I really hated listening to this book. Not that the audiobook was bad; without the audiobook, I don't think that I would have gotten past part one.

Like many fans of the Inheritance Cycle, I was super excited to read a new book by Paolini. Unfortunately, this was not a book for me. I disliked the main character, hated the generic romance, thought the aliens were basic, and was unhappy reading it. As you may be able to guess, I didn't finish this book. I struggled through the first 53.6%, and just don't want to put myself through 15 more hours of this book. Now, I know that a lot of people are enjoying this book, and I was hoping to as well. It is hard to like a single POV book, with a main character that you dislike. In detail, I didn't like that our main character (I can't remember her name) was lovesick in a way that seemed unrealistic to me. As the story progressed, I never started to like this character.

I'll still read Christopher Paolini's next book, and am thankful to NetGalley and Macmillian audio for allowing me to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Solid 3 stars.

I was really looking forward to Christopher Paolini’s adult sci-fi adventure, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. While not one of my most anticipated releases, it seemed to be a solid read with a female lead that I hope would be redemptive for Paolini’s previously poor portrayal of women in his Eragon series.

However, I was slightly disappointed with this book.

First, the good.

It was a solid and interesting story. The world-building was meticulous, and it showed that the author spent a lot of time researching and fitting everything together. The characters were diverse and mostly interesting, though some of the diversity felt a little forced. My favorite character was definitely Gregorivich. He was funny and snarky and intelligent and troubled, and I think his character was made even better by the narrator’s portrayal.

Now, for the bad (or, at least mediocre).

In terms of inclusive characters, I felt almost like the author was trying to check boxes. Lesbian couple, got it. Asian woman, got it. Indian man, got it. And on top of it, they felt more like caricatures rather than fully-developed characters. As a whole, I felt that the characters were underdeveloped. In the beginning, we have this whole relationship between Kira and Alan, but it feels superficial, and I found that I didn’t really care about them.

Now, let’s talk about Kira. Oof. As I mentioned in the beginning, I was excited that Paolini chose a female lead since I could count on one hand the number of female characters in his Eragon series. However, there were times (quite a few) where it was painfully obvious that Kira’s voice was written by a man, especially when she waxed poetic about body autonomy. For example:

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

While I agree with the sentiment, it ended up coming off very heavy-handed, and it feels like an overcompensation. Kira in general was also not a great character. She was often whiny (more so in the beginning). As the story progressed, she became this person who wanted to constantly put herself in danger to save those that she cared for. This also felt like an overcompensation of the “strong woman” trope. Beyond that, the author rarely let actions speak for themselves, instead making a point to tell the readers that Kira was strong rather than letting her actions show this.

I also wasn’t a fan of the format, in two regards.

(1) The chapters being broken up into smaller sub-chapters/sections made the writing choppy and cut up the action of the story. It made it feel fragmented and disjointed and took away from the story by the need to constantly stop and read a number (worse with the audio version, because at least when reading, you can skim over the chapter headings). I did read an interview with an author and found that this format was deliberately done in an attempt to keep the story moving along, because he could jump around, but I don’t think it worked well, especially in audio format.

(2) It was much longer than it needed to be. The story often felt meandering, and there was a lot of repetition. My other favorite example is, whenever Kira would rehash a story or update someone on a situation, it would be “so she explained” or “Kira updated them on the situation” or “she explained her whole life story as concisely as possible” or some such. I know it’s a common thing to do, and there’s only so many ways to describe an event without boring your reader, but the repetition of the same phrases over and over was grating. I wish I counted how many times these similar phrases were used, because that was probably my second least favorite part of the book (the first being Kira herself).

It’s weird, but when rereading my review for The Inheritence Series, I similar qualms: the main character, the portrayal of women, the lack of inclusivity, and the idea of motherhood. I will say that the author definitely has refined his voice, but it was still not as refined as I would have liked it. I guess this is why I don’t typically like SFF with female leads by male authors.

All-in-all, even though I have a lot of gripes with this book, it wasn’t a bad read. Like I said, the story was interesting and felt fresh, and it was apparent that a lot of thought and planning went into this work. I also really liked that it was a standalone. Although Paolini said he might write books in this universe again, this story was complete, and I appreciated that. However, I think it could have done with more editing to parse it down. Also, maybe someone to make Kira not so obviously written by a man?

In terms of the narration, it wasn’t bad. The narrator wasn’t my favorite, but she wasn’t the worst; she was solid. I did really like her Greg, though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

As an avid reader who is desperately trying to be a better audiobook listener, and hearing rave reviews about this one, I requested it without looking too much into it. Thanks to Macmillan Audio & Netgalley, I received an ALC & the ONE thing I have to shout out is that in PAGES it is almost 900 pages long, and I just had no idea when I started listening that it would take so long! I was shocked, and then to realize it was a science fiction / fantasy which is outside of my normal reading zone - definitely one of those #bookstagrammademedoit titles!

32 hours is a SERIOUS commitment, especially for a reader like me, so I definitely had to listen and come back to this title quite a few times, but overall I enjoyed the book but did struggle with the Netgalley Shelf app - it definitely impacted my feelings about the title.

Read via the 32 hour audiobook. In which, even after all that time plus some weeks sitting on writing this review – I still don't have any strong feelings for this book either way.

Truth be told, I think readers who are ready for a space opera and are willing to give it time will admire this much more than I. Whereas, those like myself who were expecting a more condensed version of a fun space sci-fi adventure will be thrown overboard.

Though that's not to say that there's no saving qualities to reading this. As I just said, I'm merely neutral. In my opinion, the best bits of this book are within the action and fighting scenes that Paolini so meticulously crafts, and so we are thus rewarded with some really superb moments. Honestly, some of these were the best I've read in quite a while. So whenever such a scene came up I found myself glued to my seat and fully immersed in the happenings. Additionally, it spared no loss in gory detail. Bones breaking and flesh ripping. I cringed but couldn't look away.

But outside of that excitement, I found the main character to be extremely bland. I felt no passion from her and had no passion for her. And for a hot second, I thought I might have to endure a romance between her and a character we meet later. Which was not the case, thank goodness. (yay for non-romantic friendships and storylines!) Meanwhile, it's truly all the side characters that steal the reader's affection with their range of attributes and personalities. Granted a few were more or less your common stereotypes or tropes. Yet, nonetheless I always gravitated to them more. Whereas Kira, our protagonist, only worked as a shell for those other characters to shine through since she was more inadvertently only left to react or interact with them. Case in point, she's only ever "funny" when she's with the "funny" character. Even the literal crazy ship head had more spunk than her.

Exhaustingly, since she is our main perspective there's no escaping the drawl of her inner thoughts and narration of the day to day things. Which adds up to this insane page count. Which? I really don't know if I needed all 32 hours of this audio or 800 hundred some odd pages to tell this story. Hence why I said before that while I do think this is perfectly marketable to those niche few who are ready for such a space opera and have the time to engross themselves within it – the more casual or unaware reader might not be so thrilled. Especially since it'll feel like you'll read on forever only to not actually get anywhere.

Also, there's a new sense of body dysmorphia in this book. Birthed in this possible future from human's reliance on computers and advanced medicine to heal all matters of injuries and even regrow lost limbs. So when Kira sees burn scars or other common deformities she's quick to be disgusted or put off by them - even though later she keeps her broken nose. In futuristic terms, I understand what Paolini was striving for, but in ways of inclusion for readers who may have such attributes, it riddles them down to being ugly. So maybe we could have had Kira's reactions to such matters toned down a bit? It wasn't like she was all that into beauty appeal to begin with.

Also to hear a man describe period pains was laughable. I just....yeah...sure.

However, in speaking to the overall storyline, I think Paolini did well to build up this world and distant timeline. The ending also brings it full circle and almost makes Kira's blandness the entire time make sense.

So, the takeaway? If you want more or less a journal of the day to day things in the midst of an alien war with new friends and new enemies, this is for you. If you were hoping for something quick and easy, maybe hold off for a bit. Either way, the book isn't bad nor do I regret it.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Kira Navarez works on a team setting up new planets to be colonized. While setting up one such colony, she discovers an alien relic. She is elated by her discovery until the dust around her starts moving. Soon, Kira and the rest of humanity find themselves at war with not just one but two different alien species. Kira's whole life is changed by her discovery, and she might be the only person with the chance to save humanity.

Paolini's latest work is far different from the Inheritance series, but it still showcases his brilliant storytelling. Jennifer Hale was fantastic narrating the audiobook as Kira. If you get really into the world built behind a story, the appendices at the end of the book will give you tons of details into the universe Paolini has created for this book. The open ending of the book gives me hope that he might come back some day and right a sequel. I would also love to see spin-off books about side characters such as the Entropists. This is a must read for sci fi lovers!

Clocking in at almost 900 pages, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars definitely requires a chunk of your time. This sci-fi epic tells the story of Kira Navarez, a 23rd century xenobiologist. She works as part of a crew that visits various planets to help establish new colonies. While on one such planet, Kira discovers an alien artifact, and from that point on life as she knows it changes. She is suddenly in a situation where she has the fate of humanity in her hands.

OK, I know a lot of people are fans of Paolini's Eragon books. I read the first one and was not a fan. But, I decided to give this book a try since it was a different genre and more targeted at adults. While I did enjoy this more than I liked Eragon, I didn't love this book. The first part of this book was kind of slow for me and it took me awhile to get into it.

It reminded me quite a bit of a number of other books that I've read, mainly [book:Dawn|60929] by Octavia Butler, [book:Binti|25667918] by [author:Nnedi Okorafor|588356], and [book:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet|22733729] by Becky Chambers with a dash of [book:2001: A Space Odyssey|70535] for good measure. Admittedly I am not super widely read in sci-fi but I saw definite influences in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. The book has themes of loneliness, what it means to be human, and the value of the life of one over the life of many.

<b> What to listen to while reading...</b>
Sea of Stars by Jennifer Hale
Space Song by Beach House
Blackstar by David Bowie
Warning Call by CHVRCHES
Solitude by M83

I have to be perfectly honest here - i couldn't get it finished - it is very, very long.. I found 35+ hours to be too intimidating - when i listen to a book, i like knowing there is an end, and this didn't seem to have one. Also, i lost my place and i couldn't find where i left off, so i gave up.
Not that it wasn't good - if sci-fi is your favourite genre, you would probably love it. the narrator was really good, as well. the story was interesting if somewhat long-winded at times. the descriptions were well written and the characters were deep and multi-faceted.
if you have time and patience to dedicate 35 hours to this, more power to you! i have deep respect for you!

This cover is absolutely amazing! I'm seriously in love with it.The colors and imagery are so dynamic and beautiful. What's even better is the fact that this is a great book.

The flow of the book is great and the world is both immersive, yet, not overpowering. I can see the places described, but I'm able to use my imagination to fill in the blanks. I love that in a story. The brief glimpse that we are given of the crew in the first chapter is fitting and imaginable. I like the different personalities so far.

Kira, the lead character, is extremely relatable and her emotions are so human and real. I'm excited at the prospect of following her on such a massive journey through space. That's an important factor as well since this is an eight-hundred and eighty page tome of a book. Seriously, you gotta love a character to follow them around for that long.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy of this audiobook!

I have never read/listened to a book by the author so this was a new experience for me so was lobstering to a 30 hour long audiobook. Typically I would NEVER listen to anything so long however since the story became interesting from the start I was happy to continue on. As I love sci-fi and space and a good story I thoroughly enjoyed this despite the length.

Very good narration. The story was okay. Lots of profanity that really turned me off from the story. I did finish but not as enjoyable as I hoped.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for giving me an audio copy of this book for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When I heard that Christopher Paolini wrote a Sci-Fi book I was on the fence. I really liked his Eragon series and I wanted to give it a chance; however, I have never been interested in space opera books before. Then I watched a live stream of an interview and when I saw him talk about the book I just knew that I had to give it a chance. I preordered my physical copy and then later found the audiobook on Netgalley and I just had to get it.

When you look at this book it is very intimidating but be assured it is well worth it. This book is a standalone so no worries that by picking this one up you are committing to something bigger. This book is a slow burn story. Yes, there are some action-packed scenes however, for the most part, the story stays at the same pace. Personally, I really enjoyed that I am this is a 32-hour audiobook so the constant pacing was welcome. Plus Jennifer Hale was an amazing narrator.

I felt that this book gave me everything a book this size should: serious content, humor, companionship, and everyday life. I never felt like I was missing something.

Now in regards to Sci-Fi tropes and themes, I can not help you there. This is the first “space” book I have ever picked up so I can not tell you if they are done with new spins.

All in all, I really liked this book and it is something I can see myself going back and picking up again.

If this book interests you in any way bite the bullet and pick it up. I think you will enjoy it.

I'd call To Sleep in a Sea of Stars a mix between Prometheus and Arrival. It's heavy on the science fiction side, so if you appreciate minutely detailed world building and technical space travel, you'll appreciate the universe Christopher Paolini has created. There are new species and religions which are interesting and complex. The characters are very grey and nothing about the story is predictable.

Our main character is somewhat adopted by a rag-tag team of space travelers, which I've learned this year is one of my favorite tropes. I enjoyed these supporting characters immensely and I would have loved to see more of them and less of the aliens that the plot focuses on.

I only have two complaints about To Sleep in a Sea of Stars: the length and the ending. This book is a tome. In my opinion it was too long in some areas. Our main character can't enter cryo, so she's awake by herself during months-long interstellar travels. As a reader I felt almost sleepy reading through these chapters, and I didn't find them necessary. And the ending was a major disappointment for me for reasons I can't fully explain without spoilers, but it was anticlimactic and unsatisfying.

Having never read Eragon, I went into To Sleep in a Sea of Stars with zero expectations. Although this novel was not a stellar read for me, I'd still like to dive into Eragon one day as I've only heard great things about it.

I was provided a free copy of the audiobook by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The audiobook quality was exceptional and easy to listen to.

This book was sci-fi to the MAX! I highly enjoyed the world-building and thought it was easy to understand and follow while still adding that element of sci-fi. Paolini did not disappoint in his quest telling story, but I wish it had been a bit shorter for time restraints of reading.

The only thing you need to know is I spent 30+ hours on this audiobook and I wouldn’t have done that if I dint like it. The story is simple - for the main course we have Kira saving Earth colonists from annihilation and for the side, we have some SciFi fantasy fictional elements!

Honestly I had my doubts because Eragon was an epic fantasy and this one is more scientific and futuristic. But Paolini showed he can do it both!! And the narration was great. They have picked the correct voice to keep the listeners intrigued for 30+ hours! This will be a more enjoyable read if you love SciFi.

Thank you Macmillan Audio, Netgalley and Author Paolini for the arc in exchange for an honest opinion!

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

Guys, this cover art! Stole my heart and then when I read the synopsis, i had to have it. I was so excited when i got the email from Netgalley that I was approved!

I loved this book. The atmosphere was everything I wanted it to be. I loved the plot and storyline in the book. I loved the characters in this story. It gave me all the feels I was looking for when I started reading this. I highly recommend this author. I loved the writing. I will be looking for other works in the future from this author.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a new epic novel from Christopher Paolini (30+ hour audio book). This sci-fiction story takes place in a galaxy far, far away where humans have expanded. Kira is a xeno-biologist on a planet planned for terra-forming. On her final outing on the planet she comes in contact with an ancient xeno that then attaches to her. As a result new alien species come looking and attacking. This is a novel of fear, survival, and finding ways to work with others that you have never met before.
I had never read a book by Paolini before and I found this one to be enjoyable, even though it is long, and would enjoy reading more.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini, 880 pages. Tor Books, 2020. $30. LGBTQIA
Language: R (558 swears, 61 “f”); Mature Content: R; Violence: R
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
The morning that Kira and her fellow scientists are preparing to leave the station they’ve been at, Kira discovers an alien artifact! She has dreamed of finding further proof of sentient life other than humans, and now that dream is a reality but not in the way Kira imagined it. Very quickly, finding the alien artifact becomes the worst thing that has ever happened to her -- and the human race.
This futuristic story includes all the good things about sci-fi: fascinating alien creatures, mind-blowing technology used casually in everyday life, and extraordinary space battles. While the weight of whether the human race will survive or be completely wiped out burdens the characters and readers throughout the book, Paolini finds balance between being reserved and humorous -- I found myself laughing out loud several times. My least favorite thing about this book is how whiney and repetitive Kira is, which started to really get on my nerves by the end, but even that annoyance was deemed worth it as the vision that Paolini had for the stellar ending unfolded before me. The battle of good versus evil felt relatable and enlightening as Paolini gave the readers as much internal resolve with Kira’s inner demons as he gave external resolve. I could read it again. Note: The audiobook is long, but Jennifer Hale does a phenomenal job of bringing each character to life and makes it worth it. The mature content rating is for alcohol, nudity, innuendo, and sex. The violence rating is for blood, gore, and death.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

I recieved access to an audio copy of this book from NetGally. I loved this book so much I ordered my own copy of it. I love Christopher Paolini's writing style. I have been hooked ever since his Eragon series came out and have passed my love of this author onto my children. I can't wait to read more by this author.

CW: Death, Violence, Men Writing Women, Loss of a limb

I have to admit that it took me quite some time to formulate my thoughts on this book. When I was in High School, Christopher Paolini's Eragon was taking over. Christopher Paolini was a household name, and I enjoyed the first of the Inheritance Cycle series. So, when I saw this book was offered up on NetGalley as an Audiobook, I knew it was for me. I requested right away and slightly regretted it when I saw how long this audiobook was. I tend to have a maximum of 15 hours when it comes to length, and at 32 hours & 30 minutes, this book was very obviously over that 15-hour max.

Science Fiction and I have a weird relationship. I hated how logical it was, but I've found that I can enjoy it with the right author. Luckily for me, Christopher Paolini was the right author. Christopher Paolini knows how to write characters. I loved seeing the different personalities mesh. Though, I have to admit there were a few scenes that made me do a double-take. I primarily read women authors, so it was incredibly apparent, with a weird almost masturbation scene & the constant fear of being unlovable, that a man wrote this book.

The plot itself was fascinating and kept me completely immersed though it did drag at times. I personally feel that this book would have been better chopped up into three books. The plot was incredibly intense, it was constant action, but there were a few places that would have been the perfect place to end the book. The one thing that kept me going was the narrator, though. Jennifer Hale was phenomenal and genuinely acted out each character with precision. Her narration is the only reason I kept going after the 32% mark (which should have been the end of book 1).

All in all, this was an immersive book that was a little too long for my liking. The plot and characters were incredibly well done, but it definitely should have been cut into smaller books. I will say I loved that the author researched so much about the book's science. Christopher Paolini truly stretched himself and grew as an author. I recommend this book to anyone who wants an EPIC (and I mean epic in content and length) science fiction.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
Christopher Paolini

Christopher Paolini is a tour de force and this former child prodigy fantasy author can now count himself among the great sci-fi authors like H.G. Wells and Isaac Asimov with his latest an absolutely, literally out of this world piece of literary science-fiction a mix of epic space opera, fast paced thriller and a coming of age story plus a love letter to the resourcefulness and relentlessness of humanity. From the beyond the imaginable technology to the incredible characters to the astonishing world building he does an amazing job of making his impossible storyline plausible and techno geeks and regular Jills and Joes alike will understand his content and context, will get his innuendos, enjoy his puns and will LOVE his characters, especially Kira. Kira as the main protagonist is brilliant, she’s flawed, adaptable both soft and forceful and many times her intuitions saves her and her teammates butts, but sometimes her fears get her in trouble. The crew from the Wallfish all come in as close seconds as favorite characters each one with his or her strengths and weaknesses. Readers beware because even though this novel is a behemoth at 880 pages or 32 plus hours in audio its fast paced and full of information so pay close attention because you won’t want to miss a single thought or action. Fans of classic epic science-fiction will find this instant best-seller impossible to put down and fans of Christopher’s Inheritance Cylce have no fear you will recognize his writing style but it as he have matured into something truly special. Listeners don’t miss the author’s note at the end where he hints at novels to come and his conversation with his exceptional narrator Jennifer Hale.

Narration:
Jennifer Hale does an outstanding job on this epic and lengthy saga her clear enunciations vocal range and ability to flawlessly change characters and sometimes species is unparalleled and her skill in displaying the emotions of the characters is absolutely incredible. And to think this is her first audio book, I hope there are many more to come. Brava!!

Just as Xenobiologist Kira Navarez and her survey team are getting ready to lift off from the uncolonized desolate planet they were tasked with studying to see if it could be inhabited she’s sent to investigate a strange signal. What she finds when she literally falls down the rabbit hole is an alien artifact an alien bio-suit called the Soft Blade that kills her fiancé and half her team as it fuses with her. An alien artifact that the more she learns about the more questions she has. An alien artifact that may either be the end of civilization as she knows it or the savior of the human race. Little did she know this discovery would not only alter her life but also change the course of history.