I got swept away in a Sea of Stars for 33 hours and I have no regrets. I rarely say I could use MORE of a story, but this one... bring it on. I really hope this turns into a trilogy as it should in all things space odyssey. After 33 hours, I expected to be fatigued and lose interest in the plot and characters. There were a few times I may have dozed off metaphorically while listening to the audiobook, but I was always awoken to some new twists or some crazy scheme or action series. The plot never stayed dormant for long and it did well in moving the timeline along. I am not the same reader who fell with Kira at the beginning that I am now as I float amidst the stars with her at the end. Her character growth through trials, death and navigating alien terrain is awe-inspiring. I think she's the kick-ass heroine that every space odyssey needs! Did I mention there's space pirates who have a PIG as a pet? Yes, there is a space pig in this adventure and it makes me love the story even more. (There's also a space cat if pigs aren't your favorite spacy animals to have on your ship).

The ideas of the tech and science in the future were well thought out and the potential to explore the vastness of space pulled me in. The idea of a ship mind was intriguing. I also super loved that this novel didn't steer away from tragedy and it really didn't have too much of a romance angle. It was pretty gruesome in parts. Kira discovers a new "alien" species. It doesn't go well at first contact. Despite personal tragedy, Kira preservers and dominates politics, social issues and the expanding universe. Kira's "crew" is diverse and while morally in the grey, they have her back through smoke, fire and across the known universe trips.

This novel has the potential to be the new Star Wars. I could see it as a movie as I was reading it. I may have already cast actors and actresses as different characters.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
Narrated by: Jennifer Hale
Publication Date: September 15, 2020
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Description from NetGalley...
“Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds. Now she's awakened a nightmare.

During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope . . . “
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Thank you to @NetGalley @macmillan.audio @torbooks for the audiobook ARC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts...
This was over 30 hours of listening time. The narrator was really good. Jennifer Hale had an amazing array of accents, intonations and sounds. She made this super long book worth listening to. The story started well and interesting enough. The world-building was amazing. The descriptions of the world, the fights and the general surrounding made me feel a part of the story. However, I felt that the book did not need to be so long (over 30 hours or over 800 pages). There were a few areas where it could have been shortened, where nothing much was happening. A few philosophical thoughts fell flat because of general musings that accompanied it. Overall, I enjoyed listening to this epic audiobook, action packed albeit space opera-esque. Reminiscent of 2001: Space Odyssey. The audiobook had a couple of extra hours bonus of appendixes, Paolini and Hale.

I don’t even know how to begin to explain how amazing this space opera is. The audiobook is perfection. The narration is spot on and the voice from Gregorovich is everything. Seriously, that AI had me in stitches. That and Trig doing all the Newt puns. I loved it!

There is humor, action, love, mind bending physics, epic battles, redemption, ugh it’s just so damn good. YES, this is a clunker. It’s over 800 pages. Yes, even the audiobook takes 30+ hours. BUT these will be some of the best hours of your life. If you like space, intricate alien technology, sarcasm, romance, and action you will love this. OH and you better love adorable space pigs and recalcitrant AIs. The ending is a little open-ended so will there be a sequel? Will Kira continue her mission? We shall see!!!

I liked this so much. Really big sci-fi like this is hard for me(I’m smart but like, not THAT smart), it’s never been a genre I really seek out in books. But Paolini is a favorite, and he delivered here. I'd been looking forward to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars for so long, and wanted so much to love it. I'm really happy that I did.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a very different from Paolini's previous books, but still has that same charm that is unique to his writing. The ending was fantastic, big and exciting and with the same outside-the-box thinking I now expect from one of Paolini’s endings. It is a very long book, and while I do love me some long books, there were definitely slow moments in this one. That said, it never felt unnecessarily long. Everything felt like it was written with purpose. And maybe it's like I said, heavy sci-fi tends to go over my head, so that was almost definitely a factor at play here for me. The fact that I liked this one as much as I did is a sign that Paolini did a great job of taking heavy sci-fi and making it accessible to readers like me, who maybe don't want to have to think too hard while reading.

The characters are the true backbone of this story. They’re so good, so unique and driven and just fun to read. I loved Kira, she reminded me a lot of myself in some ways so I was really able to latch on to her and her story. I've seen other reviews call her boring and I just didn't feel that way about her at all. That's the beauty of books and their characters, they can reflect so many different aspects of ourselves. Where others may not see themselves in Kira, I did, and many others may as well. And Gregorovitch! My favorite, characters like him are the sort of characters I live for. I loved all of his little quips and quirks, he really added something special to this ensemble cast. Character relationships were excellent. At first I was worried about the romance side of the story, because, well... it's a bit cringe-worthy in the first few chapters. But after reading the whole book, I'm almost sure that was intentional, because it got way better, to the point where I definitely had a ship and definitely would have been upset to not see it set sail.

I both read and listened to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, and enjoyed both. I think the story really lends itself to audio, and the narrator was excellent. If the size of this one intimidates you, I would very highly recommend the audiobook.

I can’t wait to see where the Fractalverse goes from here. I think To Sleep in a Sea of Stars laid a fantastic groundwork for more space adventures. It's a book I can definitely see myself revisiting in the future when I'm in the mood for a fun romp through space.

If you've ever wondered what a single Doctor Who episode would be like if it lasted 32 hours, this book is your answer. It's very clear to me that Paolini was writing a script for a future movie/series adaptation. You might enjoy this book if you really like YA Fantasy. I don't. Paolini spent a ton of time researching how spaceships and FTL travel would hypothetically work, and forgot to make the story interesting. I predicted the ending about 400 pages in and I really didn't need to read the other 500.

I don't usually annotate while I'm reading, but this time I had to because I kept having to stop reading to stare into the void. This book starts off great. I was having a good time. And then Paolini decided it was a good idea to have the protagonist be disgusted by someone's burn scars and I just???? Are we really going to describe, in detail, how repulsive she finds them? Apparently, we are. And then she goes on to say that she doesn't understand why they kept the scars when they're so easy to remove. I don't know how to make authors understand that people with scars EXIST in the real world and calling them disgusting is fucking rude and nasty. People with burn scars are going to read this book and I don't see why they should be made to feel disgusting. These scars are later on, of course, part of the extremely cliché tragic backstory of the character. Who is a stereotype. You're also going to hear about how losing a limb would be absolutely devastating if it wasn't because they can be regrown. Which, you know, they can't be IRL, so if you're missing a limb I guess your life must suck. And of course, the bad guys have deformities, because the villain with a deformity trope hasn't been used enough and we need to perpetuate that. It had a very ableist vibe that bothered the hell out of me.

And then there's the couple of times when gender is assumed to be a binary by two different characters. This book is set in the 24th century. The attempt to seem woke later on falls flat.

This is a plot driven book. If you're expecting depth or a personality from any of the characters beyond "overenthusiastic teenager", "butch lesbian who fixes things and doesn't like you to touch them", "sarcastic smartass AI" or "broody and jaded Captain of a ship with a tragic past and a big heart", you're going to be disappointed. None of the relationships among the characters are developed in the text except for one, and it's just... nothing new or exciting.

The space opera genre is exploited for all it is worth. It's an endless battle with really nothing interesting happening. You get blow for blow descriptions of one battle after another, and you're going to know exactly what hurts, the weapon that was used and by whom, where that specific enemy ended up after the protagonist hit them, what happened to their body, how she stepped over it, and the way that the metal felt in her hand when she opened the door. I like descriptive books a lot. They're my favourite. But this was entirely too much of a good thing. This is in contrast with the periods in which they're travelling and the protagonist has to spend three months doing nothing in a spaceship, other than advancing her Jedi training. This happens several times.

The alien language was a cute concept in theory but it didn't work well in practice. And it's probably less irritating in written form but the format of the conversations was repetitive AF and it was horrible to listen to.

The philosophical discussions attempted in this book were as basic as it gets. There were also several times when the protagonist waited to do something she could have done earlier simply to advance the plot at the right time, and it felt really forced.

To sum up: we have The Chosen One with the Magic Relic, the Wise and Omnipotent Ancient Civilisation, and the misguided current inhabitants of the place. The ending was overly sentimental. And there is taking inspiration from other books because nothing is original, and then there's having one idea about a cool artefact and forgetting to develop literally everything else.

Out of context criticisms so they're not spoilery:

- It's cyanide that smells like almonds, not arsenic. Arsenic smells like garlic
- Why does a xenobiologist know nothing about jellyfish?
- A career in xenobiology apparently doesn't include Religion and Philosophy 101
- Daleks but less evil
- Daleks but more evil
- The Force but it's a Thing
- Nice attempt at a conlang but there is literally no way for a person to speak it without technology
- Take your contacts off????
- A civilisation isn't going to call itself "The Old Ones"
- Literally Galadriel

Narrated by Jennifer Hale, the audiobook To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini is definitely worth listening to. The newest book from New York Times Bestselling author of Eragon is a delightful epic science fiction novel.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars has the scope and complexity of Battlestar Galactica, aliens reminiscent of the 2016 movie Arrival, an impressive ship mind that feels similar to the Pilot on the television series Farscape, and the wonder of the 2014 movie Interstellar.

There’s hope, wonder, and perfectly placed humor amid a story of space exploration and the sudden appearance of alien life. Kira Navárez is a xenobiologist on an uncolonized planet when she stumbles across an alien relic. Her greatest discovery becomes a horrifying nightmare as the relic comes to life and bonds with her.

Kira is a relatable and sympathetic main character, and she is surrounded by a stellar cast of supporting characters. Ms. Hale gives each of these characters their own voice, and handles the complex dialogue with effortless skill.

The audiobook includes original music, phenomenal narration, and an interview with the author and narrator. The book is epic and amazing, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys science fiction, epic space dramas, or the wonder of space exploration.

I had such high hopes for this book. Alas, it was not to work in my favor. Having read nearly 60% of this book I feel that I can give a proper review and share my likes and dislikes.

Starting off, this book was intriguing and had a constant sense of discovery. Or should I say, believable, somewhat scientific discovery. I enjoyed it for the first 30% and despite not loving any of the characters, I thought it would be a solid enough book. But oh, I did not realize how tedious this story would become.

The thrill of alien discovery was short lived. Kira Navarez is bonded with a mysterious xenobyte while surveying the planet Adrasteia. The xeno forms a protective skinsuit of sorts, but it can also be used as a weapon on purpose or even if the inexperienced host becomes upset. This results in the death of her fiance, and several other team members. She undergoes a battery of tests by the military so that they might determine whether the xeno is infectious and she's kept in quarantine. Until tentacled aliens they call "jellies" attack. And then the jellies attack other human settled planets. It's pretty bad and gets worse when another alien species called Nightmares start attacking humans AND jellies.Thus begins the interspecies war. 

It's bad, but I'm even bored typing up the most basic plot summary. This should have been an exciting, action packed book that I adored but it so was not. It was tedious and mind numbing and after a particularly boring card game between Kira and Captain Falconi, I decided I'd had enough. For goodness sake, even the dialogue was dull and Lord knows there was far too much of it. Ceaseless droning and I didn't care about ANY of the characters despite the authors efforts to flesh them out and make them likable. 

This book just did not work for me and I'm tremendously disappointed because I've spent a year looking forward to it. The characters never had more than surface level interaction and emotion, leaving me feeling underwhelmed even after what should have been impacting events. The death of Kira's fiance Alan left me(and apparently Kira) feeling nothing. I quit before I had to suffer through another lengthy space journey where Kira couldn't be cryogenically frozen and spent hours listening to Bach and being hungry. I'll be honest, I'm glad I don't have a physical copy of this book because then I'd have to find someone to give it away to. I was not excited to spend another 10+ hours on this audiobook and now here we are.

I will also note, since this is an audiobook review, that the narration was fine. It wasn't spectacular and it wasn't terrible - solidly middle of the pack.

A gripping adventure in the stars that was brought to us by the man who showed us just how amazing dragons could be!

Paolini nailed this one out the park and I loved the action and adventure that was packed within the pages. Kira’s story is one that will break you and fascinate you all at the same time. She faces perils that I could never imagine but I’m so grateful that someone did because the detail of each facet of this world transported me there as if I was right there with Kira!

The story is long by most people standards but for me it was perfect! I love a story that gives us everything and puts us within its pages! I felt as if I personally knew each character and could feel the emotions playing out on the pages.

I got to listen to the audio and the voice actor was FANTASTIC! The different voices that were created to bring out each character were delivered flawlessly and really added to my ability to keep up with the story and with just who was talking.

If there is one book to read this year let it be this one because thank goodness Paolini is back because I truly missed his work!

Rating: 9.0/10

Thanks to the publisher and author for an advance copy of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars for review consideration. This did not influence my thoughts or opinions.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is simply astonishing. This is the premiere space opera epic of 2020 and is a fantastic adult debut for Paolini. If you enjoy stories about first contact, traversing the galaxy, uncovering ancient artifacts, and a gigantic space battle, this door-stopper is for you.

I’ll go ahead and lead this review by stating a simple fact: I have NOT read The Inheritance Cycle. I have it. I want to read it. I just simply haven’t. Sorry not sorry.
So to say that I went into this 850+ page work of fiction with high expectations based on the author’s previous works is now mute.

What I can say is that I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this novel; so much so that I devoured it in a matter of a couple of days which I feel that I tend to do with such massive tomes (i.e. Wanderers, Seven Blades in Black, A Game of Thrones, etc). Maybe more authors should stick with this “writing an entire story in one massive novel” idea instead of breaking it off into trilogies or longer (or just for my sake, give me the collection up front).

*Obviously kidding as longer series make for anticipation, mo money, and TBRs. Amirite?*

Paolini’s writing itself was part of what I like most. This doesn’t feel like a YA author taking a stab at writing adult fiction (eyes a couple of authors without mentioning names). The dialogue is smooth and emotionally gripping without all the unnecessary language; romance, though somewhat overshadowed, doesn’t involve a whole lot of fluff or fluffing (get it?); and the characters didn’t make me feel like I was too old to be reading the story and vibing with it.

While world-building played a big piece, I really was enamored with the character of Kira Navárez. From the onset, she is your POV. If you can’t connect with her, its game over. Luckily, she was super easy to root for, and I think an emotional hook in the early stages really helped cement my relationship with her. She also meets a litany of characters along the ride toward a dramatic conclusion that help with comic relief, getting Kira out of her own head, and also keeping her on track with the task at hand.

There is a ton to this book, but revealing one of the biggest pieces practically spoils the whole thing. If you enjoy Paolini’s writing, you probably already have this one pre-ordered. If you like first contact stories with galaxy-wide implications, this should be high on your list. Don’t let the page count scare you off; by the time you are finished, it’ll have been a ride of a lifetime.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini is one of the best books I have read this year! Jennifer Hale’s narration is incredible. She has so much rage and brilliantly captures the essence and personality of each character. Kira Navaraz’s life is changed forever in an instant. Experiencing the loss of her fiancé is only the first ripple of change after discovering an alien artifact on a routine assignment. Her discovery kicks off an adventurous space saga filled with deep characters and an emerging intergalactic war that can end all of humanity at the hands (tentacles?) of the Jellies. Am I the only one that thought of Marvel’s Venom as I was reading part 1? There are some similarities but this is a different type of host/alien relationship. So much happening at the start of this epic story, I absolutely loved it! The story is pretty long but there was never a dull moment. I highly recommend this book which will easily be a top pick for book of the year.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow... just... wow.
I have so much I want to say about how amazing and well-executed this book is that my mind can't figure out how to work correctly. I don't think I'm capable of properly expressing how amazing it is, but here's my attempt.
Paolini built an entire universe out of nothing but the magical poetry of words and then took readers along for an intergalactic adventure that always remains focused on the individual. We're always with Kira as her discovery of an alien artifact changes not only her life but the course of history. Suddenly, everything humanity knows about the universe is in question, and a war on an intergalactic scale begins.
There are spaceships, and aliens, and space battles, and bureaucracy, and straight-up humanity, all wrapped up in a remarkable story of individuals coming together and striving to do what's right even in the face of impossible odds.
Great characters and character development, original and inspired mythology, realistic-sounding science, and a plot that flows like a symphony are only a small part of what pulled me into this book and kept me turning pages.
It truly is an inspired entry into the science fiction canon and I can't recommend it enough.

Many happy thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for thee fantastic early listen/read.

I'll be doing a whole video review for this book on my youtube channel in the coming week, but I can break down that review into a few area.

The plot was slow and nothing happened in this book. It could have easily been 300-400 pages, and nothing would have actually been lost from it.

The characters were all enjoyable, I really liked each of them, but there were too many. Each of them had to give us their backstory, after almost no coaxing, and all of those backstories essentially boiled down to "I'm not really a bad person". There were many times I was losing track of who was who, and overall I just wanted less of them.

The atmosphere was the best part. Paolini really build an amazing futuristic society where I wanted to know more about it, but wanting to know more about the technology of a place can only keep you interested in a book for so long.

Overall, not a bad book, just incredible slow and needing a lot more to it to make it a good book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited when I was approved for a digital ARC of this from NetGalley! 880 pages later, I can't wait to buy the book to own this masterpiece. This story was an immersive space odyssey, with interesting characters, fascinating problems, and a mind-bending story arc. Paolini made his world very scientifically accurate, and while I struggled at times with some of the technical explanations, I appreciate all the effort he put into his work. I don't read a lot in the fantasy genre but I loved the Eragon series while growing up so I was very excited to read this one. Paolini is a very talented writer and I cannot emphasize how good this book is! Well worth the nearly 10 year wait since his last book!

Why I Requested This: I was not one who read Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series as a child, but did enjoy it enough while reading it. I was curious upon seeing this series because let’s be serious, fantasy to epic Space Opera is a bit of a different field.

Pros:
The world-building is interesting. You can clearly tell that Paolini took the time to build this world and make it unique. This is a huge-pro due to this being considered a space-opera sci-fi making the world-building a big deal for how this story sinks or swims.
The characters we meet were unique as well. Some did have were obvious story-path stereotype, but they propelled the story.
I really liked this audiobook narrator for this story. I felt like she did an excellent job capturing the feelings the story needs at the time.

Cons:
The story tends to be a bit longer than necessary. Which, was an issue that I saw going in given my past reading Paolini’s work.
It felt a little repetitive at times especially in regards to the action scenes.
It is obvious the main character is female written by a male author, but it’s not bothersome.
The characters didn’t grow enough for me. This is really a minor thing, but I was expecting more since it was a tome.

Overall: Longer than necessary and a bit repetitive, but an interesting addition to Paolini’s works that fans of his will enjoy.

When I saw this new book by Christopher Paolini on NetGalley, I immediately requested it. I loved Paolini's Eragon series. It is an amazing epic fantasy adventure that I still love listening to. This new book is an action, science fiction story told from the female main character's perspective. The story is a space adventure with plenty of plot twists and turns that you don't see coming. I thoroughly enjoy it. If you love action, science fiction, aliens, and space this is a book for you.
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This audiobook was so well done that even thought it's 32 hours long it doesn't fell like it. You fall into the story and get caught up. I had to stop listening to it at work because it just drew me in. I am excited to buy the finished copy and read it to find the pieces I missed.
A great audiobook to dive in and help pass time.

Before I begin my review of this massive book I need to let you know that the cover photo did me in. It's so pretty and I love sci-fi. Then I get approved by Netgalley to listen to the audio book. T'S 36 HOURS LONG!! I've been listening to nothing but this audio book for the last week. As soon as I wake up and before I fall asleep. I didn't think I'd ever finish, but I did and I'm so ridiculously proud of myself.

This epic story begins with our main character Kira Navarez, a xenobiologist, who discovers an alien relic while on a survey mission to an uninhabited planet. Little does she know it's not a relic at all. She comes across a symbiotic parasites who she names the Soft Blade. This alien species is sought after by other alien species. It becomes an intergalactic war to take a hold of and possess the Soft Blade. This story was everything I wanted in a science fiction galactic novel. I really enjoyed the audio book from Netgalley. I'm pretty sure I enjoyed this story that much more because of the amazing narrator. It was full of action and interesting technology, and very strong side characters.

If you like science fiction and have time or just like big books, really big books, I highly recommend this.

I'm not giving this a star-rating on Goodreads because this is NOT my cup of tea so I don't feel comfortable rating it. I have enjoyed the occasional sci-fi book, but more when sci-fi is the backdrop and not the focus. I will say that the romance of Alan and Kira is not particularly believable or entertaining, and it reminded me again why I dislike when men write from a women's perspective. I didn't feel anything for Kira at all, and I didn't connect with her at all.

Another epic book by Christopher Paolini. Although this book is extremely long, a lot of it was character building. The characters themselves were well thought out and well defined except I felt like there were quite a few characters to keep straight in my head. I especially loved Gregorovitch who was a lot more complex and awesome than I originally thought. The story itself was great - and although as I mentioned it was very long, there is nothing I would’ve changed or removed. The book was left open ended so I’m hoping we will get another book or two...

DNF at 50%

Definitely disappointed that this one is going into the DNF pile, but I honestly can't bring myself to get through the remaining 16 hours of audio because this book is just lackluster.

The plot itself was action packed. There is quite a bit of info dumping interspersed, so if you aren't paying careful attention, you could easily got lost in what exactly was going on in the pain. Our MC Kira leaves a lot to be desired. There isn't much to here to feel a connection with. She feels more like a robot than the AI Gregorovitch.

As far as worldbuilding went...there wasn't much. This is more of a space adventure with aliens, which honestly, just isn't for me.

The only redeeming thing in this book is the narrator Jenny Hale. She does a fantastic job of voicing the many characters.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing an advanced listening copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.