Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge Publishing for letting me read and review this partial arc of this intriguing and intense story.
This took me a bit by surprise because I've read and liked Christopher Paolini ever since Eragon so I was a bit thrown when I read this partial arc and it was sci-fi. I'm so used to him writing fantasy, it was different finding this story as sci-fi, but this story took off - it's very intense and stressful to read. I had a hard time stopping reading this until I was done and I was freaking out in parts because it's so tense and it was like reading a sci-fi suspense/thriller story.
This story is about Kira, who's a microbiologist that goes around studying and exploring things with her team and what happens when she goes to explore a particular find on the planet they start on and then things go crazy and stressful from there. I don't dare say much about it because you need to read it to find out what happens.
It's a very fast-paced, intense, and stressful read not long after it starts and it just keeps going and leaving you with questions, all the unanswered questions and concerns trying to figure it all out, wondering what's going to happen next.
If you like Christopher Paolini, Sci-fi thrillers/suspense, and the like, you'll want to check this one out. A little note here though for those who like to have clean reads, there is some profanity in this story.

4.5 stars. Disclosure: I was provided an ARC by Netgalley in exchange for a review (which I swear is honest).

I have to admit, I read this right after reading Martha Well's Murderbot (the 5th one), which is a hard act for Paolini to follow. But he does an admirable job.

I like reading books that have humans poking around the universe and encountering unexpected difficulties. (Really? They're unexpected? You're on a freaking remote planet, folks; don't be surprised ;-) I dislike "space war" books, though. But I'm ok with fighting in localized situations; it makes for some excitement.

So this book ticks all my boxes. Here we have humans exploring a planet as part of an organization that does this for a living. Human meets unexpected alien - or, is it alien tech? We don't exactly know, but the encounter has lasting effect on the human(s). And it turns out there's more than one alien thing to encounter, and this second one is less nice. Conflict ensues. Spacecraft zoom around. Shots fired. Running towards, and away from the conflict begins.

In the meantime, humans turn out to not necessarily always know what to do with each other in these situations. Our morals turn out to be flexible, eh? We have the good stuff - romantic interests budding, people helping each other, etc. But, we have some humans who are more willing to toss aside human life in the effort to deal with threats.

All this makes for great, rollicking fun to read. I liked it, and look forward to seeing the story continue.

Speaking of which, I was a *bit* frustrated by the abrupt-ish end. I was going to give this a less-good review as a result; I REALLY dislike it when an author stops a story mid-stream, and makes two books out of what should be one. BUT THEN I came back to put the review on Netgalley, and saw the words "Partial Galley" in the title; this makes me think the book (likely?) goes on after what I experienced as the end. If that's true, the review stays at 4.5 stars. (If that really *is* the end, it loses a half - maybe a full- star.)

I am more of a fantasy reader than sci fi, but I really liked this story. I found the story interesting from the beginning as we follow a group of scientists who are exploring a planet and collecting samples. When two of the crew are sent to check out something shortly before the group is scheduled to leave the planet, they find more than they bargained for. I really enjoyed this long sample and am definitely looking forward to completing the story when the book is released. I would definitely recommend it!

This was a really good ARC. I liked how it was kind of Event Horizon with a mix of Prometheus. ALso, I noticed how Chrsitopher's writing has changed since the writing of Inheritance so I will be buying the book for sure on my Kindle.

I am so sad that I only have access to the first few chapters because they were absolutely phenomenal. From the very first moment I met her, I felt a connection with the main character, Kira. The more I read, the more interesting it got. I didn't want it to end.

I've always appreciated the level of detail Paolini manages to weave into his work. It didn't feel like an overwhelming info dump and I was never bored. We are slowly introduced to the space environment, the characters and the alien species. I snatched onto any and every scrap of information sprinkled in throughout the chapters and I NEED TO KNOW MORE.

I've been in a science fiction mood for quite a while now and this book slowly but surely ticked every box. It has suspense, spaceships, xenobiology and a strong main character with a distinct personality. And of course, the last chapter in this Partial Galley left me on a cliffhanger, teasing me.

I cannot wait to read the rest of this book to see how Kira's story pans out. This has easily become my most anticipated reads of 2020 and I will definitely be grabbing a copy as soon as I can. (Let's hope the book gods are kind to me and I get to read the full ARC before it comes out in September!)

If you enjoyed books like Kaufman & Kristoff's Illuminae Files, then you'll be absolutely obsessed with this.

I have this troublesome relationship with sci fi books where I find the beginnings very hard to trudge through but then comes a point where, for lack of a better term, shit hits the fan. If the story & characters are interesting enough, I stick around because the part that comes after is worth it.

I’d say TSIASOS is following that pattern. I find Kira somewhat annoying but she’s smart and so she’s grown on me. The xeno is definitely someone I look forward to meeting as the story goes on. Kira’s romance with Alan seems sort of cliche & was probably the least exciting part. I do understand the relationship, it’s just their interactions I found lack lustre. But in the second half of the galley, Paolini’s gift for prose and characterisation really starts to come across & the galley ends at the perfect spot to leave you wanting for more.

It’s a hard job when you’re a beloved writer with a beloved story and people expect everything you write after to be the next big thing as well. But I have utter faith in Paolini’s knack for writing and research so I‘ll happily read through the tough parts when this book comes out.

I knew when Christopher Pasolini was releasing a sci-fi book it was going to be amazing..
this definitely did not let me down. My only problem? Now I have to wait for the whole book to come out!!

I am so lucky and excited to have gotten the chance to read the first look of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. Then again, I now have to wait for the rest of the book, so maybe I'm not so lucky? All I can say is, this book has completely gotten into my head, and I am so unbelievably excited to see what happens next!

When I first heard that Christopher Paolini was writing a heavy science fiction novel, I was both curious and a bit concerned (being that he's most famous for his fantasy series). Having read the first look, I can honestly say that this was the right call for him. He's broken all of the expectations set on him by his early success and has taken some real risks here. They're already paying off, though perhaps I'm biased in saying so.

I'm already enchanted with this tale, and desperately want to see it's conclusion. Only a little bit longer now...

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars Sneak Peek (ebook)
by Christopher Paolini
the young writer i grew up with has grown up literally. Christopher Paolini has produced another story that the avid fan can follow. This is a little darker than Eragon, and has more substance as well. The first extraterrestrial xeno contact with humanity, is just the tease. Horrific and heroically he portrays the events, where the reader is glued to the page trying to see if their character finds a solution to the mounting problems, and grief before her. His development of character, and plot twists is riveting. I found it hard to sleep trying to get through this tease of the book, I can not wait for the release and to finish the story.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini is exactly what I expected, maybe not on a content level but on a quality level. I wish this was a full galley so I could write a full review but the part that we did get to experience is on par with the books he has written before. The Inheritance Cycle was one of my favorite series growing up and rereading it has always been exciting to me even as an adult. I jumped at the chance to read this partial galley as soon as I saw his name pop up. I am NOT a fan of space adventures at all generally but somehow he still pulled me in and kept me interested the entire time. I cannot wait to get my hands on the full book.

Thank you netgalley for this advanced excerpt of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini.
I NEED MORE.
The story had me hooked and i totally forgot i wasn't going to be able to finish the book! Oh man the sci-fi aspect of it such a cool concept! It had me transported to the places they were at. I cannot WAIT to read the rest of this book!

As expected Paoini has some wonderful ideas and an interesting and exciting way of presenting them. I appreciate the world building and the depth of interaction with the protagonist and the symbiote. I do feel that the characters response was strong, but not in a way that was explained. I also feel that the story has been slow to build. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here.

I don’t usually enjoy science fiction books but I did enjoy this one. The author kept me intrigued enough to keep going back!

This book is set in the future among the stars. Is this really what we have to look forward to? Kira is part of a crew that maps out new planets. After a boring few months on Adra the crew is ready to leave. A drone has gone missing and the boss wants Kira to go see what happened to it so off she goes. She finds the drone but then notices a glowing up the hill and decides she must check it out. It is Alien and what happens then? Well it becomes a fast past action filled story that you can’t put down. Does Kira have the will to live, to fight, to learn? Will any of the team get back to home planet? Though provoking and a great read and now I need the next installment. I highly recommend this book.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars misses the mark. Kira, the main character comes off as needy and a bit entitled. The romance between her and Alan is paper thin and comes across as a cloudy holographic projection of love, rather than a real relationship. The coupling between Kira and Alan felt rushed to the point that I did not care about their love nor what became of it. The reader was left completely out of their love story, only catching glimpses of acts that bordered on childishly fairytale styled romantics. The problem was that there was too much ‘telling’ and not enough ‘showing.’ We were constantly told how much Kira cared for and wants to be with Alan, and that sentiment generally led into disjointed love scenes that began in a blur and ended in a disappointing fizzle. The plot itself is interesting but the implementation, poor. Too many characters are introduced in the beginning and the author does so in such a quick succession that everyone seems peripheral, including the protagonist. The opportunity to get to know the characters was never really given so I was not invested in their wellbeing. More horror that science fiction, when the bad things started to happen, I was left not caring what happened to whom and why. Suffering from surface writing that was unsuccessful in bringing the reader down into the flesh and marrow of the story, this novel failed to engross me not from a lack of premise, but from the implementation of it’s content.

I had high hopes going into this, because I was a huge fan of the Eragon series. Paolini did not disappoint! I cannot wait to finish this and get some closure, as the world he created is intoxicating.

I have been waiting eagerly for years to read this book and this partial galley has me got even more excited for the release!!!! Gahhh!!! Can’t wait to get my hands on this one

Paolini makes the transition from YA fantasy to adult science fiction is a seamless manner and in a way that readers who like his style will still love this book. I was hooked from early on and am anxiously awaiting the full book.

Having been a fan of this author's previous books, I was all in when this partial galley was being made available to read.

I started it this morning and finished it. Cannot wait for September! See publisher's and other reviewers for the tale's details. . . .this is my response to today's read:

So far, if you are looking for dragons, they are not here. This is SCI-FI, for sure, and although the older I get, the less I'm into sci-fi, this has my 110% attention. There's a girl and a boy on a spaceship, and when the heavy petting happens in the first chapters you know that's not a good thing (think red shirts). . . .I was concerned when all seemed lost in the next chapter and then *boom* the author blows your mind with a game changer, and I stayed in till the "to be continued, see you in Sept 2020" last line.

If you like your sci-fi off-planet, or The Martian or any of those other books where aliens possess humans, space vehicles get their own names (Dave, Ron, Sheila, Bishop, etc.) and converse freely. . . .yeah. You'll dig this.

5 stars, each wringing all 5 points as they wait for Sept 2020!

An enthusiastic thank you to Christopher Paolini, Tor Books and NetGalley for providing me an ARC to read and review.

If I were stranded on a desert Island this is one of the books I'd like to have with me. It is good from the very first chapter and the action doesn't stop. I love the premise of traveling to other planets and interacting with new life forms. Christopher Paolini has produced a book that is impossible to put down. I was only able to sample a portion of the book through NetGalley, but I will be downloading the Kindle version to finish the story on September 15th. Upon finishing this sample I was looking up other books that the author has written, and I'll definitely be adding those to my reading list as well.