Miegoti jūroje žvaigždžių

Fractalverse #1

by Christopher Paolini, Bronislovas Bružas (Translator)

Per eilinę žvalgybinę misiją nekolonizuotoje planetoje Kira aptinka svetimos kilmės reliktą. Iš pradžių nudžiunga, bet kai ją supančios senovinės dulkės pradeda judėti, pakili nuotaika greitai užleidžia vietą siaubui.

Tarp žvaigždžių įsiplieskus karui, Kira leidžiasi į didžiulius galaktikos plotus aprėpiančią, atradimų ir transformacijų kupiną odisėją. Pirmasis kontaktas su kitomis protingomis būtybėmis anaiptol ne toks, kokį piešė vaizduotė, ir įvykių eiga stumia ją link ribos to, ką reiškia būti žmogumi.

Kol Kira bando tvarkytis su ją užklupusiais baisiais dalykais, Žemei ir kolonijoms iškyla sunaikinimo pavojus. Kira, galimas daiktas, tampa didžiausia ir paskutine žmonijos viltimi...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Audiobook, Space Opera, Adult, Space

944 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2020

About the author

Christopher Paolini was born in Southern California and has lived most of his life in Paradise Valley, Montana. He published his first novel, Eragon, in 2003 at the age of nineteen, and quickly became a publishing phenomenon. His Inheritance Cycle—Eragon and its three sequels—have sold nearly 40 million copies worldwide. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars was his first adult novel.

Visit Paolini.net and Fractalverse.net for the latest news about this project and follow Christopher on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

Reviews

[megs_bookrack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upon finishing To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, I leaned toward rating it 4.5-stars and not rounding up.



Admittedly, there were certain aspects I didn't love; some areas where I felt the story dragged a bit.

However, after having time to reflect on it as a whole, this is absolutely a 5-star book for me.



I CANNOT STOP thinking about it!

This novel is quite the accomplishment for Paolini. If I am remembering the Author's Note correctly, he worked on this project for 9-years and it shows.



In the beginning, we meet and follow Kira Navarez, a xenobiologist, who discovers an alien relic while on a survey mission to an uninhabited planet.

The relic isn't as dormant as it first appears and ends up first contaminating and then binding with Kira. This event has lasting repercussions, leaving her feeling personally responsible for some of the negative events that follow.



This is a story of first contact. I wasn't aware of that going in, although it says it directly in the synopsis, I missed it somehow.

I love first contact stories. It's actually one of my favorite subgenres within Science Fiction. It is so well done here, you can definitely tell that Paolini is a SciFi fan himself.



This story is vast. In fact, it is hard to give brief plot points that would sum up the entirety of this novel's scope.

There is so much that happens from the first time Kira comes in contact with the alien suit to the stunning conclusion.

Reading this, I became so attached to Kira and the other characters as well. The crew is the perfect rag-tag group of lovable rebels.



I loved how Paolini incorporated humor and witty banter into this story. It made the characters seem so real; they were reacting how you expect people in real life to react to such crazy and dire circumstances.

I was completely engaged throughout my time reading this. It did not feel like a close to 900-page story. I got through it way more quickly than I had anticipated.



I would note this is straight-up, good old-fashioned Science Fiction. If you are thinking this will be more SFF, based on Paolini's past works, you could be disappointed.

If you do not normally enjoy Science Fiction, you may not like this. If you are a fan of Sci-Fi though, you will eat this up. The delicious science bits are woven throughout. Start-to-finish, the details are incredible.



Also, if you do pick this book up, be sure to read through the Appendices at the end. There's definitely a lot of interesting supplemental material there.

My favorite being a timeline of events that lead up to the state of the world within this story. It basically fills in the blanks between our current world, up through Kira's time. It's not very long, but I found it to be a helpful addition to the story.



The audiobook is especially fantastic, if you think that would be a good option for you. At first, I was thinking, why didn't they go full cast, as there are quite a few characters. After getting into it, however, I could see why.

The narrator, Jennifer Hale, did an absolutely tremendous job bringing this story to life. She is a very talented voice artist and I was shocked to learn that this is actually her first audiobook. Talk about coming out swinging!



I am going to be thinking about this story for a long time to come and would love to read it again someday.

Highly, highly recommend!



Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Books, for providing me with both an e-book and audiobook copy of this release to read and review.

I had so much fun with this story and hope Paolini continues to write Science Fiction for a long time to come!

[Miranda Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kira Navárez has always been fascinated by the outer worlds - specifically, life on other planets.

She's spent her life traveling to the edges of the known universe to categorize and learn from the microbes and other creatures.

Her latest mission? It was pretty routine - go to an uncolonized planet and take notes. Boom. Boom. Done.

But then she stumbles upon an ancient alien relic.

It's amazing. It's life-changing. It's...coming alive?

Joy turns to terror as the alien relic turns out to far more than she bargained for.

And that's even before the war breaks out.

Caught in the cross-hairs, Kira is going to have to make some decisions, and fast, because (quite literally) the whole universe is resting on her shoulders.

Oh my gosh. As a longtime fan of Christopher Paolini and the Eragon series, I was over the moon to know he was publishing a new book.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a far cry from his earlier works (literally) (this one takes place in space!). but it was a welcome addition nonetheless.

Most of my reactions and opinions can be found in my video review this round - but to summarize it: This book is long but it is worth every page.

I loved delving into this world and cannot wait for Paolini's next book (fingers crossed that it comes a little quicker this round!).

HUUUUUGE thank you to Netgalley and Paolini for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review

YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads

[Emily (Books with Emily Fox on Youtube)]

I read this book as part of my "Giving authors a second/last chance" challenge...

I read Eragon as an adult after hearing so many rave reviews but it personally didn't work for me so I wanted to give the author a second chance.

While I overall like the story, the writing didn't work for me and I couldn't finish the book. I put it down at 56%.
First contact with aliens is one of my favorite premises but the book felt too long and the pace couldn't be sustained.

It just wasn't for me!

[Stephanie L]

But the real question is, will there be space dragons?

[MarilynW · Rating 5 out of 5]

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini, narrated by Jennifer Hale.

Winner of Best Science Fiction in the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards.

When I saw the To Sleep in a Sea of Stars title, I wasn't sure about tackling 880 pages. Then I saw that the book was narrated by Jennifer Hale and the fact that the narration is 32 hours and 30 minutes, mattered not one iota. Because I've played as Commander Shepard, in the Mass Effect games, more times than I will ever admit. I'm also familiar with Hale's voice acting as Krem, in the Dragon Age Inquisition game. I jumped on board and proceeded to spend those hours of the audio version, walking and listening. 

This is a long story with over 50 characters to be voiced. Jennifer did such a good job with the voices that I checked to see if there might have been additional narrators for some of them since I could not believe one person was doing all the voices. But it was all Jennifer and I'm going to miss her voice, now that the story is over. 

I rarely talk about science fiction because I'll get it wrong. I just enjoy good games and good books and the key to all the games and books that I enjoy is good characters. I need the characters to draw me in, I need to care about them, and I need them to not cause me to roll my eyes with their thoughts and actions. I was able to sink into this world and to care about Kira Navárez, a xenobiologist, who makes a mistake and changes herself and her life forever, changing the course of the world, introducing a nightmare that only she has the hope of stopping.  

In the course of her job, Kira discovers an alien relic, gets overzealous while observing it, and from that moment on, Kira will never be just Kira. In fact, from this time on, she will always have to fight losing herself to this thing that becomes part of her. Before she can understand what is happening, catastrophe is unleashed, and that catastrophe ripples out from her, wrecking more havoc. There is no undoing what has been done but Kira is now the only one who can save "life". 

Despite the extremely heavy subject matter, there is humor, companionship, and everyday-ness in this story. I hope we can see more of this world someday. As I dealt with my emotions and thoughts from the story's ending, I was so thankful that here was an appendix at the end of the book so that I could listen to definitions and terms from the story, many of them humorous and clever. And then we get to listen to Paolini and Hale discuss the book together and they give me hope that someday Hale will narrate another Paolini story. 

Pub Sept 15, 2020

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.

[Krystal · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ Pg 536 (61%)

I think it's time to review this monstrosity.

Paolini is a fantasy author and nowhere is that more apparent than in this, his sci-fi debut. Stick to fantasy, buddy.

Let me just start with a list of my complaints and go from there.

- Dull and slow from the get-go
- Science is generally pretty light on, unless it's going into pointlessly detailed explanations of something
- Characters are annoying cardboard cutouts
- Frustrating behaviour
- The plot is almost non-existent
- The aliens are a friggin parody
- Tons of inconsistencies
- Just so pointlessly looooooong

*sigh*

Dull, slow, pointlessly long with a non-existent plot
Here is the formula of this story:
Kira, our protagonist, finds an alien super suit. She passes out. She has a weird dream. She wakes. They are travelling to another location. She goes to sleep. She has a weird dream. When she wakes, they are arriving somewhere. There is a fight. She passes out. Has a weird dream. Wakes up, they're headed somewhere else. Another fight. She passes out/goes to sleep. Has a weird dream. ARE YOU SEEING WHERE THIS IS GOING?!

I read over 500 pages of this stupid book and still have no freaking clue what the actual point of it was. I have no idea what was happening because it was all so similar it just blurred together. Honestly, if I had to read one more fking dream sequence I was going to scream. THERE IS NO NEED FOR THIS BOOK TO BE NEARLY 900 PAGES LONG.

The science
Admittedly, I don't read a huge amount of sci-fi, because the science tends to go over my head. However I recently read (and enjoyed immensely) The Salvation Sequence and this is the sci-fi I am comparing this book to.

I enjoy science that goes a little over my head, but in The Salvation Sequence the point of all the fancy sci-fi lingo was explained. For example, there would be a scientific explanation for something like about how energy would be channelled through the Thingamajig which would multiply the trajectory of the Whatchamacallit into the square root of pi or whatever and then it would explain, 'basically, when the Thingamajig went off, the tunnel would be blown to smithereens' (Clearly this is an example not just of what I mean but also of my complete lack of comprehension of some of the science stuff haha). Point is, no matter how lost I was with the science, I still understood what was happening.

In this book, there's actually not a lot of science, despite being set in space in the future. It's all kind of dumbed down, but then it will have a little fit here and there where it goes into a scientific explanation about something and you just have to understand it or you get left behind. I'm not exactly an advanced physicist (shocking, I know) so I definitely didn't get it.

Meanwhile, they nickname the giant squid aliens JELLIES. *facepalm*

Cardboard characters with frustrating behaviour
First we have Kira, who is our saintly protagonist who can do no wrong. Even when she's accidentally slaughtering people she's forgiven, because she didn't mean to, and she feels really bad about it. Also she's somehow always saving lives but don't thank her because she's just doing what anyone else would have done. Honestly, how everyone saw her as a hero constantly kind of mystified me because half the time I had no idea what they were referring to. She seemed to always be causing more trouble. She makes so many stupid mistakes and questionable choices and I just could not root for her. Especially when no one gave her nearly as much crap as she deserved.

Next we have the motley crew, and anyone who knows my reading habits knows I love a good motley crew. But these guys were just SO BORING. They are nothing new: the brooding Captain who everyone loves and respects and who our main character is definitely going to bang at some point (mercifully I didn't get there but I guarantee it happens eventually), the gruff sidekick who is actually more kind and considerate than you'd expect, the tough, quiet one with a soft spot, the feisty warrior one, the joker ... and honestly again they all blended together because they were so unoriginal I didn't give two craps about them. I hope they all get blown to pieces in a grand finale. (Tell me they do and I might reconsider finishing this book.)

Among all of this is a handful of terrible jokes and a little bullying on the side which I can only assume is both an attempt to lighten the mood but also teach people that bullying is wrong. (Thank you, Mr Paolini, for pointing this out to me in your super wise, realistic, science fiction/fantasy novel. I am so moved by this completely random message.)

Honestly, THIS IS A TRAINWRECK OF A BOOK.

The aliens and the inconsistencies
So the Big Bad are aliens which apparently look like giant squid and our protagonist and her squad take to nicknaming them Jellies. Because why call them squids, right? Also, even though Kira and her squad have come up with this nickname, it is coincidentally the same nickname EVERYONE IN THE UNIVERSE picked and chooses to use - even after knowing (or even ONLY knowing) their actual species name. Because 'Jellies' just represents such an intelligent, malevolent kind of vibe, right? How am I supposed to take this threat seriously?! I just kept thinking this was actually set deep in the ocean with mutated sea creatures. Maybe it would have made for a better story if it had been.

Concluding thoughts
Essentially, this is a fantasy novel, set in space, featuring evil sea creatures and it just DOES NOT WORK. There's so much being crammed in but there's not really a plot to drive it or even tie it together neatly. It's just a mashup of a bunch of ambitious ideas.

Imagine this: You decide you're going to let out this massive scream, right, so you draw all this air into your lungs, you're sucking it back, your chest is expanding, it is going to be a scream heard throughout the world, and then when you finally open your mouth ready to unleash this scream ... you let out an involuntary huff of breath - 'ah'. THAT'S THIS STORY. The ultimate disappointment. It is a world built of scraps and falling apart at every join.

My feelings toward this book perfectly sum up my feelings toward 2020: I was excited, had big plans, expected great things, and then as soon as it started it was falling apart and it just got worse and worse and more and more frustrating and now I am just overjoyed that it's OVER.

With thanks and apologies to the publisher for my ARC

[Maryam Rz. · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.5 ★’s) No, there are no space dragons—there are space squids instead. And my general reaction to this mammoth is:

“Eat the path, or the path will eat you.”

Christopher Paolini has been sitting on this book for about a decade and man, it shows. No, I don’t mean a glorious Paolini-sized dent in the physical copy but on everything sci-fi and epic and action about To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, which is the majority of it. This man just killed it—seized it by the throat and throttled it, to quote my favourite ship mind Gregorovich.

“I screamed, though I have no mouth to scream. I wept, though I have no eyes for tears. I crawled through space and time, a worm inching through a labyrinth built by the dreams of a mad god. This I learned, meatbag, this and nothing more: when air, food, and shelter are assured, only two things matter. Work and companionship. To be alone and without purpose is to be the living dead.”

There’s a story behind (and not just in) every book, and To Sleep’s is one of dreams and determination. The honest Afterword of the book tells it more thoroughly and beautifully (and I mean that in the literal sense because Christopher has grown to become a true storyteller even when he is not trying) than I ever could, so take this summary with a grain of salt:

The idea for Christopher’s new novel creeped up on him one sleepless night as he felt the strains of being stuck in Alagaësia, a creative frustration all authors feel when writing a long series and needing to dip a finger into something new. After finishing The Inheritance Cycle and taking a short break, what followed for this international bestselling author was years heaped upon years of research, writing, rewriting—revising and/or starting from scratch—and generally relearning how to tell a tale, as he dissected every aspect of plot, character, motivation, meaning, symbology, technology, and science to give birth to a book that might not be perfect, but is unique, imaginative, and magnificent.

“Beware the temptation of false hope,” whispered Gregorovich. “Resist and seek your validation elsewhere.”

As Paolini would put it, “When I started, there was no white in my beard. Hell, I didn’t even have a beard! Now the first streaks of frost have appeared.”

Whatever anyone might say about the Star Wars or Tolkien plagiarism in Eragon, Paolini has long since found and dug his own path through the treacherous waters of creative writing and here he is, in 2020, with a story about a humanity spread across the galaxy, now experiencing first encounter and interstellar war, grasping for survival and not daring to consider peace.

“Somehow I don’t think we’d be paid anything for peace. The only wages to be earned out there are paid in blood.”

With fictional/nonfictional scientific theories, advanced aliens, crews of rogues, and even Easter eggs for Inheritance Cycle fans, this is a positive story of personal transformation (Paolini’s obsession which I cannot get enough of) and the awe and wonder of being alive and a part of this magnificent, vast universe. This is a story that asks, “how can we do better?” And oh it made for a mesmerising playlist that transports you right into space amidst wars or stars alongside this immersive giant of a book ➾ Spotify URL

“See you by the light of a strange star, Captain.”

But what sets To Sleep in a Sea of Stars apart from the many space operas of first encounter out there? And what puts it next to all the rest and keeps it from soaring as high as it could’ve?

Let’s see.



The G O O D: Why You Would Love This

★ Every Science-Fiction Element: To me the most noteworthy part of Paolini’s fantasy series was the set rules to the magic—the order, the logic, the system. I was awed by the amount of thought he had put into creating such a detailed and sensible magic system. And as magic is to fantasy what science is to science fiction, you bet this applaudably organised and efficient man would impress in his new genre venture as well.

Just take the aforementioned amount of thought, multiply it by 9 years of gathering and shaping ideas, studying and researching relevant scientific theories, and eating the brains of scientists by making them explain and reexplain their work for you (yes he went that far, no kidding) and you would have this gem of creative accuracy that appeals too strongly to the unrelenting scientist in me...yes I’m gonna reread this a hundred times just to underline all the science OK?

With implants instead of phones, humans who choose to become ship minds (not exactly artificial intelligence and more expanded human intelligence, like the film Transcendence), terraforming corporations, first encounter, printers that print whatever you want (from musical instrument to body part), Numerist religions, mysterious knowledge-worshipping Entropists, epic battles, and using scientific theories and discoveries (Gregory Meholic’s Tri-Space theory for FTL [Faster Than Light] system; Richard Gauthier for TEQs [Transluminal Energy Quanta]; H. David Froning Jr. for conditioned EM [Electromagnetic] fields)—all the best ideas in Sci-Fi gathered and applied and ingeniously built upon—this is most likely the space-opera I’ve been looking for 5ever.

“May your path always lead to knowledge.”
“Knowledge to freedom.”
—Entropic Litany

★ Fast-Paced Plot That Hits the Ground Running and Doesn’t Stop: This book truly wears its thriller coat with style; what can I say, it’s bite-your-nails, edge-of-your-seat, oh-my-god-oh-my-god addictive that holds your attention by the balls with its twists and turns and steep curves despite the technical information assaulting you rather frequently. Can we please just appreciate this?

“The path to our goal is rarely straight. It tends to turn and twist, which makes the journey far more enjoyable than it would otherwise be.”

★ The Action, Viciousness, and Epicness of It All: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (which I’ll call “SSS” aka “Triple S” from now on because hey I’m lazy) is not scared of putting its characters in circumstances that would have them facing death, going to the brink of death, or even being served the cold meal of death. It is epic. It is deadly. It is packed with well-written action scenes. Nothing more is needed.

“We’re losing. They won’t break us tomorrow. And they won’t break us the day after. But at this rate, it’s inevitable.”

★ Writing and Atmosphere-Building: I am obsessed with space, but that does not mean I get obsessed with every book set in space. But Paolini makes sure you feel the vastness of space, the danger of each encounter, the explorers of the deep unknown. That’s why I’m obsessed. Plus the subtle and occasional humour and banter, there is the fact that interstellar wars, travels, and messages are a slow affair and yet, even as he takes this into meticulous account, Christopher cleverly never lets it drag you down.

“We’ll meet again at Sol,”
“In the shadow of the moon,”
“By the shine of that green Earth.”

★ The Ending, Themes, and Feels: I’ll be straight up honest with you; I didn’t think this book had it in it to make me super emotional (I’ll talk about why later), but then it did.

First, there was the sense of a humanity with numerous colonies across the vast expanse of space and their attachment and loyalty to their gained home clashing with their longing for their Homeworld. But that’s not what cracked my icy heart. Second, there was the dominant and underlying message that you cannot own a path you walk due to necessity and inevitability, like a sleeper without dreams, and only through owning it and eating it can you clearly reach your destination. But that’s not what hit me me either, though it was beautiful. Third, there existed the loud and clear theme of identity and how one can feel safe and in control if their body does not seem to be their own, and the question that could a person be more than a person, a limited and defined individual, and still maintain a sense of self, or would that self be lost and overwhelmed as a single drop is in the sea? Yet, even that did not spear my soul. Fourth, there was life and existence and the brightness of a single being’s happiness within the immensity of the universe of inescapable suffering, and the importance of every step, however inconsequential. That, that got close but no, no that’s not it.

Without consciousness to appreciate it, existence was meaningless—an abandoned tomb decaying into oblivion.

What broke my heart and bled my heart and made it weep tears of gloriously bloodred life liquified, what made me leave to sleep in a sea of feels was, unsurprisingly, the theme of solitude and lonely paths. Christopher Paolini seems to have a certain fondness for this recurring focus in his books and I am not complaining.



The B A D: Why You Would Not Love This

★ Too Plot-Driven Rather Than Character-Driven: While this made for a fast-paced thriller, it did what I dislike in plot-driven books; using characters as plot devices. Yes, after part one the characters get more fleshed out (which is the reason why I didn’t take off any more stars from my rating) it still focuses mainly on plot and world, and for a character-driven reader such as I, that prevented me from getting attached to the cast.

BUT, I did grow to love Sparrow, and extremely like the Captain and machine boss and first officer and the Entropists. And, quite evidently, I’m in love with my #1 ship mind Gregorovich—I do tend to have a thing for the crazy ones, as like calls to like. I think my main concern is with how the main character’s arc and struggles didn’t get the page time and attention they should’ve (due to previously mentioned focus elsewhere) and that took much away from the book.

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

★ (Slightly) Underdeveloped Themes: This point is rooted in the previous issue. I named 4 themes in the book that didn’t quite hit hard enough, and that’s because, where most sci-fi thrillers are more high than heart, SSS is more head and high than heart, and that makes it a step up from the average yet not as fantastic as it could’ve been if it had chosen to go off the beaten track and onto the equally head and high and heart path—a rare example for which is An Absolutely Remarkable Thing.

“I was in fractures before. I am in fractures now. But the pieces still form the same broken picture.”

★ It Might Also Be Too Long: I don’t believe there is any part of SSS that should’ve or even could’ve been taken out. In fact, I think it needed more time with the characters. What I’m trying to say here is that, even as I love thick books and thrills and scientific explanations and technicalities, Triple S could be seen as a drawn out affair of constant thrills and scientific explanations and technicalities—because of the lack of (or to be fair inadequateness of) heart. IMO having been divided into a duology or a trilogy with more development of previous points would’ve served it significantly.

“Nature has no regard for those who squirm and crawl within its tainted depths. The storm that batters, batters all. None are spared. Not you, not I, not the stars in the sky. We bind our cloaks and bend our heads and focus on our lives. But the storm, it never breaks, never fades.”

And The U G L Y: Why You Would Hate This

★ Dot Dot Dot: I actually just put this here because I liked the sound of it. I found nothing ugly in SSS. Though Tabi the Tremendous would tell you it felt like a male author wrote the female MC. It didn’t, to me, mostly because Kira’s character was eclipsed by all the more interesting things in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.

“Hear me now. The Lord of Empty Spaces protect us as we venture forth to fight our foes. Guide our hands—and our thoughts—and guide our weapons that we may work our will upon these perversions of peace. Let daring be our shield and righteous fury be our sword, and may our enemies flee at the sight of those who defend the defenseless, and may we stand unbowed and unbroken in the face of evil. Today is the Day of Wrath, and we are the instruments of our species’ retribution. Deo duce, ferro comitante. Amen.”

Triple S ends with a proper closing of the plot, yet there is a very bold loose thread that could be considered a perfect open ending...or the possibility for a sequel; which there will be in a way. To quote Paolini, “any stories that I want to tell that aren’t explicitly fantasy can fit within the Fractalverse. So it includes the real world, the far future, the distant past. And even though some of those stories might seem a little disconnected, they will all tie together in the end.”

To put it straight in your face: If you want emotional attachment and heartwrenching character arcs, you probably won’t find it with this book—except for the last 100 pages or so. But if you’re looking for dead accurate hard sci-fi that navigates the lands of thriller genre, then you will be more than satiated.

P.S. There are four appendixes at the end of the book: Spacetime & FTL; Ship-based Combat in Space; Terminology; Timeline. Do NOT miss them, this is a gigantic book and you might need help.

A sea of thankful stars to my superhero for providing me with an eARC through NetGalley!

Companions

Book playlist Spotify URL

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just some little name drops that remind me of Alien and Alien VS Predator: Weyland, Hendriksen, Bishop. And I’m okay with it 😉

Horror welled up inside Kira.
She clawed at her forearms in a desperate attempt to rip off the alien organism. Even with their hard veneer, her nails couldn’t cut or break the fibers.

I love this book so much!! 😫



I can’t say enough how much I love this book!



I love sooo many characters:
Kira
the Soft Blade
Falconi
Trig
Sparrow
Gregorovich
Nielsen
Hwa-jung
Itari

and so many others.

"Hey, headcase," she said. "You in one piece?"
After a brief pause, Gregorovich answered. Even with a synthesized voice, the ship mind sounded sluggish, groggy: "I was in fractures before. I am in fractures now. But the pieces still form the same broken picture."
Kira grunted. "Yeah, you’re fine."

This book brought me sad and many many happy tears.

And so she sailed on, content to hold and wait and there to sleep, to sleep in a sea of stars.

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

BLOG: https://melissa413readsalot.blogspot....

[Regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

[✨ A ✨]

well hello there new Christopher Paolini book. I don't even like reading sci-fi but I'll make an exception for you 😉

[Meagan✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost 900 pages of SC-FI 😅 and I did it!!! 👽🛸🖖



“Suffering was inescapable, but to care for another and to be cared for in turn—that was the closest any person might come to heaven.”

Brief Summary-
🪼Several centuries in the future, xenobiologist Kira Navárez is helping a crew of specialists study the surface of a new planet in order to determine if it can settled. On their last day, however, Kira is sent out in a final, routine search where she inadvertently finds something incredibly dangerous. Kira accidentally touches some space dust that turns out to be ancient alien technology that covers her in a protective, but aggressive skin-tight suit that accidentally kills her team mates and her boyfriend. Before long, the entirety of humanity, and all life everywhere, is under threat of annihilation. Kira may be the only one who can bring peace, but first she need to face two massive alien armies.

“We are the universe watching itself, watching and learning.”

My Thoughts-
🪼What an adventure!! I wanted to savor this book as much as I could. I have never read anything like this before. I loved this book. This was a fast, gripping, well-written, heart stopping, fascinating journey. You can tell the author put in a lot of research in while writing this book. The novel explores the idea of human contact with alien species. “To Sleep in a Sea of Stars” approaches this with a unique perspective. I know I’m being super vague but that’s because there are so many spoilers and so much to learn that you simply have to read it to find out!

🪼The world building was impeccable. *chef kiss* This book was full of vibrant details.

🪼The characters, the technology and the aliens all had a chokehold on me.

🪼This is not going to be a book for everyone. I’m not familiar enough with the science fiction genre but I can see why some would find this boring. I absolutely recommend this book thooo. Don’t let this thicky thick book discourage you. If you have the patience to get through this your mind will be blown away. This novel keeps readers on the edge of their seats with plot twists and turns.

“Names are powerful things; you should be careful whom you share yours with. You never know when a person might turn your name against you.”

Playlist-
🛸Womb- Adriatique
🛸 Stay There- Tonic Walter
🛸World Of Sounds- Alessandro Pierozzi
🛸 After Earth- Ben Bohmer
🛸Undrstnd- Adriatque
🛸Silence- Innella
🛸 The Mirage- Agents Of Time
🛸Head In The Ocean- Foundsound

[Charlotte May · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an absolute mission to complete but I finally got there.

“To search and seek among the outer bounds, and when we land upon a distant shore, to seek another yet farther still.”

Sci fi is always a mixed bag for me. Sometimes I think it’s great like the Wayfarers or Red Rising series, other times it’s just weird. Too weird even for me.

I picked this mainly because I loved the Eragon series and Christopher Paolini’s world building can’t be faulted.

I liked a lot of the characters, how the team were like a family. The whole ‘suit thing’ with Kira went over my head for a lot of it and that is basically the main plot point so that’s a bit awkward.

It probably didn’t need to be this long. The world and the lore is highly intricate, so sometimes it was less enjoyable and more of a chore. I will say I’m glad I read it but I don’t think I’d read it again.

“Unknown, content to face my end and pass, beyond this mortal realm, content to hold, and wait and here to sleep - to sleep in a sea of stars.”

***********************

Honestly the fact that this book is arriving on Thursday is the only thing getting me through this week. 💫 🌌

******************


New book from Christopher Paolini?!

Hell yes I’m down with that!

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, this is Howard Cosell, reporting to you from the finish line where Lyn has just completed reading To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, the 2020 novel by Christopher Paolini. Lyn how are you feeling?

Lyn: OH MY GOD!! Uuuugh! (drinking bottled water) I’m SO tired, it was such a long book – Aaaaaaaaaargggh! – (breathing hard) Aaaaaaaargh! Just glad to be done!

Cosell: 878 pages, Lyn, it was a grueling endeavor.

Lyn: (pouring water of his head) Aaaaaaaargh! It was tough, I just need, just gotta walk it off, ugh!

Cosell: Lyn, can you tell us about the book?

Lyn: Thanks Howard, yeah, lemme just catch my breath. (drinking more water) OK, I mean, it was a good science fiction work by a talented, imaginative writer. Lots of references to earlier SF writers and books, it was kind of fun picking up the easter eggs. Paolini paid homage to Herbert, Asimov, Star Wars, Lovecraft, Marvel Comics that was all good (bending over and throwing up). Uugh! Sorry, Howard.

Cosell: That’s OK, this was a tough read.

Lyn: Yeah, I liked the first hundred or so pages, but then I had to take a break, come back to it later, then took another break, then for the last third I just motored through, got a good pace and finished it. THANK GOD!

Cosell: Was this a first contact book?

Lyn: Sort of, it’s set a few hundred years in the future, we do meet another race, there is evidence of many other races, good female lead, great use of Marvel’s Venom theme as the xeno melds with our protagonist. There was a cool ship mind that made me think of Philip K. Dick and the communication with the Lovecraftian aliens was inspired.

Cosell: Lyn, our readers need to know, did you like the book?

Lyn: You know Howard, as tough as it was to slog through all those hundreds of pages, yeah, looking back I did.

Cosell: Will you read any more from Paolini?

Lyn: Um, well, ugh! Short stories, maybe. I don’t know, too soon, Howard, too soon>

Cosell: Lyn, you’re a veteran reader, what’s next?

Lyn: 60s pulp, something short, I’m thinking comic books, 30 pages with pictures. Howard, I gotta go get some Visine.

Cosell: There you have it reading fans, this is Howard Cosell signing out.

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love anything mind bending, flabbergasting Paolini writes! He is one of the greatest complex, extra brilliant, smartest minds who presents us remarkable sci-fi works! ( Normally I don’t keen on dragon fantasy novels but when he writes one of them, I learn how to enjoy them eventually! )

I did a first, I read only two chapters and voted for this book as best sci-fi for goodreads choice awards. I read most of the other books who were nominated before and maybe it wasn’t so fair to decide to fall in love with a book in a few chapters because at the second half even at the end, everything may turn into a mess but I was so sure about Paolini’s writing skills and I already invested in Kira Navarez who is trying to accomplish her survey mission on an uncolonized planet!

She is lonely in the space just like Cuaron’s Ryan Stone in “ Gravity” launched into a galaxy, witnessing its transformation at first hand. ( we also sense vibes of Lidiya Ishimbaeva’s Solaris - not Sodenbergh’s worst adaptation-vibes, too)
But then the story changes into galactic wars, alien invasion theme and we start stuffing more pop corn into our mouths, flipping the pages as our hearts start pounding faster because the book starts to show tributes to so many sci-fi classics and your head start spinning faster as the whirlwind adventure pushes you bite your nails, arms and anything you find nearby including lamp posts, husband’s elbow, licorice sticks!

Overall: Fast, gripping, well-written, epic, heart pounding, fascinating journey which already earned my five gazillion galaxy stars!
I am so sorry to be right at the end and I am so happy my intuition didn’t deceive me! I knew that I will love this book so much at the first chapter which hooked my heart!

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It having been much more than a decade since I've read anything else by Paolini -- his dragons were pretty okay -- I came to the idea of reading his adult space opera with mild anticipation.

I mean, sure, it's often true that many writers of fantasy who decide to jump the fence into SF do so brilliantly, so a part of my mind kept thinking of, say, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and I wondered. I wondered hard.

After getting my hands on this book and having started it, I began comparing it to Becky Chambers with a few hints of Iain M. Banks, but as I continued on this quite interesting journey with an already wonderful main character, Kira Navárez, I discovered something really gorgeous. This novel continues on with a single PoV in Kira. Loving her is easy. Falling into the complications of her life as they get rather more complicated -- and epic -- is something of a no-brainer for me.

I mean, the moment that the ex0-biology and exploration segments get to a certain spoilery point that I will keep mum about, it's all COMPLETELY downhill for me. I couldn't stop reading for the life of me. Really. I took the book with me EVERYWHERE and actually growled at everyone I met if they tried to draw my attention way from the book. And it's not like I have a PROBLEM with focusing my attention. I was hooked and it never let up and this is a DOORSTOPPER.

Let's just say that the novel became a huge confetti snowstorm of a classic alien invasion Anime, and combines a literal ton of great classic and modern SF easter eggs in the telling.

Oh, and as for you folks who were worried that a fantasy author might not have the chops for an enormous and very fulfilling SF romp of an adventure, let me just say this: Paolini knows his SF. Take it from someone who has read over 2.2k SF novels and knows his tv and movies. He weaves a great deal of SF tropes reminiscent of Neal Asher and Alaistair Reynolds with his quirky and delightful Becky Chambers crew.

We even get a full-on galactic war, people, with a full resolution in a single standalone novel.

Please, allow me a little squee here. *squees like a little girl* Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Out of several years worth of recent space operas, some of which I really enjoyed and some I even swear by, I think I had the most outright FUN with this one. Some of the others might be more intriguing in the plot, others might have blown me away with the sheer science-magic, but this one touched me deeply while giving me all my darkest wish-fulfillment SF desires in a single delicious Navárez package.

Please don't assume this is an old, tired space opera. Rather, think about the promise, if not the execution, of, say, Babylon 5 or the idea of a Guyver suit (Japanese only) on methamphetamines, and you might get a slight idea about what might be going on here. :)

*squeeeeeeeeeeeeee*

[Maeghan 🦋 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

« Eat the path, or the path will eat you »

I think the best word to describe this book is : unpredictable.
This book was intelligent. Well explained, well thought out. You can feel that the author put a lot of work into this book.
The soft blade and Gregorovich really added a big touch to this story.
« I always mean to say what I mean »

As for the MCs, I would say that Kira was on/off for me! Sometimes I really loved her, other times I was confused by her actions.
Trig has my whole heart, obviously ❤️. Falconi was interesting as well as all the other crew members.
« Thank you Salvo. For believing in me. For trusting me. For treating me like a person and not a science experiment »

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a good sci-fi. Don’t be afraid of its length - I read this in 3-4 days on/off and it didn’t feel like 840 or so pages



Pre read : I seem to be in my big books Era 🫣
This book has been on my physical TBR for the longest (3 years 🫥) but @Meagan✨’s updates convinced me to finally pick this up 💖

[Dylan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am DNFing this book and before I get into the bulk of my review I want to addressed a few things. I also think I'm going to stop using netgalley as I don't like the pressure of having to read something. I'm at the point with this book where having it hanging over me is making me not want to pick up my Kindle, and at that point I'm just not willing to continue with it.

1) I have read ~105-120 pages of this. I'm not exactly sure because I don't know how long my version of it is. I understand that some people may feel that I haven't read enough to review it, but I'm of the opinion that if a book doesn't work for people when they've already read this much most people would probably just give up on it.
2) Most of my DNFs are simply because a book isn't working for me, however in this case I think this book has some real issues and that's why I'm not enjoying it.
3) Based on other early reviews it seems like I'm perhaps in the minority so if you are interested in reading this for whatever reason, please read some other reviews before you decide you do or don't want to read it.

Okay, with all that being said, I have three core issues with this book:

The Characters Obviously one of the most important things about any book is its characters, even in the sci-fi genre where there is sometimes a prioritization of plot over character (which seems to be the case here) and the characters here are so uninteresting that it damages the plot too. The main character, Kira, does not feel like a real person. Very early on in the novel her fiancee is killed and she has almost zero emotional response to it. Now, I don't know about you, but even if there was a lot of other stuff going on around me, I'd be one hell of a wreck if the person I love died (especially under the circumstances here). She was already pretty uninteresting and after her lack of response to this I completely checked out from her. The other characters early on here range from being so uninteresting I couldn't tell you a single thing about them, to being incredibly irritating to read about (looking at you Fizal and Dr. Carr) and this becomes even more of an issue when we look at the plot.

The Plot Right off the bat I'll say that there's not a whole lot going on here that I haven't seen elsewhere. Now, that's not necessarily a problem in sci-fi since authors often 'borrow' ideas from each other but in this case the book lacks anything else to make it really stand out. On top of that, the plot early on is heavily reliant on you the reader caring about the characters, and in case it's not clear from my previous paragraph, Paolini has not done a good job to make you care about his characters. Kira goes through an experience that would send anyone into emotional turmoil and then she's essentially tortured but for either of these plot points to work you really need to care about the characters, so for me they didn't work at all.

The Writing I was very underwhelmed by the writing here. Paolini is fairly heavy on description but I never found his descriptions to be interesting. At one point he describes an alien laser weapon as "white pods with bulbous lenses" and I think you'd be hard pressed to find a less interesting description of a laser weapon across the genre.

"As she approached the bodies, she looked. She had to. One man, one woman. The woman had been shot with an energy weapon. The man had been torn apart; his right arm lay separate from the rest of his body. Bullets had dented and smeared the wall around them"

I don't fully know how to articulate my thoughts on his writing but I just feel like it leaves a lot to be desired. The dialog was also pretty wooden for the most part. Also, as I mentioned Kira has a fiancee at one point (rip Alan, also wow please use a more interesting name than Alan in a sci-fi novel (no offense to any Alans out there)) and it's perhaps the most poorly written 'romance' I've read in a book.

At the end of the day, this is an 880 page book and for a lot of people that's a huge time commitment. If a book that long has some issues but it really knocks it out of the park in other areas, then it can still be worth your time, but I think this combo of issues really kills this book and there really wasn't anything here that had me at all interested in continuing.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an early copy of this book.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super epic space opera!!!!

I haven’t looked at too many reviews of this yet, but went in knowing:

- It was written by Christopher Paolini of Eragon (Inheritance Cycle) fame. I enjoyed that series but did have some varying opinions on it. So, going in I wasn’t sure if I might come out having some varying opinions here, too.
- It was the winner of the Goodread’s Choice Award for Science Fiction in 2020

So . . . how did it end up for me? Worthy of the award?

My answer . . . it’s very good and worthy of the award. But you will have to be patient and ready for a VAST story with lots of world building that might take a few hours to get into. I know some people dnf if a book does not grab them right away, and I think this one could take a while to grab many readers. But, once it does, it is very worth the experience.

Lots and lots of world building (Or, perhaps in this case, universe building). Sometimes world building gets messy and confusing, and it did almost happen a couple of times in this one, but as everything got richer and more sorted out in my head, it clicked. With the world building came new and unique sci-fi technology, species, and space politics. I think Paolini has left it open for more possible stories in this universe and I will be excited to see what he does with it.

If you love characters, there are plenty here for you! And, with all the characters there are a wide variety of personalities, conflict, relationships, and interspecies cultural debate. And, if you develop deep relationships with your literary characters, get ready to do so here. There are a few I am very sad to see go.

If I have any “complaints” or “suggestions” here are a couple:
- The book probably could have been broken up into two or three smaller books – with this one, I feel like we got the contents of an entire sci-fi movie trilogy. This might make it a bit overwhelming for some readers.
- At points it gets very heavy on the science and the explanations of how things work in this universe – all part of the world building – but it may make it really slow in places for some readers.

If you like space operas and epic world building – I don’t think you can go wrong here. But, if you do not have the time or patience for a vast and complex story with some draggy parts, this may not be for you. And if you don’t like sci-fi at all, no need to bother!

[Phrynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well it is certainly very long and the paperback version is very awkward to read in bed, but it is also enormously entertaining and worth any hardships. I found it hard to stop reading and, when I had to do other things, I was always thinking about it and wanting to get back to it. Sure signs of a really good book.

I am a scifi fan from way back and To Sleep in a Sea of Stars frequently reminded me of Kevin J. Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns, one of my favourite series. There was a similarity in the terra forming and exploration activities and the life forms, friendly and otherwise. Paolini's world building was excellent and his descriptions perfectly detailed.

I enjoyed the characters too, especially Kira's fellow crew members on the Wallfish. There was a lot of humour and camaraderie, and some great dialogues especially between Kira and the ship's mind, Gregorovich. Kira herself is a remarkable character who changes and grows throughout the book until she is capable of almost anything.

The book is action packed and never dull for a moment despite filling all of those pages. The ending is perfect. I could not have wished for more.

[Claudia · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 30% - my biggest dissapointment of the year. Maybe the tons of cliches wouldn't have bothered me had it been well written, but it's not. The characters' behaviours are not credible, the dialogues are the same - the author is trying too hard to make them cool and utterly fails.

Every gesture, every action, every emotion is explained - he leaves no room for you to raise a question and it has a single narative thread in a story over 900 pages.

From the beginning I guessed it will be a light and clicheic reading but I though a bit of candy for the brain will be a welcomed change. But as I kept reading and realized that it has no complexity, no original ideas, and the writing is getting worse, that candy was soon becoming inedible.

I really am sorry and pissed in equal measure becasue I eagerly awaited this book; Eragon is one of my favorites fantasy series and Saphira the best dragon to this day (maybe I like them so much because I read them 15 years ago and had a different mindset then, but I'm clinging to that memory and that's the reason I will not reread the series; I want to keep that memory as it is).

Anyway, this is my last attempt to read a SF written by a fantasy author - it didn't work well for me with Sanderson nor with Tchaikovsky. To write a quality SF you need more than a desire and some generic tropes thrown into a story.

However, this is just my opinion, as I have had my fair share of SF readings and I have a high standard when it comes to this genre. If you're not a die hard fan of it, you might enjoy this story.

I usually do not rate books I do not finish, but in this case I will, because 30% is a decent share and I can tell that nothing will improve in either writing or character development.

[Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent sci-fi. I didn’t hate it. But I do have some thoughts.

Paolini has definitely blossomed as a writer. He always had the storytelling basics, but time and experience has done his craft well. I particularly liked his character construction. So many different personalities and a great dynamic between all of them. I’d be hard-presses to pick a favorite, and I love that.

I wouldn’t say the book was particularly original – I feel like I’ve read many different versions of at least the first 25%. But as the story progressed it started to get more and more creative. It eventually presented enough fun ideas and characters to keep my interest, and soon I was on board. There were one or two plot decisions that surprised me, which is always a bonus.

It is a bit of a drawback for me that it took so long to get going. While many of the scenes boasted action and a fast-paced momentum, the overall plot progression of the book was sluggish. If the scenes themselves hadn’t been so interesting, I could’ve easily gotten bored, and even wondered if I was starting to several times. There was an entire plot point (involving a blue staff) that caused a lot of story repetition. I thought it could’ve been removed completely without any negative effects (or at least merged with other sections). As it stands, I feel it drew the book out a lot longer than it needed to be.

Another criticism is the required “just go with it” attitude I needed to adopt while reading it. Particularly regarding the decisions and reactions of authority figures along Kira’s journey. A lot of what went on felt rather implausible considering what was at stake, even with the concession that most of it happened on the fringes of human-settled space. But still, a lot of things seemed too convenient and narrowly-focused to actually work. That said, it does take place during an alien invasion, so perhaps a lot can be chalked up to everyone being too busy with that to deal with this one aspect. I did appreciate that Paolini at least attempted to incorporate the on-goings in the highly populated worlds to keep me connected to the large-scale stakes of the conflict.

Recommendations: fans of Paolini’s work will likely enjoy this book for similar writing styles and voice. As far as sci-fi recommends go, it ranks somewhere in the middle for me – not the most original I’ve read, but better than many of them because of the fun characters. After compiling my “other books you might like” section, it occurred to me that despite the light adult content, the book still reads more YA (minus the romance aspect) and would probably appeal to fans of that genre more so than scifi lovers.

Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.NikiHawkes.com

Other books you might like:

[James Tivendale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a limited edition proof copy of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Christopher Paolini and Tor Books.

In To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, we follow the third-person perspective of Kira who is a xenobiologist. We join her towards the end of an assignment on the Earth-sized moon of Adrasteia. On the final excursion to the moon, Kira uncovers a mysterious relic. What was hidden there was placed away for a good reason and Kira's discovery of it will have dramatic consequences for herself personally, her crew who were studying Adrasteia, as well as to all in the known galaxies and beyond. As the back of the novel fittingly describes it: "Space holds countless secrets. She just found the deadliest one."

I'm aware that Paolini is a fantasy megastar and I am one of the few amongst my friends who haven't read The Inheritance Cycle. I went into to Sleep in a Sea of Stars as a blank canvas with regards to Paolini and enjoyed this fact so that I could analyses what is billed as the author's first adult novel on its qualities and merits. I can confirm that To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a deep, well-written, and intelligent SF-epic that is definitely for the more mature audience.

Set approximately 250-years in the future, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars features interstellar travel to planets and space stations, space battles and skirmishes, on planet confrontations, aliens and sentient life, a fair few swears, and quite a lot of impalement. It's a beautifully-written novel, brimming with poignant moments, great action-segments, and an awesome skinsuit that bonds with our protagonist.

After Kira's discovery and the catastrophic repercussions, she spends the majority of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars on a space vessel known as the Wallfish, or with the ship's crew as they deal with the threats of two alien species (known as the Jellies and the nightmares) who both wish for the destruction of humankind. The crew of the Wallfish are a great ensemble to follow, all having intriguing and diverse pasts, all seem extremely loyal to each other, and qualified in their areas of expertise. The ship's captain Falconi, the kid Trig, and the ship's mind Gregorvich all have great interactions with Kira. The latter, brilliantly intelligent, poetic, yet slightly unhinged is a standout creation. I loved his banter with Kira and the many colourful nicknames he gives her ("O Spiky One", "O Queen of Flowers") and the crew of the Wallfish. There is also a pig that lives on the ship and is a favourite pet of the crew.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a behemothic novel that features 850+ pages in both the ARC and the hardback versions. Creating something this detailed in a first foray in both science fiction and adult fiction is extremely ambitious by Paolini and I think he succeeds as he's created an enjoyable and grand space opera with significant depth and detail. I have to admit, that I wasn't always in the mood to read To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. I had to set aside a good chunk of my day and make sure that I had no distractions so that I could completely lose myself in this science fiction adventure. Every time I approached it I wanted to make sure that I could make a sizable dent in the novel. This is the first novel in the Fractalverse and is a complete standalone. The finale is stunning and completely fitting for the scale and scope of the narrative. Some of the characters could come back in future escapades, and others are almost unrecognisable with the manner they change throughout this novel. The next Fractalverse story could contain a whole new cast but it is definitely something I will be willing to check out when it is released. To summarise, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars isn't YA and it doesn't feature any space dragons but for those readers who like intelligent and ambitious SF with a Mass Effect feel then there is a lot to enjoy here.

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 5 out of 5]

”Knowing the organism had a name (and not one she had given it) changed Kira’s view of it. Instead of thinking of the xeno just as an interloper and a potentially deadly parasite, now she saw it more as a … companion. It was a profound shift. And not one she had intended or anticipated. Though as she belatedly realized, names changed—and defined—all things, including relationships. The situation reminded her of naming a pet; once you did, that was that, you had to keep the animal, whether you’d planned to or not. The Soft Blade …”

Kira Navárez is a xenobiologist. She aspires to be the Howard Carter of her chosen profession. She dreams of finding her own Tutankhamun tomb, only of the alien origin variety (though I’ve read some speculation that the pharaohs were descended from aliens, but that is a different discussion). Little does she know she is about to make the largest discovery in human history. Circumstances, much of it beyond her control, will determine whether she is about to become famous or infamous.

Kira is on what began as a routine check of equipment when she falls through a hole in the planet’s surface and emerges with a second skin, an alien skin that cannot be removed. She is bonded with it and soon learns that, if she doesn’t master it, The Soft Blade will make threat assessments for her with sometimes very dire outcomes. Draconian measures may be inflicted swiftly without hesitation on friends or foes. Her dream has come true, and she has found a new alien lifeform, but first contact is nothing like what she imagined it would be. She is entwined with this xeno for...life

Christopher Paolini was a teenage sensation. He was homeschooled and graduated from high school at age fifteen. He published his first book, Eragon, when he was only nineteen. The book became an international best seller, which spawned several sequels and a series of blockbuster movies. He continues to write short stories in the Inheritance Cycle universe, but he had an itch to write something different. Something even more challenging. He wanted to write for an adult audience. He wanted to write an epic, science fiction novel.

Paolini from the afterward: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars isn’t perfect, but it’s the best version of this story I could write, and I’m proud of the final result. To quote Rolfe Humphries from the foreword to his translation of The Aeneid: “The scope of an epic requires, in the writing, a designed variety, a calculated unevenness, now and then some easy-going carelessness.” I really liked this quote because I think sometimes books are overzealously edited. I like the plot to be a bit loosy-goosy. There is a comfort in it that allows me as the reader to settle back into my favorite reading chair and know I’m in for a long, somewhat meandering journey, even if it is at a speed faster than light.

Paolini confesses he wrestled with this novel and experienced the same frustrations as any novelist trying to capture the concepts in his head and put them down in hard cold print. Despite the expanded vocabulary of English, the largest in the world I believe, it is still a struggle to find the proper words and put them in the proper order to take the picture in the mind of the writer and bring it to life in the mind of the reader. Neil Gaiman has discussed this with the writing of his book American Gods. A wonderful concept and a hugely successful book with readers and also with the watchers of the series, Gaiman will tell you that he didn’t quite get it. He worked his ass off trying to recreate exactly what his mind had conceived, and he ultimately fell short. The TV series, in some aspects, is better than the book. It benefits from a team of talented writers who are collectively grappling with a concept that is as large as history itself.

If I were to ever get a chance to ask Paolini a question, it would be, what didn’t make the transition from your mind to print? Keep in mind, I give this book five stars. I think it is a brilliant epic that manages to present large concepts in a sometimes playful and yet very serious way.

So Kira, needless to say, makes critical mistakes while on her quest to understand and control this “gift” she has been given. There are many moments when she wishes she could rip it from her skin. She wants to be normal, chasing her old dreams, not superhumanalien. She is soon persona non grata with her own species as they are, understandably, more interested in scientifically probing her than helping her. She, fortunately, soon finds herself joined with a band of misfits on the small, but powerful, smuggling ship, the Wallfish. Captain Falconi is comfortable taking in strays and giving them new purposes. He’s never encountered anything like Kira before, but he is quite possibly the best man, with a shady past of his own, to deal with Kira’s peculiarities. Paolini does a fantastic job with developing the characters of this band of outcasts. The crew are all well-defined, distinct personalities who quickly wedge their way into any reader’s heart.

Gregorovich, the ship’s mind, is my favorite character. He is a castaway, salvaged from a crashed ship, and is progressively going mad. Here’s a sampling of his melted synapses at work: “Once my mind was cleared of perfidious visions and debilitating doubts, it was quite a simple challenge to circumvent, oh yes it was. A twist of that, a dab of this, lizard’s leg and adder’s fork, and a sly bit of mischievous torque.” Anybody else sensing a Shakespearean influence on his madness?

There are the Jellies, an alien species who came from some distant planet’s oceans with a corpulent dictator intent on conquering the humans. There is the Maw, which is creating these broken, terrifying creatures that exist in only the nightmares of people like Stephen King. “Four meat-red ships sailed overhead, their tortured hulls glistening like raw flesh. Nightmares.” #*shiver*

Kira is the best chance the universe has to achieve peace between the humans and the Jellies and at the same time keep the Maw from devouring the universe. Kira is unique, and though most of us desire to be unique, those who achieve it soon discover that much is expected, and being normal starts to look very attractive. Kira feels that loneliness acutely, and despite all the gifts of The Soft Blade, she will need the help of others if she hopes to achieve a peaceful existence for humans and aliens alike.

This is truly a “galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation.”

I never paid any attention to Paolini when he was writing about dragons. I had no interest in a young, upstart crow having the audacity to write a bestselling novel at age nineteen. My son did, though. He read all of the books in the series, and really Eragon was probably one of his first obsessions about anything. Paolini made more than enough moolah off the Inheritance Cycle to never have to pick up a quill or queue up a word processing program ever again, but he still had the itch to share the ideas that were still percolating in his mind. When I was approached about reading and reviewing this book, my first thought was that I was not the right reader for a young adult writer, but Paolini has deftly made the transition from his youthful ventures in Alagaësia to his adult travels in the sea of stars.

”Enough. I’ve said my fill. The air is cold, the stars are bright, and this tale has reached its end, both for Kira and for me. Eat the path.”---Christopher Paolini

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I wanted to share a couple of pictures of the beautiful signed copy that Tor Books and Goodreads sent me in exchange for an honest review. I also have shared some of my highlights and added some comments.

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) · Rating 3 out of 5]

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is Christopher Paolini's first novel for adults and first sci-fi novel and....it's a bit of a mixed bag. Clocking in at nearly 900 pages this book is a tome, and it really didn't need to be. Part 1 of the book is fantastic. It's tightly plotted with big twists that kept me riveted, clearly very well edited with the feeling of a sci-fi thriller. After that, things begin to meander a lot more with bloated writing and uneven pacing that detracts from the very interesting world.

The main character is a xenobiologist, often studying lifeforms on planets to determine if they are a good fit for terraforming. In the first chapter, she's headed to a party celebrating their last night on the current planet, but for her it's bittersweet because she's been working with her significant other and now might not see him for months. That night he proposes. Life is so good, the future seems so bright! She has one last investigative errand to run before they leave the planet and ride off into the sunset. You just know something is going to go very, very wrong. And wow does it. A routine patrol lands her stuck in an alien ruin where something very bad happens. This is all in the first couple of chapters. Then more bad things happen and everything changes. Part 1 of the book is a RIDE. But then...

This is a very plot and world-driven sci-fi novel, with character development that feels weak given the length of the book. To be clear, there is some character development and there is a large cast with some high points (Gregorovich is certainly a favorite) but that development feels too shallow for a book longer than 400 pages. The world-building is interesting, and it's clear a great deal of time and thought went into it, but the impact of it was a bit muted for me because of the bloated writing. I do think readers who love sci-fi with a strong emphasis on action and world-building minutiae will enjoy this. There are lots of scenes involving space battles with aliens, chase scenes etc. But then there's a lot of down time in between that I think is intended to develop the world and characters but often feels repetitive. (i.e. how many times do we need to experience the boredom of traveling for months as the only one awake? etc.)

As a sci-fi reader most interested in characters, politics, and world-building, I had a mixed experience with this. I was interested in the world involving alien cultures, new tech, and a different system of politics, and appreciated the detailed thought given to those. On the other hand, I wanted more from the character development, got bogged down in the too-frequent slow bits, and as a reader less interested in action scenes, felt that all the lengthy battle scenes got repetitive. This is the sort of book that I can see some people loving if it fits into the things they are most interested in. For me, it was good but not great. As a side note, it's noticeable that this is a female MC written by a male author. Not the worst example I've seen, but not particularly well done either.

I do think the audiobook is well done, although I might recommend reading along with a physical copy as well if you can due to the complex elements. I received an advance audio copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Xenobiologist Kira Navárez is part of a survey crew studying a moon called Adrasteia, many light years from Earth.



When Kira was a child, humans found the first known alien artefact, called The Great Beacon. Kira, who was thrilled by the discovery, decided the study of alien life forms would be her future occupation.

Kira and the rest of the survey crew is about to finish its work, after which its members will be assigned to separate projects elsewhere in space. In an effort to stay together Kira and her geologist boyfriend Alan have become engaged, and Kira is deeply in love and very happy.

Thus when Kira is doing a final survey on Adrasteia, and comes across an unusual columnar formation, she decides to take a closer look.....for Alan.



Kira climbs up, falls into a cave, and though Kira doesn't know it yet, her life will be changed forever.

Black dust from a basin in the cave climbs onto Kira's foot and creeps up her leg. Kira faints and is rescued, but things aren't fine. A skintight black suit soon covers Kira's entire body, and is impossible to remove.



It turns out the black suit, which is called the 'Soft Blade', is a kind of symbiont with intelligence, memories, and remarkable abilities.

Kira's merging with the Soft Blade is followed by a series of disasters, including vicious attacks by an alien species called the 'Jellies', who have various body types, but generally look like mutant squids with tentacles sprouting everywhere. The Jellies are after the Soft Blade, which they'd hidden on Adrasteia for safekeeping.





In time Kira ends up on a salvage vessel called the Wallfish....



.....and comes to bond with the crew members, who up until now have spent most of their time making questionable deals for profit.



However now that the Jellies have declared war on humans, the Wallfish embarks on a mission to save humanity from the Jellies and another - even more barbarous - alien species called the "Nightmares', which have myriad hideous body forms.







As the story unfolds Kira taps into the Soft Blade's memories, and discoveries the incredible things it can do. The Soft Blade is especially useful when Kira is threatened, as it can form deadly weapons to protect her.

The book is a kind of combination science fiction and fantasy, since the Wallfish crew goes on a quest for the 'Staff of Blue', which is the most powerful weapon in the galaxy. The Jellies and Nightmares are also after the Staff of Blue, and it's a race to see who gets there first. The Staff of Blue, in turn, is guarded by a MEGA evil being called the 'Seeker' - who inadvertently gets loose.



There are many space battles in the book, between humans, Jellies, and Nightmares, fought with all manner of futuristic weapons.







The book also has other science fiction tropes like FTL (faster than light) travel; cryosleep; genetic manipulation and nano-enhancements to produce super humans; a spaceship cat (and pig); antimatter fuel; and more.



The books has a large cast of characters, and Kira forms friendships and alliances that add a warm comradely feel to the story. One of my favorite characters is "Gregorovich", the Ship Mind (essentially a giant human brain) that runs the systems on the Wallfish. He's a hoot!! Paolini also infuses the narrative with a good bit of humor, which is a nice break from the fighting and scheming.

The story spans almost 900 pages, but moves along at a good clip and held my attention. I was especially intrigued by the Kira-Soft Blade melding, which turns out to have fascinating ramifications.

I'd recommend the book to science fiction fans.

You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/

[Allison Hurd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Time of death: 52%

This needed a lot more editing. It should have been no more than half this long. It was the crew of Firefly in the world of the Expanse with none of the charm or humor or political subtlety of those works.

I just don't think I work with this writing. It started off with a romance and bad names (Jellies?? A military vessel named Extenuating Circumstances? Really??), maguffined hard, with characters I found incomprehensible, flat, and often childishly vicious in a world that was probably cool to the D&D group as they explored it, but wasn't fleshed out enough in ways that hung together.

Maybe the back half solved all my issues, so I give it an extra star for the opportunity cost I refused to pay.

[Isa Cantos (Crónicas de una Merodeadora) · Rating 5 out of 5]

”The hardest lesson in life is learning to accept that there are some things we can’t change”.

Después de muchísimos años y de haberme enamorado por completo de la saga Inheritance, debo confesar que tuve miedo cuando Christopher Paolini anunció que su regreso sería con algo completamente diferente: una gran novela de ciencia ficción. Hoy, casi 900 páginas después, puedo decir que To Sleep in a Sea of Stars es un libro maravilloso y que le hace un homenaje fuera de este mundo al sci-fi.

Esta aventura espacial empieza con Kira, una xenobióloga que ha dedicado su vida a estudiar posibles formas de vida alienígena en diferentes áreas del espacio colonizado. Y en esta ocasión todo parece ser una misión de rutina… hasta que no lo es. Kira, por segunda vez en la historia espacial, encuentra un artefacto que parece hecho por otra civilización y, de repente, aquel xeno, aquella forma de vida, se fusiona con ella y la recubre, creando una especie de traje y desatando, sin querer, lo que sería la mayor guerra que el espacio colonizado haya visto jamás. Y entonces, Kira, que estaba planeando llevar una vida más tranquila, entiende que ahora el destino de la humanidad y de la nueva vida en el espacio depende de sus decisiones, de la valentía que demuestre y, sobre todo, de su habilidad para seguir siendo ella misma a pesar de su nuevo e intrusivo compañero xeno.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars es un libro que te engancha desde la primera página y que te transporta a un universo completamente diferente, donde las posibilidades son infinitas, la tecnología va más allá de lo imaginable y los humanos seguimos siendo humanos: vulnerables, codiciosos y temerosos de lo desconocido. Es muy impresionante ver cómo, a pesar de los avances y de estar en el futuro, ciertos comportamientos humanos nunca cambian. Y Christopher Paolini explora muchísimo ese aspecto de nuestro pensamiento: el querer colonizarlo todo, reclamarlo como nuestro, dominarlo, controlarlo y siempre asumir que lo desconocido es peligroso. Sin embargo, en esta historia también nos encontramos con personajes como Kira o Falconi que se atreven a ir más allá, se arriesgan a adentrarse en lo desconocido y a dejar los prejuicios y los miedos de lado. Y es por eso que son ellos dos quienes realmente nos abren la puerta a todo lo que el espacio tiene por ofrecer.

Kira es, definitivamente, quien más cambia a lo largo de todo el viaje que es To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. No solamente porque ahora es uno con el xeno, con la Soft Blade, sino porque tiene que aceptar una nueva forma de vida. El camino de Kira siempre ha estado marcado por la curiosidad y por el deseo de estudiar las formas de vida alienígenas, pero cuando ella misma se convierte en ese objeto de estudio todo su mundo deja de girar. Además de las aventuras obvias que requiere el intentar parar una guerra de varios frentes interestelares, Kira tiene que volver a conocerse a ella misma, debe empezar a explorar sus nuevas habilidades, a perdonarse y, en ese proceso, ir reclamando un cuerpo que ya no siente como propio, pero que, a la larga, lo es.

Evidentemente, mi otro personaje favorito es Falconi, a quien podría describir como una especie de pirata o mercenario espacial. Este es un hombre que quiere desafiar lo que está establecido, que quiere ser libre y poder vivir su vida sin restricciones, comandos u órdenes que seguir. Desde el primer momento, supe que Falconi era un personaje que escondía muchísimo dolor y arrepentimiento y quizá esa es la razón por la que se lleva tan bien con Kira. Son almas que se entienden y que, muchas veces, dejan sus propios problemas de lado para sacrificarse por el bien de los demás. En serio, Salvo es excepcional.

Y, bueno, ¿qué sería de un libro de ciencia ficción sin una Inteligencia Artificial? Aunque, en el caso de To Sleep in a Sea of Stars es más bien como un súper cerebro y, de hecho, los llaman ship minds. La nave de Falconi tiene una de ellas y es bastante… peculiar. Se llama Gregorovitch y, joder, ¿cuándo los autores se pusieron de acuerdo para crear IAs (or somthing like it) que están desequilibradas y pueden llegar a ser francamente peligrosas, pero que, en el fondo, son adorables y hacen que el libro suba de nivel? Sí, también estoy hablando de AIDAN de los Illuminae Files. Madre mía, Gregorovitch está muy chalado, pero es como el amigo loco y tremendamente inteligente que todos quisiéramos tener. Cada que aparecía me sacaba una sonrisa y amé muchísimo la relación que creó con Kira y su amistad con Falconi.

Ya que estamos hablando de IAs y demás, creo que debo advertirles que To Sleep in a Sea of Stars es un libro denso, lo cual no quiere decir que el ritmo sea lento. Para nada. Con esta historia, Christopher Paolini está creando las bases de lo que conoceremos como el Fractalverse, un macrouniverso en el que situará muchos de sus futuros libros, así que es obvio que el worldbuilding aquí tenía que ser impecable. Y lo es. Paolini no sólo nos presenta un universo extensísimo, sino que nos introduce a los conceptos y a las reglas bajo las que se regirá. Así que prepárense para un montón de descripciones científicas y términos muy particulares, de verdad. Pero todo vale la pena.

Y lógicamente no puede acabar esta reseña sin que hable de los alienígenas: los jellies y los nightmares. ¿Ya ven cómo algunas películas representan a los extraterrestres como seres más bien antropomorfos? Pues aquí Paolini le dijo adiós a esos clichés y los representó como unas especies de calamares o criaturas bastante amorfas, en el caso de las pesadillas. Y… vaya, la verdad es que ambos son bastante asquerosos, pero más allá de eso, me impresionó la especie de lenguaje que creó para los jellies, el nearscent, si no estoy mal, que consiste más en sensaciones, esencias y una forma de lenguaje bastante indescriptible. Y es impresionante la cantidad de información que Paolini nos da sobre estas criaturas, pues eventualmente entendemos su fisionomía, cómo se crean, los diferentes tipos de jellies que hay dentro de los mismos Wranaui y… en fin, que es una maravilla ver cómo funciona la mente de Paolini y cómo se refleja en la complejidad del mundo que crea.

Antes de hablar del final (sin spoilers), quiero hacer una breve mención a la crueldad de Christopher Paolini en sus libros con respecto al romance. Todos sabemos cómo terminó esa situación de Eragon en Inheritance… Yo aún no supero el dolor y la maldad, de verdad. ¡Y lo hace de nuevo en To Sleep in a Sea of Stars! Joder, esos dos se merecían un poco más de felicidad que sencillamente haber estado juntos una noche antes de que pensaran que todos iban a morir. Y, claro, luego llega el final, que es una batalla absolutamente impresionante y que, como si fuera una película o una montaña rusa, te mantiene al borde del asiento y con una expresión de asombro tal que es imposible parar de leer una vez te faltan 100 páginas para acabar el libro. Y sí, la resolución de todo el asunto de la guerra de los humanos contra las pesadillas y los Wranaui es espectacular, y el destino final de Kira con el xeno también es algo que nunca podríamos haber visto venir. Y sí, hay algo de felicidad en todo el asunto, pero en general el libro termina en un punto agridulce (¡SOBRE TODO CON LA PAREJA QUE NO FUE!). Eso sí, admito que esos giros del final son muy inteligentes y, definitivamente, dejan abierta la compuerta espacial para que en el futuro veamos muchas más aventuras dentro de estas galaxias.

[Monte Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y'all...

I'm going to be very honest here, I didn't really think I was going to like this book as much as I did. I had vague memories of Eragon from my youth, a series that I never finished and it wouldn't have been the first time this year that I'd been burned by Tor, a book as long as this one. That said within the opening chapters I was immediately hooked, invested in the book and our main character in a way that hasn't happened nearly as often this year as I would have liked.

There was also a moment at the beginning of this story where I wasn't really sure where the narrative could be going. I was convinced that Paolini was pacing the book in such a way that over four hundred pages would be rendered useless. Reader, I could not have been more wrong. The narrative is packed full of twists that always felt organic and never felt like the kind of thing included only for shock value or to prolong the story. I've read quite a few 800+ books this year, and the majority of them I've felt could have been trimmed by a couple hundred pages, but by the time that I got to the end of this one I was angry that the book was over and I didn't have a follow up novel to launch into right away.

What starts off as the final days of a pretty routine mission on a new planet the novel quickly turns that of first contact followed quickly by the threat of an intergalactic war with more players than originally thought. Like I said earlier, Kira was a character that I was instantly drawn to and watching her navigate the ever changing circumstances was one that ate up. Also can't lie the execution of the found family trope in this one? A true masterpiece. It'd be hard to pick a favorite character, though the ship mind who has a name I can't spell since I listened to the audiobook is pretty up there talk about an icon™.

While perfect for lifelong science fiction readers, I do think that this is an excellent place to start for people looking to get into the genre or to transition into adult sci fi in general. Not only in the perfect way the story unfolds and the constant way that Paolini has the reader on their toes, but all of the science felt approachable. Sure there were still moments where it went over my head, though there is an appendix for people needing further explanations, on the whole though the book never felt bogged down by it. Explanations were woven into the fabric of the story that felt organic and not as though we should take a detour from the plot to explain this overly complicated thing and then get back to it.

This is the kind of book that you find yourself slightly jealous of others who get to experience for the first time when you finally reach the end. It's also the kind of read that while it certainly functions as a standalone I would also die a very bitter person if I didn't get more based on how this one ends. I think that I've rambled long enough, just know this was a masterpiece of a book and I'm gonna go finish mourning the fact that I finished this book and it's really over.

[Sherwood Smith]

Plenty of ink has been spilled about Christopher Paolini's dreadful/wonderful fantasy series (depending on who you talk to). When I was a teacher, I read everything my junior high and high school students read. The younger ones in particular loved Eragon--to them the clunky prose, cliche characters, and undigested swathes of various popular movies plus Bruce Coville's work were invisible. Though I couldn't make it through the first book, I knew that if I'd encountered it as a kid, I too would have adored it--and as for the prose and the obvious borrows, this was a kid writing. It's how young writers learn.

It was also clear that though Paolini didn't have an ear for prose, he was a natural-born storyteller, probably visually oriented. So I was curious to see the sample of a new sf series coming out later this year.

So far this is a solid entry in the new iterations of the space opera extravaganza. It starts off with our heroine Kira, a xenobiologist, finishing up a stint on a planet before she, her lover-turned-fiance, and tight-knit crew are about to blast off. She and fiancé are tired of being sent all over the galaxy, but hey, let's finish the job. One last thing to check . . .

You know of course that that last thing is going to kick off the plot and woo boy, does it! From there the action kicks into high gear and never lets up. I don't doubt that this will sell to HBO or one of the biggies before the book even comes out--the screenplay practically writes itself.

Prosewise it's an improvement over the fantasy. A tendency toward pleonasm and the easy much-used metaphor keep it firmly this side of the brilliance of Adrian Tchaikovsky or Mark Lawrence, but that's a pretty high bar. I was sorry to reach the end of the segment--I really want to read the rest of this story.

Partial provided by NetGalley

[Gerhard · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, many, many hundreds of pages later, not only do we end up with Fellowship of the Ring in space, with the conclusion of the original Alien movie thrown in for good measure, but we have no answer to the most important question of them all:
Whatever happened to Runcible and Mr. Fuzzypants?