Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

4.25 Stars Rating this book is hard. I've wavered for days since finishing it. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is author Christopher Paolini's first foray into adult fiction, specifically science fiction. His well-known YA series The Inheritance Cycle was a fantasy series and magical worlds demand very different things from an author than science fiction. As he points out, you are really limited by "believable" science if your story is to hold together, especially if you're writing an almost 900-page novel. The amount of research and effort he has spent on this novel is evident to the reader and the worldbuilding that results is impressive. Xenobiologist Kira Navárez's life was on the brink of a happy change. She was newly engaged to her co-worker Alan, a geologist, and they were planning to settle on Adrasteia, the moon of Sigma Draconis, where they have been working together for several months. She is overjoyed when, with the prospect of their mission ending and another of the several separations they've endured on the horizon, Alan proposes they settle down instead. On her final mission, on her final day, she finds an unusual rock formation, with a chemical composition that is unique. In exploring it, she triggers a terrifying series of events that leaves her bound to an alien... artifact? entity? machine? With her world in shambles she must escape from the military and intelligence branches of the League of Allied Worlds and hide her identity when she finds passage on a civilian ship, the Wallfish. In short order, an alien species, the Wranaui, makes its presence known and it is clear they are looking for Kira and the mysterious symbiotic alien she calls "The Soft Blade" bound to her. Only the aliens appear to be at war with each other, as well, in part due to an evolving threat that faces both humans and the alien species. As I mentioned above, the worldbuilding is beautiful, robust, and in some respects creative and fascinating. The character development, beyond Kira and a few secondary characters, was not always satisfying. I'm mindful that this is the first book in a new series and we may see some of the characters better explored in future books. The relationship between Kira and Alan in the first couple of chapters felt awkward. Is "babe" still going to be popular among humans in the 23rd Century? And honestly, more character development would have meant a longer novel and the novel is, as mentioned, already just under 900 pages. That said, one of my favorite characters was Gregorovich, the Wallfish shipmind. I hope to see more of him in the future. The pacing of the novel was also jarring at times because things start out slowly, then develop rapidly, then slow considerably, then the action happens very quickly and dramatically, then the pace slows again. Yet still, the nature of the aliens, especially Itari, the one that Kira comes to know well, was fascinating and thought-provoking. Paolini manages to capture the simplicity of the human perception of life, freedom, self, duty, purpose, and how those things may be impediments to understanding or embracing an alien culture that is built upon completely different biology, and philosophy. The book comes with helpful Appendices and a full glossary for readers prone to getting lost in the complexity of this story. All in all, I can definitely say that Paolini has grown as an author. I will look forward to the next book in the Fractalverse series. I was fortunate to listen to an advance review copy of the audiobook, beautifully narrated by Jennifer Hale, whose voicing of various characters, including Gregorovich and Itari is really terrific. This was a 32.5-hour audiobook that flies by with her narration. I received a paper review copy and an audiobook review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.