I was sent part one of #To SleepInaseaofStars by Macmillan-Tor/Forge and #netgalley.. That being said I bought myself a full copy of the book and my star rating will refer to the whole book rather than excerpt. I loved the Inheritance Cycle and was keen to read this book even though I do not usually read much sci-fi. I loved this book, it reads very easily even though it is quite big. The characters are very well written and the plot is amazing. I would highly recommend this book,

Christopher Paolini’s fantasy series, starting with Eregon, is well-written, exciting and believable. I anticipated “To Sleep in a Sea of Stars” with a great deal of excitement. But the transition from Dragons to Aliens, fantasy to science fiction is not an easy one. I wanted to see if he could do it. I was not disappointed.

Kira Navarez, a xenobiologist, is exploring an alien environment. Coming upon a formation sticking out of the earth, Kira is intrigued and satisfies her curiosity by entering the formation. As she examines this alien artifact, she becomes entangled in it and finds herself unable to escape. It engulfs her. Thus, begins a transformation of Kira that she could not have foreseen. An entity has joined with her and is taking control of her body and mind.

Tragedy follows Kira as she deals with her new body and growing alien intelligence. What will become of her? Can she rid herself of the entity?

Although I enjoyed the book, Paolini’s imagination went much further than my earthbound brain was capable of. But hang in there. This book is worth reading. His writing is what you would expect of him, his characters are strong and well developed and his world building is out of this world. If you loved Eregon, try it, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Although I was only graced with an excerpt, I was immediately sucked into this story. I did enjoy the Inheritance books, so I thought I knew what I expect, but I was blown away by this new book. I bought the full book when it came out, and I wasn't disappointed. The writing is lovely, the characters endearing and very fleshed out, and the story line was emotional and powerful. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to the publisher for a partial galley of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by, Christopher Paolini. This is afirst glimpse at this authors writing. While I found the writing to be flawless, I normally do not enjoy sci-fi, the subject matter became more and more interesting to me. I may pickup a physical copy to finish in the future. From what I read so far, I give it three stars.

Just from the small amount of this book that I’ve read Christopher Paolini I has created an interesting world and concept and has managed to get me to buy the finished book. His writing has definitely improved since he was a teenager and I’m so glad he has started writing again.

I was expecting big things because I love the Eragon series. But this didn't quite live up to it. I can't really connect with any of the characters and it feels like its taking itself too seriously. But maybe some others will like it

Slightly disappointing for the much anticipated release since The Inheritance Cycle. Readers get the sense that Paolini is trying to prove himself in his first release since his youth. A story line that was conceptualized in adulthood, and not one of a young man's fantasy. This was an enjoyable read, but not comparable to his magnum opus that is Eragon's tale.

Originally this “review” was going to just cover the partial galley. I made a promise to myself that I would not get lost in this book, allowing it to consume my soul, a quest I have clearly failed. I had three-quarters of a draft completed when my old pal Hugh-Brist showed up and petitioned me to read further. I asked him “Why Hugh, pray tell, would I embark on such a ridiculous endeavor?” His response was obvious: “Why not? Are you really going to call it quits after one hundred and thirty pages out of eight hundred and eighty? Are you that weak of heart?” I looked him dead in the eyes and I knew he had beaten me. So I bought a full copy of the book, and upon opening it on my e-reader, I knew I had fallen for one Hugh’s classic traps. The words “a book in the Fractalverse” flashed on my screen and I felt what was left of my soul scream and try to leave my corporeal form, but I held fast. I hunkered down with some tea, looked at my copy of The Trouble With Peace and whispered to it lovingly “please remain my lighthouse that guides me through these dark treacherous waters,” and I began to read the remainder of the book. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (hereafter TSIASOS), by Christopher Paolini, is a textbook example of doing too little with far too much and still leaves you feeling emptier than a bout of food poisoning.

TSIASOS follows one Kira Navarez, a xeno-biologist who does (surprise!) xenobiology. She travels the galaxy, researching planets that may have signs of extraterrestrial life. But after years of travelling and being away from her boyfriend, xeno-geologist Alan J. Barnes, they decide it is time to settle down on a planet and forgo the long swaths of time apart. While studying some interesting rock formations at the request of Alan, Kira discovers something weird, and her world is turned upside down. She awakens in a medical facility, unsure of what happened, and no idea what she may have discovered. But the planet she was just about to call home is now forbidden, and she, along with the rest of her crew, have been quarantined awaiting study. Soon she discovers she has been exposed to something alien and a “living” skin suit has attached itself to her body, and she has no understanding of its purpose, let alone how to communicate with it. Not soon after, her ship, along with the majority of humanity, is attacked by an alien civilization that up until this point had been non-existent, plunging Kira into a galactic battle that would decide the fate of humanity itself.

Continuing with the theme of being honest, I don’t even really know where I can begin to talk about this book. I had to take a week to process it and get the demons out of my system. Several people had to walk me back from the precipice of lovecraftian madness, laughing at my misery while egging me on, craving those delicious moments where I cracked and revealed my feelings about the book. I knew I had to soldier on, but how can one reviewer withstand so much darkness and not emerge unscathed? Well, I didn’t, and really no hero should emerge without scars, otherwise there is no reminder of who you once were healing into the person you’ve become. Yes, that was a specific dig at this book. So, I might as well actually get to why I did not like this thing and be a decent reviewer so you, like all of my smart friends, can stay away from this pain.

This is an incredibly plot heavy book that does the absolute minimum required to service a fast-paced action heavy story. Now, some people do not mind a good page turner like that. Hell, I’m even predisposed to it on occasion. What I found extremely troubling about this particular book is that it is all payoff, no setup. Every moment that should have an impact on the characters and the reader just comes out of left field. There were several times where something is revealed to the reader that the characters already just knew. Ideally you would want this; it makes the world feel grounded in its own reality. However, Paolini makes it fall flat by shoving the interesting aspect of the world and a limp character moment into the same paragraph, making both fall even flatter. Sometimes he does the opposite, taking an interesting character moment and then blaming it on some behind the scenes tampering. There is no moment that feels like it will come back to haunt Kira, or any of the crew members. Every bit of tension is immediately released, or has zero consequences. There were clear moments where set up could have occurred, but Paolini just sidestepped it, had a small conversation about it between his characters, and moved on. This is very clearly an issue of showing versus telling, and somehow Paolini manages to do both at the same time while accomplishing nothing.

It does not take very long for the book to become a fantasy book in space, and the first clue rears its mighty head the moment Kira is able to understand the alien that has attached itself to her, and she learns its name is Soft Blade. Admittedly, the name itself is interesting, and adds an incredible amount of potential depth, but as I mentioned above, it never really pays off. After Kira’s entire crew is fridged–and no, I don’t mean cryogenically frozen, I mean killed– she is whisked away onto another ship full of ragtag smugglers/traders who do their very best to act out their tropes. A bit of mysticism ensues with a seemingly random passerby who tells her to “eat the path” and our gallant heroes are off to save the galaxy by finding a magical staff, right as a second batch of different aliens shows up to turn the war into a three-way. Listen, I’m not here to kink-shame, nor am I here to be a genre gatekeeper (hell we wrote a whole piece praising the idea of Science-Fantasy), but this book did not read as advertised and was worse for it.

“But Alex,” I hear you say, “what if I forgive this book of said trespass, will I enjoy it otherwise?” No dear reader, beyond the plot there is not really much else. Worldbuilding seems to be what people might be expecting given Paolini’s history, but it’s bare bones at best here, and even those bones have been cracked open and the marrow dried to dust. There are hints at interesting things, but there is never a why. There is no history, no politics, no governance, no corporations, no real reason to be in outer space. There are seemingly interesting groups of people, but they have no raison d’etre. The Entropists are the best example as they are the most fleshed out. The Entropists are an ill-defined group of humans who feel that the pursuit of science and reason should be first and foremost, but they just end up being space wizards. Their philosophy doesn’t really conflict with Kira or the other crew members, nor does it bolster her decisions. They are just there to shoot lasers and be cool. Literally every other group in the book gets a couple of sentences at best, even those who exist among the crew. In the end, the worldbuilding in TSIASOS is just cool little “lore-like” tidbits that are mere sprinkles of salt and pepper on an oversized and overcooked steak.

I wish I could sum up the aliens in this book in a laser precise sentence that sums up their narrative purpose while also pointing out their utter dullness. As I mentioned before, there are not one, but TWO alien species in this conflict. If you crank the handle long enough, a third one peeks its head up, gives you the finger and goes to hide in it’s mystery box for the rest of the book. To be fair, this is the one instance where Paolini provides set up, but then decides to put the payoff in another book. Instead we’re left with the Jellies and the Nightmares. The Jellies are a hierarchical form-fits-function civilization of squid-like aliens that have much more advanced technology than us, and they communicate by sense of smell. They are ruled by the mighty Ctein, a centuries old Jelly that controls every aspect of their lives and they don’t like humans. There is a lot to not like about the Jellies, but the part that irked me the most is due to the Soft Blade, Kira has no trouble communicating with them, and there is no translation element to the extremely different way they communicate. I may be spoiled by other authors who do an excellent job of tackling alien communications, but Paolini just punctualizes the speech differently, and has no room for interpretation. It removes any tension between Kira and the Jellies, and it makes me angry. The Nightmares are just space zombies, a giant all consuming space horde that wants to eat everything, for literally no other reason than it’s convenient to the plot. SO THAT’S COOL.

Well if the worldbuilding is lackluster, and plot is incredibly derivative, the characters have to be it, right chief? I don’t like being the consistent bearer of bad news, but no this really ain’t it. Kira herself is a blank slate whose primary character trait is “why did this have to happen to me, this sucks.” You can technically say she experiences “growth” as we are told of how different she is now than she was in the beginning of the book, but Paolini skips grounded character work making it feel unearned. Her big moments are accidentally killing people or Jellies, training with the soft blade while everyone is cryogenically frozen, and consciously killing Jellies. The people who know her are killed early on, allowing her to be free of historical constraints and allowing any moment to be considered development. Her job as a xeno-biologist is just that, a job. A lot of her interactions with other characters feel like transactions with non-player characters in an RPG, utilizing them for what knowledge or skills they can provide her to solve the puzzle and nothing more. What makes it so frustrating is Paolini tries so hard to make these intimate moments between strangers happen, and they all just fall flat, adding to the lore, instead of the drama.

I could write for days about this book, diving into spoilers and going into unwarranted, invasive, and completely unnecessary psychoanalysis. There are lists that could be produced about all the different references Paolini makes in TSIASOS to science fiction that just scream “I read sci-fi you guys, please I swear.” I have so many highlights in my e-reader that amount to “WHAT,” that they could serve as citations in a doctoral thesis on Paolini’s view of the human condition. Instead, I’ll just morosely say, please don’t read this book. Don’t put yourself through this gauntlet, don’t let Hugh-Brist tell you “it won’t be that bad.” I’ve waited until the end to say this, because I wanted you to read the whole warning before getting to this point. I needed you to understand, while not directly feeling this pain yourself. To Sleep In A Sea of Stars is just Eragon in space, and somehow that makes it worse.

Rating: To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars – Why did I read this whole book, 2.0/10
–Alex

I grew up with, and loved Paolini's Inheritance series. It ignited my love of fantasy, and I was excited to see he was back with both a new Inheritance book, and a sci-fi series! I'm not as big on sci-fi, but am curious where this story will go!

Maybe it's me and you have to be in the right mindset to read a book. Perhaps I wasn't and, although I found the world-building interesting, I just didn't connect with the writing.

Malheureusement, je n'ai pas accroché à ce titre, au point de l'abandonner. Je n'avais jamais lu cet auteur, et je dois dire que, dans ce livre, je n'ai pas spécialement aimé son style d'écriture. Le personnage central, Kira, est d'une froideur sans nom ! Je n'ai senti aucune affinité avec elle. L'intrigue, au bout du 1er quart, me semblait longue, trop longue, utilisant des termes scientifiques méconnus. Pour une néophyte, difficile de prendre vraiment ses marques. Tous ses ingrédients ont fait que je n'ai pas souhaité continuer ma lecture, ne ressentant aucune curiosité quant à la suite.

Thanks to NetGalley for a partial eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my, oh my! What can I say?! Y'all!! The moment I began reading this book, I was hooked. It was a little confusing at first, with learning about this new world, but that did not stop me! This partial galley gave me up to chapter nine, and when it ended I was so sad! I wanted to keep going and keep devouring the words. It was getting so good!!!

A team of human scientists are out exploring new worlds, trying to make sure the planets will be hospitable for human colonization. During a regular scouting trip, Kira discovers an alien relic. Her excitement quickly turns to horror as the dust around the relic begins to cling to her body.

The trial of what it means to make first contact and how it will affect Kira's life and the rest of humanity awaits in rest of this book! I cannot wait to get my hands on a finished copy to see how the rest of the story unfolds! So far, 5/5 stars!

’Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds.’

’Now she's awakened a nightmare.’

’During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first, she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.’

I had a blast reading the Science Fiction novel TO SLEEP IN A SEA OF STARS by Christopher Paolini, and can’t wait to read more! My favorite characters are Kira, Sparrow, and the Ship mind Gregorovich, who affectionately fond of calling Kira, Meatbag.

Thank you, NetGalley and (Tor) Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC., for loaning me an eBook of TO SLEEP IN A SEA OF STARS in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn't get into it. I tried. I really tried, but for reasons I can't put my finger one, once she got into chitinous armor and floated out into space, to be found, finally--as we knew she would--by regular humans, I just got bored.

I loved reading the snippet of TO SLEEP IN A SEA OF STARS. It was a blast to read and I don't know where our characters are going to go next. I can't wait to finish the book.

I loved this book. There was such a level of care taken by the author in knowing the details behind things like FTL travel and so on that made the book that much more realistic, even though it dealt with very fantastic things like alien species. Pacing was great and just as you would get tired with something, EVERYTHING would change leaving you constantly on the edge of your seat with where the story was headed. I look forward to future novels in the Fractal-verse!

I was not approved for the full galley, but I received a partial galley from the publisher. The partial galley consisted of Part One of the book. As I only received an excerpt, I will not be sharing this review to other sites.

I originally discovered this book on Bookish First. I read the sample provided on that site and was really surprised by how much I enjoyed what I read, since science fiction is not one of my preferred genres. I found the rest of Part One to be equally captivating. Kira is thrust into a new reality, one in which her own body is no longer just her own. Her discoveries have threatened her life and those of her companions.

I borrowed the book as an audiobook from my library in order to finish it. Unfortunately, Part One remains my favorite part. I found myself struggling to connect with the rest of the book. I feel that I may have expected something entirely different than what the book really was.

I am rating the sample 4 out of 5 stars, but due to my own personal preferences, I am rating the book 3 out of 5 stars overall.

I couldn't connect with the story due to the writing style, but I can appreciate the scope of the story and the epic world-building that was done just in this partial galley. I'm impressed by the author's imagination, I just personally couldn't connect. Thank you for the chance to review!

***Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for the advanced review copy. All opinions and statements made in the following review are my own honest views.***

I would like to start this review by saying that I am absolutely in love with the cover for this book. I just think it is stunning. I meant to read this book much earlier but like any other avid reader can tell you, it was on my TBR pile for a long while. I found the plot to be fairly original and interesting. I don't want to give any spoilers away so I will just say that I was caught off guard by the dark and twisted turn that it took. This book was giving me Venom vibes for sure.

I am only rating this 3 out of 5 stars because I hated where it cut off and also because I found myself skipping a lot of the descriptive parts as they felt like it was dragging the story down.

Disclaimer: I received a sneak peek and an early audiobook from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

Author: Christopher Paolini

Book Series: Standalone (so far?)

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: f/f romance and side characters, menstruation mentioned, aids like character

Recommended For...: science fiction, Paolini fans

Publication Date: September 15, 2020

Genre: Science Fiction

Recommended Age: 18+ (language, romance, sex and sexual content, gore, violence, death, grief, aliens)

Publisher: Tor Books

Pages: 878

Synopsis: Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds.

Now she's awakened a nightmare.

During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope . . ."

Review: Well, I'll admit it, I didn't think Paolini would be able to write something as captivating as this was for me considering that I have issues getting through Eragon but I'm so glad I was wrong. Paolini does well with his writing (he's better than JK and less problematic, let's be honest) and he does well to make a world so well developed that I see it in my dreams. The characters are also very well developed and I feel so much for Kira's pain and triumphs.

My only issue with it is that there's definitely a rhythm to the book, a bit slow then fast then slow, but it works for this book. I also had issue with humans being called 2 form when we technically have at least 3 sexes, but I think the book did ok to address that, but I still would have liked to see more. Even though I felt the book didn't do so well in that area, I thought Paolini did well to show a well developed female character with very few tropes and an accurate and loving f/f relationship. Overall, I think it's one of my favorite sci-fi books now and I think Paolini did well for his first book out of a well loved fantasy series.

Verdict: A well done and amazing sci-fi! Highly recommend!