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Brandon

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To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)

by Christopher Paolini (Goodreads Author)

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in August 2020

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Brandon said: " Having grown up reading the Inheritance Cycle, I was overjoyed when I received an advanced copy of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, and immediately made my entire family jealous by sending them a picture of it once it arrived. As a result of getting that Having grown up reading the Inheritance Cycle, I was overjoyed when I received an advanced copy of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, and immediately made my entire family jealous by sending them a picture of it once it arrived. As a result of getting that advanced copy, I am now writing my first book review in good faith of receiving the book, and none of my opinions are influenced by the author/publisher/anyone else who may benefit or not from this review.

The first thing I want to address is the length of the book; is it a monster of a book sitting pretty at 825 pages? Yes. Is it worth sitting down and reading over X number of days? Also yes. One of the reasons this book took so long to get published is that Paolini (in his acknowledgements section) states that he actually took almost a year researching the mathematical constructs and physics concepts behind his new world, and the research shows in the detailed descriptions given on the inner workings of spaceships and faster than light travel and cryostasis and a multitude of other fields. Each description adds depth and increases immersion, but will inevitably add up quickly, leading to a long book.

Is this a perfect book? No, but then, nothing ever really is. To quote Paolini quoting Rolfe Humphries, "Who wants an epic poem absolutely, perfect, anyway?" The pacing of the book was varied, but I never felt that it dragged on or was stuck in a rut, and the breakdown of the chapters into various smaller sections made it easier to keep track of progress than a wall of text.

For those who maybe haven't read past Eragon and Eldest, the authors writing style has distinctly matured even beyond the growth seen by Brisingr and Inheritance, which is evident by the "adult-themed" content throughout the book. Readers should be aware that there is cussing and the presence of some mild erotic imagery, but none of it is extravagant; the language is often justified by the situation and makes it all feel much more real.

Fans of the Inheritance cycle may notice some homage to those books, but I won't spoil the references; you'll have to keep an eye out to catch them. There's also some fun tidbits scattered throughout the book that are hinted at by the author in his acknowledgements, so I definitely recommend reading through to the very end see if you noticed any of them throughout the story (I definitely didn't!).

All in all, I highly enjoyed the book in its entirety, and thought it was a fascinating foray into the sci-fi genre for Paolini. 5/5 stars, do recommend. ...more "

Aug 13, 2020 06:53AM · see review