Intriguing.

I have been a fan of Christopher Paolini since Eragon. When I heard he was releasing a new novel, I was excited. I found myself hooked reading this and was sad it was only a partial galley. I need to know what happens next.

I received a partial of TSIASOS thanks to NetGalley. I was keenly aware of the years it has been since Paolini first got on my radar with ERAGON, but that debut was the deepest I had read into his works to date. Time has a way of giving authors more life perspective and tools. He's tackling scifi and it's a big book, apparently, so yes, I feel like this switch in genre/tales is a great moment to make a return acquaintance. Please note that this review only reflects awareness of the first several chapters, which could be described as an introduction to Kira and the development of her situation - presumably the big impetus for what the remainder of the book will explore.

He's busted his chops to get here, and I feel it shows. The writing does have some of those tendencies towards the familiar in character responses, like relationships between Kira and her crewmates and lover. I noted and approved of the work he's done to find science which backs up his material. When I think something is feeling a bit rote, he swerves, and provides solid, confident storytelling that moves the tale along. I was thrilled to find myself engaged and drawn in. He has a good sense for differentiation. Certain unexpected characters gained nuance. Technology gleamed. I particularly like the alien details, and various nemesis - human and others - that confront Kira along the way. Paolini is considerate of the situations he is developing, and his voice holds some reflection on existence that could be enjoyable as Kira's tale unspools. I enjoyed the ideas he has presented and yes, they could go interesting places.

I haven't read any blurbs or further details about the book, so ahead of its publication, all I can say is this is an adventure I'd happily continue on. I'm looking forward to seeing the book in full later this year.

I was a fan of the Inheritance Cycle books when they first came out so my interest was piqued when I saw Christoper Paolini wrote another book in a completely different setting. This book is advertised as Sci-fi and fantasy, but I think Sci-fi and horror would be more accurate. The story is written like a horror novel, and has some similar elements as the movies Alien and Venom. Paolini's writing style bugged me at first- it seemed like he was using way too many adjectives to describe the setting, but it got better as the plot took hold. I was only able to read the excerpt of the book, but it was a fun and quick read. The plot and main character were intriguing enough that I want to read the rest of the book when it comes out to see where the story goes.

Kira has finally gotten engaged and decided to settle down with her fiance as a colonist on a new world. Her plans are ruined when she checks out some strange formations during a mission and she falls through the ceiling of a strange room that may have been made by alien hands. There she discovers a strange relic that may prove to be as helpful as it is deadly, but humans aren't the only ones who want it.

Greatly enjoyed the wild ride this story took me on. The mystery elements of the new discovery made me eager to find out more and made it impossible for me to put this down. I was disappointed when I reached the end of the excerpt purely because I wanted to keep reading to finish the story. Can't wait to read the rest and highly recommend this.

"To Sleep in a Sea of Stars" by Christopher Paolini follows the story of Kira the Xenobiologist who studies biology on alien planets in the deep reaches of space. Kira has been on multiple missions and is ready to settle down with her new fiancée Alan when things go terribly wrong. Kira and her team are finishing up a job on Adrasteia when she stumbles across an oddly shaped rock formation that she decides to explore. During the small side expedition, she makes first contact with an alien life form that now threatens everyone she knows and loves. Will she escape? Will she be able to save the others?

This new novel by Christopher Paolini has the same descriptive and elaborate diction that has become his signature. He does an excellent job setting the scene and world building so that the reader is transported into deep space. The beginning of the book was a little choppy though as there were a lot of names of people, places and ships provided up front. It was difficult to keep all of the names straight without something to reference before hand. It would have been helpful to have either a longer world building section to become more familiar with the names and terms or perhaps an infographic at the beginning of the book with cast of characters or map of the planets/locations etc.

Kira is in for the fight of her life, and I am HERE FOR IT! My heart broke for her in the beginning of the story with the events that unfolded and I can't wait to see what happens to her next in the second portion of the book. She is just the right mix of loving, dedicated and driven to make me want to cheer for her to succeed and really stand behind the character. She's tough as nails when she needs to be and worried or preoccupied at times when she can be softer.

I loved the beginning of this book and I can't wait to see where this story goes!

Wow! Welcome back Christopher Paolini! I was very excited to receive this ARC for review, since I've been a long-time fan of the Eragon series. Just from the limited text. Was given to review, I can already tell this book will be excellent. Though it's very different from his more well-known stuff, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is everything you'd hope for in a new novel (maybe series?) from such a great author. Fans will surely be pleased with this one. Thank you to Netgalley and Tor for this chance to read and review! I can't wait to read the rest in September!

I would like to thank Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced partial galley of this in exchange for an honest review.

So far I love the partial galley and I can't wait till the book is released. *sigh* September seems so far away.


Where to start? The character development was amazing. I loved the life he brought to them. Even the ships AI felt more realistic than other AI's in any other book I've read. We follow the the protagonist Kira Navárez, a xenobiologist on a mission to a uncharted planet. Kira and the team are wrapping up the mission when she finds an alien artifact. After that the story quickly progresses. Without giving to much away, strap yourself in for some strong emotions. Love, loss, anger and pain. For me this book has been the best read of 2020.

Since this wasn't the full story I have a hard time rating it- I definitely want to finish the book but I can't say how anything past part one holds up.
It is an intriguing story, if not a bit predictable. We know her True Love will die when he is introduced, we know that She will benefit from the alien and it's (so far) a classic conflict of two species that humans are now in the middle of.

The relationship and loss of Alan wasn't emotionally vesting. I felt little for her loss, despite the continued reference to it. Paolini has grown since his hit with the Eragon series but not enough to be considered someone who has fleshed out characters. They are intriguing on the surface but the intrigue fails to go deeper.

It is a predictable but enjoyable read.

I NEED MORE OF THIS BOOK!!!

Firstly, I would like to greatly thank Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an advanced partial galley of this in exchange for an honest review.

When I discovered that the author of the widely famous Eragon series was writing his first novel in almost ten years I was captivated! I grew up reading the Eragon books when I was younger and could not wait to get my hands on his new work and discover how his writing style had evolved! And then, by a stroke of luck I was granted a partial advanced copy!

Let's dive right in shall we?

We begin this tale with the protagonist Kira Navárez, a xenobiologist, on a routine mission on some uncharted planet. The mission is wrapping up, quite successfully, when one of their radars/beacons discovers something out of the ordinary. Kira is sent to explore this and literally stumbles upon an alien artifact. This is a major discovery in the sense that only one artifact has ever been discovered in the history of mankind signifying the existence of intelligent alien life. However, what she discovers infiltrates her body and renders her unconscious for a month!

Following a series of traumatic events (I won't go into spoiler territory here), Kira is isolated onboard a military vessel against her will and undergoes testing to better understand this alien artifact/entity. We know very little about the entity at this stage other than the fact that it bonded with Kira's body and is very dangerous. She is subject to a number of increasingly cruel tests and torture to determine a weakness of this. The term lab rat comes to mind-they don't even treat her as if she is human.

Things quickly spiral out of control from here as we switch the stage to the next section of the book. We witness a HOSTILE ALIEN SPECIES, an EXPLOSION OF CATOSTROPHIC PROPORTIONS, we witness the EXTREME ISOLATION of space travel, but most importantly, we are granted MYSTERIOUS VISIONS that begin to unveil a much more ELABORATE PLOT that will propel the story forward with increasing tension and velocity. What is the purpose of this alien species? Was its home destroyed by another more hostile species? What is Kira's role in all of this? Will she survive to find out? There are so many questions left to answer and I am hooked! I simply cannot wait to devour the rest of To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars!!!

I would highly recommend this for fans of The Martian, space operas, Hugh Howey's Beacon 23, and obviously fans of Christopher Paolini!

I don't normally read partial excerpts but I picked up this one because I was very excited about this super buzzy book. I am probably one of the few reviewers who has not read Eragon, but rather was interested as a science fiction reader. I was not overly impressed by the start of the book, which read a bit young for a piece of adult fiction. Honestly this felt more like a YA SciFi novel with the female main character more focused on her relationship than her space mission. I also thought the writing and world building was a little weak. So unfortunately I'm a bit disappointed in the start of this space opera.

I cannot wait for this book to come out. It was a bit of a slow start but in the end I was hooked and want to know so much more.

The character development is great, even down to the ship AI. I just wish the pace moved a little faster in the beginning. I felt it was a bit drawn out. I understand why, but as someone who reads romance, I think certain points could have been gotten to a little quicker.

TL;DR

Christopher Paolini’s To Sleep in a Sea of Stars starts off with an intriguing take on the first contact story. As I only had a partial review copy, I’m looking forward to seeing if Paolini keeps up the action in this fun new Space Opera. Highly Recommended.

Review: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

The universe is huge, and if certain physicists are correct, the multiverse is even bigger than that. In all that space up there, the likelihood that life exists seems statistically unavoidable. What will that life look like, though? Who knows. What complicates this question is the technological capability of that life. Humans don’t live off-planet, but we’ve begun to modify our bodies in many ways. As technology and life outside a gravity well progress, what changes will we see? Will that life be recognizable? These are the questions that an excerpt of Christopher Paolini’s To Sleep in a Sea of Stars left me pondering.

Disclaimer: I was provided a free, partial advanced reading copy of To Sleep in a Sea of Star in exchange for an honest review.

Kira Navarez is a biologist in a surveying team, exploring a world in preparation for colonists to settle. The team’s activities are coming to a finish. Near the end of her time on the planet, Kira goes out to look for a lost drone. Instead, she falls down a hole into an alien artifact. Her life is forever changed. The reader follows Kira through this fall to recovering on the corporation’s ship in orbit to confinement in a military lab.

In the partial ARC I was given, it’s a first contact story. Aliens, yes, plural, exist in Kira’s universe, but until now, no humans had contact with any. Lucky Kira gets to be the first. Or maybe she’s just the first that survived. For the excerpt I read, there was a lot of world building, which I liked. This led to a feeling of slowness in the beginning, but soon the pace picked up.

Following Kira’s story after it gets off the ground (pun intended) was fun, and I enjoyed watching her adapt to her new life. For now, she’s the only character that really had an impact on me. But few of the other characters survived the excerpt. It makes me wonder if she’ll be alone for the whole book. Or can she even go home again? I’ll have to wait until September to find out.

Politics

The reader doesn’t get much in the way of politics in the pages that I read. We learn a general background. Corporations drive settlement and exploration, and they’re still out to screw the workers whenever they can. There exists a paramilitary organization that dictates and controls anything dealing with alien artifacts or contact. This organization seems to have priority in these areas over corporations or human governments. The reader gets a hint, and for me, it piqued my interest. How are humans organized in this world? I’d like to learn more. The distances in this book are sufficiently space opera big, and I’d like to see Paolini’s take on how governance has adapted to life at such distances.

Will I Finish To Sleep in a Sea of Stars?

Yes. I want to see where this goes. In the partial ARC that I got, enough ideas are presented to hook me. While I got to know Kira a little, I want to know more. How will she deal with all the loss of life surrounding her? And, reader, there are a lot of deaths. For the small amount of story, this excerpt was brutal. So many changes happen in Kira’s life, but she spends only a little time contemplating that her old life, the comforting, bland one, is over. I’d like to see how that plays out. Self-reflection exists in the story, but it’s cursory at best. She hasn’t really dealt with the loss of her friends or being a military lab rat. She hasn’t grieved for her old life. I hope to see more of this as the novel progresses. Not only do I want the answer to what life has in store for Kira Navarez, but I want to know how it affects and changes her. Because how she reacts leads into the bigger question that I don’t have an answer to: Is Kira still human?

Conclusion

Christopher Paolini’s To Sleep in a Sea of Stars starts off well with big ideas and enough action to draw me in. My excerpt ended with Kira flying back to human civilization, and I’m interested in seeing what adventures lie ahead for her.

7.5 out of 10!

I really enjoy Christopher Paolini's work and was very excited to learn about this new book. Although this is only a partial bit of the story, it's extremely engaging and left me wanting more. I look forward to reading the rest of this when it comes out in September. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the partial ARC.

Let me start by saying that I do plan on finishing this when it is released. I believe and Paolini enough to do that. However, I was not overly impressed by either the prose or the plot of this partial galley. I recently reread Eragon, and I personally don’t feel like the author’s writing has grown as much as I had hoped and expected. The plot is engaging, but doesn’t feel particularly fresh to me. I am still intrigued enough to read on, but I am a little worried. Thank you Netgallety, Tor, and Paolini for this chance to get a sneak peek!

Well, the wait until September is going to kill me, because I need to know what happens next.
Christopher Paolini has written the book I've wanted for a long time. It feels so much like some of my absolutely favorite Sci-Fi TV Shows - Farscape, Stargate...
I've only been able to read a small portion of this book, thanks to NetGalley for granting my request, and I'm so excited to see what happens next.
There was a moment in this, that I legitimately stopped breathing while I was reading. The action was so tense, s emotional, and the outcome of that scene is - well, I don't want to spoil, but it had my heart pounding. The emotional weights in this book are on point, and how many more times can I say 'I can't wait for (the rest of) this book'?
I really like Kira and how she's this pawn in a much bigger plan, and isn't really thrilled with how events turn out for her. I'm so anxious to see how this continues, because where this partial ARC ends, I'm dying to know. I NEED to know.
Since I haven't read the full book yet, I'm giving this a 3.5 - rounding up for rating sake, but I have no doubt that this is going to be a 5star read from me, and something I read over and over. I've loved everything I've read so far and I'm still a massive Christopher Paolini fan.

It is hard to give an overall rating to an excerpt of this book, but I do think that this will ultimately be quite an enjoyable read. I've been a fan of Christopher Paolini books since middle school and was really nervous to pick up a new book in a new world and a completely different genre (one that I don't often read or enjoy). I will say that Paolini's world building has grown leaps and bounds since Eragon but the writing and quality of the work is something that has remained enjoyable. I definitely left this excerpt feeling excited to read the rest of the book later this year.

I am not a SciFi book reader. I watch SciFi; I don’t read it. Following several tropes of the genre, Paolini puts together an interesting first piece—that conveniently and abruptly stops just when I was getting settled in and engrossed. I’m not complaining; I’m very glad to have been given the opportunity to read this partial ARC. But, c’mon!

Paolini’s toe dip into the genre takes some getting used to at the offset. His prose feels very choppy, but it lends itself to the pace he sets with the action he presents. He uses concise descriptions to familiarize the reader with the universe quickly in order get on with the rest of the story. I felt it was very seamless and not a taxing info dump. In fact, there is so much going on under the surface, with a book this seemingly large (it at one time was somewhere upwards of 800 pages; now it’s at 600 or so—not sure where the discordances are from), I wonder if readers will be taken all over the universe before arriving at the end.

My biggest complaint is the dialogue, which starts off a bit rough. I remember with Eragon that I could not suffer the dialogue, so I quit reading the book early on. For TSiaSoS, after the first main action sequence, the dialogue gets better and settles into something tolerable for me.

I’m certainly excited for this one to come out. It may be the gateway book for me into a new genre. I usually don’t reach for SciFi books. I may, after a pleasing experience with this one, just have to start. And I will definitely see to it that my local library has a copy for everyone to enjoy.

My thanks to NetGalley for the partial ARC, for which I give my own opinion.

This partial galley of Paolini’s newest title To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is an intriguing foray into interstellar colonization, first contact and symbiotic parasites. After devouring it in one sitting all I can say is sign me the hell up.

The set up is a little odd with the chapters dividing into sub-chapters. (though this may be for editing purposes and may not appear in the final printing) This particular galley was about 175 pages according to my ereader.

You’re following Kira who is a biologist on an alien planet. She and her crew are at the end of their assignment and she isn’t sure if she really want to go on the next one. There’s one last project that she has to tend to and its going to throw a wrench into her plans that none of them see coming.
I did find the initial introduction to the group quaint. Long standing flight/science crew with relationships that though clue you in to closeness aren’t fully established save the main protagonist and their love interest.
The story itself does feel a little generic/predictable at first and our main jumping point pops up barely two chapters in. Despite that observation, once it hit I was hooked. It absolutely did not feel like I had read as many pages as I did.

There is some clunkiness to the writing but if you’re familiar with his previous works its not uncommon and easily ignored. I cant wait to get more backstory on the other lifeforms we’ve encountered as well as the cast. With so many possibilities to go for from here I am chomping at the bit to finish the story.

*EARC provided by Macmillian-Tor/Forge via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the partial ARC! I was super excited when I heard that Christopher Paolini was writing a new book. The Inheritance Cycle was one of my favorite series when I was younger, Though I only got to read a small portion of it, I was instantly hooked. I cannot wait for the book to come out in September and to find out what happens next. This will be a must read for Sci-Fi fans!

Disclaimer: The ARC received is a partial ARC and not the full book, a little under 45K words. The full book is listed at ~800 pages, so I estimate this to be about 1/4 of the book.

Eragon is quite a beloved childhood series for me, and so to hear that Christopher Paolini is returning with a brand new book, and sci-fi nonetheless, I was extremely excited! While I've heard the criticism for Eragon, I read those books so long ago that I have no real recollection of the actual story. As such, I would like to say I went in neutrally optimistic. Unfortunately, even with that mindset, I was disappointed.

My personal taste in sci-fi leans towards explorative and new, ideally with an aggressive amount of techno-babble. I like seeing authors explore not only new worlds, creatures, and technologies, but new societal norms and bounds, new cultures. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars gave me none of that. If I had one word to describe this book, it would be 'generic'. If you threw every popular trope in mainstream Sci-Fi right now (questionably evil capitalist corporation, generic American-modeled space society, technologically advanced hivemind alien species, etc) into a blender and pulsed for two minutes, you would get this book. There was never a point where I thought to myself, 'what an interesting concept, that's really cool'. Perhaps this is due to having read majority #OwnVoices and books that reach outside of the Western sphere for worldbuilding inspiration for the past year, but returning now just seems so... boring. Uninspired. Generic.

For all that I was not excited, I do have to give Paolini credit where credit is due. While I didn't find it exciting, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is extremely well executed. The prose flows well and quite illustrative. The worldbuilding is extremely fleshed out and in this ARC alone (for as long as it is), you get a very clear idea of the different factions in this universe. Kira, our MC, is probably the best part of this book. A xenobiologist who's part of a team staking out potential new planets for colonization, I really liked her strength in character and how much she acted towards her own goals. Kira goes through a lot of shit pretty early on and her resolve was extremely impressive. I say all this.. and then the first thing Paolini has her do when she gets isolated on a ship for a month is masturbate. :/ . So... mostly good, some bad.

Overall, I rate this book a 3/5. While the execution is excellent, I never found myself excited to keep reading. There was nothing new, nothing novel, that seemed to happen in this book. At best, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a well-executed bag of mainstream sci-fi tropes.

Reivew scheduled for 28 August on blog