Reviews

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

caityporter's review against another edition

adventurous 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

2.5

The book could have easily been cut in half and would’ve been so much better for it. really cool concepts but ended up being your typical ya story. The end was the best part (until they revealed “oh no! There’s more!”)

lauren_h's review against another edition

2.0

Oy vey this book was way too long. I normally devour books and this took me almost 3 weeks to read. I stuck with it because there were interesting bits and I was invested enough to want to see where it led. About halfway through I began to regret ever reading it in the first place. I was expecting a decent amount of build up to the inevitable conclusion but the pacing was too slow and the exciting bits too short. So much time spent with the main character as she deals with her isolation... maybe that makes it more realistic but it also makes for some boring chapters. By the time we reached the final epic battle I found I just didn’t care anymore... I just wanted it to END.

cmartin42's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective tense fast-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

3.25

tiamower's review against another edition

4.0

So much of this book was unexpected for me. I have mixed feelings about the ending, but overall enjoyed the read. The definitions in the back of the book were a great help and I love that Christopher Paolini adds this to his books

adavis25's review against another edition

adventurous slow-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

3.5

lcschafer's review against another edition

3.0

I found this pretty hard to follow at times. This is one of my first really heavy sci fi reads and I'm wondering if maybe I couldn't disappear into it because there was a lot of technical mumbo jumbo that got in the way.

However, I don't think that this is the author's doing, just my own personal preference. Might be a great scifi book, I think I'll stick with fantasy.

tifftastic87's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

I did not expect "the guy who wrote the YA dragon books" to write such a good, emotional, and intriguing science fiction. That's probably on me, since I never read the Eragon series. But damn, glad I tried this one. 

Kira is a xenobiologist, but most of her research is isolated to alien fungus and mold. However, on an expedition to examine a downed drown Kira finds an alien relic that changes her life forever. Within months a war has broken out between humans and an alien life form called the jellies. Kira has formed a bond with the xeno and nothing in her life is the same. 

I wasn't sure about this in the first little bit as Kira seemed kind of bland and predictable. But that set up made the change she went through even more traumatic. So much of the story was Kira dealing with her trauma while trying to process the changes in the world around her. Paolini did a great job with this, I am always hesitant to trust a middle aged man writing a woman, but this was done with a lot sensitivity and understanding and was incredibly pleased. 

There was so much solid world building in this and the way it was revealed without big info dumps was excellent. Kira's world is about 300 years in our future and includes many colonies and new technology. The jellies, Wranaui, have their own anatomy, biology, culture, history and communication that is all different from humans. Getting this information dolled out to us as Kira learned it and the Soft Blade, the xeno bonded with Kira, shared memories with her made everything digestible without feeling overwhelming. 

The found family aspect had so much heart. The group was diverse and characters had so many dimensions to them, I am so happy that we got to see each of them shine. There was a small but firm anti-military line running through this that I was happy to see as well. I look forward to continuing the series.  

dansreading2021's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.75

hkershaw28's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.0

I was originally going to give this a 3.5 because the world building is so beautiful, but I didn’t realize till the end that there is a glossary and that would make listening to this so much easier if i’d known. Knowing that people can flip to the back of the book to look at what something means makes this book much better. I loved and hated Kira. She was a phenomenal character, she had so much beauty and depth to her personality. All the characters are written so wonderfully and I loved getting to know each of them.

jverm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75