporation dreaming of making contact with alien life. However, when she does find an alien relic, it leads to a frightening metamorphosis that takes her across galaxies. She makes enemies and allies who are believable and add to the story. She doesn't know who or what to trust and neither does the reader, which keeps up the suspense.

Finally, after months of fear-mongering in my own brain, I tackled the Goliath of my TBR pile--To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, the new space-opera sci-fi from Christopher Paolini that comes in at 880 pages, including an extensive glossary. It was...daunting, to say the least. I don't read much Sci-Fi, or space stuff, but I remember liking Eragon back in the day and I   requested the dang thing on NetGalley...so I felt like I had to read it. It took...awhile, and it was a lot of work to keep my motivation up as the percentages slowly ticked by, but I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! Again, not a space person, but I liked the story! It was interesting, Kira was compelling, and maybe I learned some science stuff?

Let's start at the beginning shall we? Kira Navarez is a xenobiologist in a near-future society in which humans have branched out into space. Kira is as human as you or me (with some nice augments, of course) but has never been to Earth. She's working for a company that does something akin to pre-colonization research & prep on new locales, and she's about to blast off from her last assignment when he ends up discovering a strange formation. When she falls in....things go south quick. When she wakes up, back with her crew, everything has changed. An alien biosuit, of sorts (called a xeno), has attached itself to Kira, and it's going to change her life. The suit is powerful--maybe too powerful--and after it lashes out and hurts the ones she loves, Kira finds herself both on the run towards and from the military. But then, things get complicated with a new form of aliens make contact--and they appear to be hostile. Things are not what they seem in space though, and Kira's suit may just be the cause and the cure to everything going wrong. Interstellar war isn't a cakewalk, but along the way, Kira travels far and wide, meets up with a fascinating crew aboard the Wallfish, and there is much more to her xenosuit than she ever realized. The universe will never be the same. 

Okay, I'm not going to critique any science parts of this, because for one, I was an English major. Also, that's not why I read books--I'm not taking notes so I can also go into space, ya know? But I did like the story of this! Kira was compelling, flawed in the right ways and stubborn, and I loved the cast of supporting characters. Especially Mr. Fuzzypants, the ship cat. I don't read a lot of sci-fi, so I can't say how it compares to similar books, but I still enjoyed the book, even if I was overwhelmed by its size. Gregoravich was a really fascinating character to read as someone who doesn't do sci-fi too!  

One thing I do want to talk about is pacing and structure--because this book was 880 pages but somehow did this so well. There are six parts, each with chapters inside of it and mini sections. It kept you from getting bogged down in one thing or another. I love a good short chapter, and these weren't that short, but they were super manageable. Also, the problem with existing in space is that getting places can...take a while. And following along while people float in space for six months is boring, right? Not here---because Paolini uses the "exeunt" sections and Kira's immunity to cryo to his advantage and makes it interesting and reflective but doesn't dwell in it too long--not long enough to bore us or make us want to skip those parts. 

Overall, I give this book 4 stars! I'm not going to start reading all the sci-fi back log now, but it's cool to see Paolini back in the swing of things, and I will definitely recommend this book to space and sci-fi lovers!

Wow well this was fun. I haven't read a lot of sci fi and aside from the length, this is a great intro to the genre. I felt like concepts were explained really well and they didn't take over the novel and make me feel like I needed to be back in school. Lots of nonstop action until the end where things lagged a bit, but the story had a decent wrap up. Not sure how I feel about the main character's fate but we'll see.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini is a great space opera. I found the book to be fast-paced and exciting. The battle scenes which are often too drawn out are manageable and exciting without becoming tedious.

Kira, the main character, finds an alien relic on an uncolonized planet. This first encounter with alien life is complex and is both exhilarating and life-altering. She evolves from a xenobiologist to a young woman encapsulated by the alien skin that she needs to learn to control. Initially, she is not able to harness the skin’s reflexes and slowly learns the discipline necessary to control her newfound power. As she encounters new friends and travels to other worlds she learns the good and bad of her new powers and the limitations it places on her life. As readers, we feel her struggles and sympathize with her predicament.

She falls in with a motley crew of space privateers, who become her new family. She is placed into the position of the savior of the universe while dealing with her body’s changed reality. The growth of the character, Kira, is the driving character force in this novel. She is the most fleshed-out of the characters. Along with the ship’s brain, named Bishop, she develops as a character and is an interesting personality. Most of the other characters are interesting and as we learn their backstories, we gain an understanding of how they came together as a crew and friends. They are not developed fully and do not change as Kira does.

This is a plot-driven novel and the lake of great character development is acceptable. The story is not entirely predictable but is comfortable in the direction if heads. The plot twists are not epic or confounding but more enjoyable than puzzling or challenging. I found myself reading this pretty fast and enjoyed it a lot. This is a book that I recommend and believe will find an audience that may not normally read space-oriented sci-fi. The author’s notoriety can draw new fans to this genre.