Wow. I mean...wow! Just from the sample alone, I know I've got to read this book. It was engaging, witty, frightening, and exhilarating. A xenobiologist explores a cave, and what she accidentally discovers changes the course of hers and others' lives. This is one of those books that moves at a quick pace yet is able to ground itself in calmer moments without them feeling like they're bringing the book to a standstill. All in all, I think I'll definitely be reading the whole book.

Kira Navarez is a scientist with a passion for exploring new worlds. On a routine check of equipment on one of these worlds, Kira finds an artifact that ends up transforming her life forever...and the universe.

I just have to say, I literally could not put this book down. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and read this partial galley in one sitting.

While the synopsis gives hint that there is a malevolent force or beings in the universe, I was unsure starting the book what the tone would be. To my surprise and pleasure, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars feels like classic sci-fi thriller/horror, like Alien. There’s even a colony that is called Weyland, which I feel is an intentional reference! Kira is the Ripley of the story, and she does not disappoint. Kira kicks butt and is a person to be reckoned with, but she is vulnerable and so very human as well. The tone of the story lulls you into a sense of complacency, before everything hits the fan. When the action happens, it’s delightful and disturbing. There’s a scene that makes the chest burster part of Alien seem almost less terrifying in comparison. Not sure how that’s possible, but it happened, and that’s just a taste of the tone in the book. It’s fantastic!

I really love the fact that I’ve read what I assume is a decent piece of this book with the partial galley and I still don’t know a single thing about these aliens that are apparently out there wanting to annihilate everything. Or I assume they are wanting to. I like that. Don’t show all your cards at once. Leave us hanging on every word to know what comes next. I say that and know some stories do this wrong. They don’t show all their cards right away and you get bored and annoyed. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars doesn’t allow you the opportunity to get bored. If there’s a lull in the narrative, it’s just the calm before the storm.

This was such a pleasure to read, and I really cannot wait until the full novel comes out! Thanks again to NetGalley and to Tor for allowing me to read this partial galley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC. I was glad to see another book from Christopher Paolini, but this one does not involve any dragons. In this story, Kira, a xenobiologist unearths the relics of another civilization and not a friendly one. I have a feeling there are more books to come. Fun and quick read, I think this book will appeal to the young adult crowd.

I absolutely loved Christopher Paolini's Eragon series and was unsure of how I'd feel about another. Although this genre is completely different than dragons and their riders, it does not disappoint! Paolini provides an alluring story set in another world with intriguing characters.
I will be adding this to my TBR in September on release day as I want to know how this adventure ends! Plus, the stunning cover alone will be a beautiful addition to any library or collection.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian- Tor/Forge with this excerpt ARC!

3.5-4 stars

I received a partial eARC courtesy of Netgalley. eARC was approximately 100 pages long.

I'd like to go on record and say my lack of interest may perhaps stem from the fact that sci-fi is not at all my go-to genre. That being said, I also enjoy sci-fi. I'm simply picky about what I read.

Content warning ('cause I know some of you don't like this stuff): This is an ADULT book, and as such, it's obviously about people in their mid twenties/thirties. There is language. I wouldn't say it's a lot, but it's decently spread throughout every three-five pages. There's also sex in the first few chapters--nothing graphic, it's simply mentioned. So do with this info as you will.

The premise of this story isn't wholly original, and having never read nor watched The Expanse, I can't tell you if it's a little too similar to that or not. As someone going into this that reads more fantasy and Star Wars than anything else, I found it interesting, but not enticing. I liked Kira, but she didn't fully click with me. I'm hoping reading the rest of the book will make me like her more. As it is, I'm fairly indifferent to her, but I do wish her well.

I was really struck with how much worldbuilding we got within such a small amount of the book. I felt like Paolini did a good job spacing out the information and letting us know where we were and about how ships and the technology worked. It did feel sometimes like the information broke up the story a little too much or seemed a bit out of place in where it was, but as a whole, it didn't bother me that much.

This is a slow plot with intense moments to add to the feeling of time passing. But it's slow. There's a lot of waiting around and staring introspectively at walls or into the distance. It makes sense why that's happening considering the circumstances in the book, but it gives for a LOT of info dumping about Kira and the world/space she's lived in. It makes the plot drag near the end of the eARC, leaving the reader with a slight boredom because it ends on that.

SPOILERS BELOW



The alien reminds me so much of Venom from Spider-man, in that it has a symbiotic relationship with the person it bonds itself to. It's black, and it has conscious thought of it's own. Oh, and it has spikes. so it's Venom, but perhaps a nicer one.

I found the aliens a little too classic sci-fi alien. They reminded me of the descriptions of aliens from War of the Worlds with tentacles and wanting to kill things.

Part of me feels like the symbiote having all these super powers is a little too convenient. The story feels a little too contrived in how oh, gee, Kira was a normal human before and after meeting some aliens, she can do weird things. I know it's the symbiote doing everything since it has bonded to her, but parts of it feels a bit too much like a superhero movie. I'm not entirely sold on how the alien mythos will mix with the "human extermination" tagline of the blurb for this book--which is yet another contrived plot point. But again, this was a partial ARC so there's no telling what will happen in the next 600 pages.

Talk about the edge of your seat reading! Straight off the bat, Christopher Paolini delivers an action-driven plot. Kira is a likable protagonist, who is forced into a fight for her life after a mission goes bad. My only complaint is that I have to wait until September to read the rest of it!

Nooo! I have to be honest, I hadn't realized this was a partial sample when I got it. I'm on a sci-fi kick, and though I haven't read the Inheritance Cycle, I knew there was a ton of hype surrounding this book.

This is exactly what I wanted! Easier to digest hard sci-fi with fast pace adventure and a little romance on the side. September can't come soon enough!

I was excited to see this on NetGalley even if it wasn't the full book. I remember enjoying this author's YA series back then when I had read it and I plan to do a reread of it soon. This is definitely different for many reasons but it does have an interesting premise.

From what I did read, I think that this is a pretty solid read. Sci-fi can be a bit iffy for me but I am intrigued by the story that he is telling. The characters seem interesting and of course, there is a lot going on. Plus, aliens!

There is a lot of action and plot twists in this one. I'm curious to see how this will all turn out. Time to wait until September!

I appreciate having had an opportunity to read this preview. The appeal of this particular book was not evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review I prefer simply to advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.

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.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of the first ten chapters in exchange for an honest review.

Let me first start by saying that I was delighted to see Paolini return to the literary scene! And with a science fiction epic no less. I was obsessed with his Eragon series for YEARS as a wee young thing and am delighted to return to his books, this time both as a reviewer and as a fan.

In terms of the review—I bounced back between 3 and 4 stars on this one, and eventually settled for a solid 3.5, because that’s ultimately what the sample struck me as. Solid. Not bad, not groundbreaking, but a staunch, interesting read.

The good: I did like Kira, our protagonist. I admired that she wasn’t immediately willing to sacrifice herself for the “greater good”—it was refreshing to see a lead who complicated the hero narrative by caring desperately for her own survival as much as if not more than the superordinate situation. Not that she didn’t care about others. She just wasn’t willing to suffer for the sake of a murky goal. Most of the other characters were interesting as well, though I didn’t see as much of them as I wanted to. Her love interest felt like a cardboard cut out—which makes a little sense, in context, though I still would have appreciated more development in that department.

I won’t go into too many spoilers but I was also fascinated by the concept of the alien presence. I enjoy extraterrestrials in science fiction who really and truly feel unlike anything I have seen or encountered before, and this one fit that bill.

It’s also clear that Paolini has done his research. Though I’m no physicist, to me as a layperson the science of the story seemed very sound, from ship calculations to geology tidbits. These details were clearly curated and served to make the story feel more real.

The Less Good: The pacing dragged in the beginning especially around chapter 5, which I won’t extrapolate upon just yet because of spoilers. In general I thought the pacing could have been notched up a level, but once the action kicked off I was drawn in. I also have to say it—the beginning felt predictable. Our protagonist, on the verge of having everything she ever wanted, only one chapter into book? It’s clear that that’s all going to head down the drain pretty fast. I suppose every story had to start somewhere, though.

Overall I enjoyed this sample, and I am excited to read the rest of the novel as soon as I can!

My thoughts

Rating:

Would I recommend it?

Would I read more of this series?

Would I read more of this author? Yes in fact he writes one of my all time favorite series The Inheritance Cycle Series

WOW just wow , I can't put into words how good this was even though it was a partial galley of the story I just couldn't stop reading it ,it just came out of nowhere and bam I was hooked. It had every thing i could want in a SCI fi book: a bit of romance , space trivial , aliens, space battlers and the fate and humankind in the hands of one person. This definitely a win for Christopher Paolini and it just might be right up there with his The Inheritance Cycle Series . Can't wait to get my hands on the book so i can read the rest of it and finds out what happens next. Once again thank you so much Tor books for inviting me to read this.

This book is definitely different from anything I’ve read from Chris. It seems a bit over the top for me in terms of description and a novella of like the Expanse series.