To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

In a galaxy, where humanity stretches across all of space seeking the signs of alien life, Kira Navárez stumbles into a cave on uncolonized planet and the dust around her takes on a life of its own. Her encounter with the alien relic leaves her the only person with the perspective to face the terrors that humanity is up against. She now has to say goodbye to the future she dreamed of and is thrust into a war among the stars. Kira faces her own horrors, grapples with what it means to be human and is pushed to her very limits in order to save humanity from its greatest challenge.

I was so excited for Christopher Paolini’s book to be released. I have been waiting since the Inheritance Cycle wrapped up almost 10 years ago. I was a bit disappointed to find out that it was science-fiction and not fantasy, but I see why he would want to branch out and do something different and I cannot fault him for that. I just LOVE dragons.

When I first started the book, it seemed to be really going places, action and excitement were abundant, but it did slow down quite a bit not too long after and it became much slower and harder to get through. That being said, the story as a whole was beautiful. It was a great tale about humanity and the perseverance in the face of hopelessness. All of the great hallmarks of a fantastic sci-fi adventure. It was very unique. So much so that Paolini created a vocabulary all his own for methods of communication between races. The alien race in this story communicates by smell rather than voice and somehow, he is able to convey that in words, which just boggles my mind and is a testament to his incredible ability as a writer.

One of my favorite things in the story was the host of characters that shifts as the story does, but eventually settles on a bit of a rag-tag found family that you find yourself falling in love with as time goes on. The idea of “ship minds” is also a really cool addition to the sci-fi universe for me. I loved the ship mind Gregorovich and his overuse of the insult “meat-bag” it was amusing and the depth of his character was absolutely heartbreaking.

There were a lot of finer points in the story that made this book 100% worth reading even though it was a bit rough for me to get through. The book was very long and the pace was a far too slow for me. The story dragged on in many places and it stretched it out to be much longer of a book than I think it needed to be. However, I persevered, because it takes an awful lot for me to quit and decide not to finish a book. I think it would have been a bit easier for me to read this one as a physical book rather than audio book. I also think it would make a kick ass movie.  

I give To Sleep in a Sea of Stars 3.5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐ ✰

-Jacqui

Author: Christopher Paolini
Genre: Science Fiction
Format & Source: Audio Book, Audible
Publishing Info: Macmillan Publishers 2020