chamberofemily's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
An endless slog with little kernels of interesting concepts, and absolutely no follow-through on any of them. I can enjoy the merging of sci fi and fantasy, but not like this Chris!
The characters never grow past the bounds of their tropes, and the tropes they are a part of in the first place tend to be quite lame. I did enjoy some of the stuff during the end parts of the book but it was not worth the length to get there - this could easily have half the word count. Only finished it because I had the audiobook version and could listen while at work. Jennifer hale did a brill job with the voices!
The characters never grow past the bounds of their tropes, and the tropes they are a part of in the first place tend to be quite lame. I did enjoy some of the stuff during the end parts of the book but it was not worth the length to get there - this could easily have half the word count. Only finished it because I had the audiobook version and could listen while at work. Jennifer hale did a brill job with the voices!
elkneedshelp's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
short_circuit's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jesterbee's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
jackiepreston's review
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This book is too long. The premise was intriguing, but it took almost 200 pages to get interesting. There are a ton of characters, and none of them feel fleshed out in any way, even our POV character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
vvatson's review against another edition
4.0
Oh boy this was a chonky read. This is a literal tome right here. I can smack someone to death with it for sure. Sea of Stars definitely started out with a bang, but kinda drag its feet a little bit near the middle of the story. Definitely worth pushing through until the end.
Paolini definitely grew as a writer since his Eragon days. And damn did he do his science research for this book. The science is meticulously woven throughout the worldbuilding, and there is such a high level of details and is amazing to see. And the characters! They live and breathe and are so very messy and complicated, but they managed to band together and became the space pirates found family that my heart yearns for. My favorite character is definitely Gregorovich the sassy AI. I love how much he and Kira managed to bond and understand each other by the very end.
And that ending! Not where I expected the story to go, but definitely what the story needed. I dont think any other endings would have worked to be honest.
Am I glad that I stuck through with this book? Definitely. Will I read this again? Maybe? If Im really bored and runs out of other things to read XD
Paolini definitely grew as a writer since his Eragon days. And damn did he do his science research for this book. The science is meticulously woven throughout the worldbuilding, and there is such a high level of details and is amazing to see. And the characters! They live and breathe and are so very messy and complicated, but they managed to band together and became the space pirates found family that my heart yearns for. My favorite character is definitely Gregorovich the sassy AI. I love how much he and Kira managed to bond and understand each other by the very end.
And that ending! Not where I expected the story to go, but definitely what the story needed. I dont think any other endings would have worked to be honest.
Am I glad that I stuck through with this book? Definitely. Will I read this again? Maybe? If Im really bored and runs out of other things to read XD
rachelmorganism's review against another edition
3.0
This book is SO LONG. The premise was nice, the writing was nice, but I felt like the story just kind of dragged on and it felt like there was no end in sight.
cowboylikestoread43's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
annakd01's review against another edition
3.0
Positives: good take on the "first-contact" trope, a variety of unique aliens, interesting world-building with politics and religions that aren't too complicated to understand, pictures!
Negatives: This book has no reason to be nearly 900 pages. The main cast of characters are cliche and predictable, including our "woe is me" protagonist Kira who has the exact character arc you might expect. I found it difficult to picture much of the descriptions in this book whether it be scenery or (especially) action scenes. The science talk in this book is not as easily understood as what I have read in other sci-fi stories, which left me bored and lost at times.
Overall, the story did not do the setting and world building justice. There are plenty of loose threads left over to be turned into any number of sequels or spin-offs. Some of these I would consider reading, but only if they are a fraction of the length of this book.
Negatives: This book has no reason to be nearly 900 pages. The main cast of characters are cliche and predictable, including our "woe is me" protagonist Kira who has the exact character arc you might expect. I found it difficult to picture much of the descriptions in this book whether it be scenery or (especially) action scenes. The science talk in this book is not as easily understood as what I have read in other sci-fi stories, which left me bored and lost at times.
Overall, the story did not do the setting and world building justice. There are plenty of loose threads left over to be turned into any number of sequels or spin-offs. Some of these I would consider reading, but only if they are a fraction of the length of this book.