To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse)

4.25 StarsRating 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.

I read very little of the story. I bought the book because I had read books long ago (still have them) that our homeschool network had passed the word were written by a young homeschooled boy. "Eragon" as I recall. It was the first of three and our family read all three and bought the movie "Eragon". We were disappointed the 2nd and 3rd books were never made into movies.But it was long ago. Things change. Maybe I am wrong and that dragon fantasy trilogy wasn't by the same Paolini.In any case, early in this book, there is language not typically taught to homeschooled children. I used Search on the F word to get many hits. So I simply quit reading it.I have never found that kind of language Entertaining or Educational, and those are my criteria for reading. I certainly did not teach my children such words nor can I recommend "To Sleep in a Sea of Stars" to any family. Disappointing.On the Other hand, such language certainly wouldn't cause Hollywood to blush, so this Paolini may may profit from the different values. I shall hold to mine - as have my kids of whom I'm very proud.

Honestly, this book is pretty hard to get through. The plot in itself is cool, but the writing is soo dry and overly descriptive (which in hindsight I should have expected from this author) and I get the impression that the author has had very little interaction with women. Between those two factors, I did not really want to finish it, but I did. Do I recommend it? Not really—there are similar books that I enjoyed much much more (try the Red Rising series). Overall, not a great use of my time.

Harry Potter was a large SFF book targeted towards children back in the 2000's era. While waiting for other the next installments, young readers like myself at the time were looking for more fantasy books. That's where Eragon steps in, as it was a well marketed book in the bookstore-- front and center with its colorful dragon covers. It follows-up a Harry Potter book by bringing in dragons, but is different because it is a high fantasy tale, introducing a completely new world. I enjoyed reading Eragon as a young preteen, and remember it fondly, especially the first two books of the series that came out. Mr. Paolini took his time finishing the series-- the four books were published across a total of 9 years. I was in college by the time the last book came out. And the last two books I remember less fondly, as the flaws of the series started to become more apparent to me. The story moves slow and is heavily focused on description.Paolini took several more years off (though he did publish a short story collection taking place in the Eragon universe) and spent those years researching the science that he would eventually use in his first adult novel. And after reading the novel, I must say that the research was definitely done. Mr. Paolini is doing the sci-fi genre justice in that he is using the best knowledge of scientific principles to develop his own world and technology. There is a lot incorporated throughout the novel and I think many sci-fi fans will enjoy it.There are also instances of the book that remind me a bit of Eragon. It's not that Paolini hasn't grown as an author over the course of two decades, but more so that he has some of his own style that still manages to come through. What's also nice about this book is that, like how Eragon was a good introduction to high fantasy, this book is a good first book for sci-fi, especially adult sci-fi. I think many of those preteens of the 2000s reminiscing about Eragon may pick this up today as adults and it likely will get them to pick up more in the genre.This almost 900 page novel isn't without it faults. I also found it similar to Eragon in that it is very description heavy. There are definite times where the plot moves slowly due to all the world and content Mr. Paolini is trying to build. In the end I think it's a little too long, but I slightly came in expecting that since I've already been exposed to it through Eragon (as well as other novels and authors). There are definite times that are exciting, though, and some even caught me off guard. The character development could have also been stronger given the page count, but if I am remembering correctly, I don't think an emphasis on character development was high in Eragon either. Paolini vastly enjoys and focuses on the world building and action scenes. So if you read more so for those things, you'll likely enjoy this.This novel is currently set as a standalone story and feels complete. But Paolini has stated that the world he created here can and will be used in other books. I likely may give them a try, especially if I know I am in the mood for a Paolini tale.

How did this get past the proof reader and the publisher? Was it proof read by a year four? I managed to get to page 55 and realised that this author hasn't a clue about sentence construction. If you are not concerned about things likes sentence construction and grammar then read on. When I read a book I assume that the author will look after such technical issues i.e they have the the basic writing skills and I,as the reader, can concentrate on the main story, characters and ideas. Sentences and paragraphs should flow off the page through the mind of the reader without being read through twice because you cannot believe how badly formulated they are and thinking to yourself 'I would have constucted that differently'. I am no scholar but I have rarely been so aware of such poor writing in the many books I have consumed, it was such a distraction I had to 'throw in the towel'. From other reviews I have read the science doesn't stand up that well either. I cannot comment on this, I didn't get that far, but if the attention to the science is the same as the attention to the writing then I can quite easily believe it.

I don't get how so many reviewers were so enthusiastic about this. I don't often give up on a book, but I quit reading this one half-way through. At the outset, it seemed a reasonably interesting space opera romp with some potentially engaging characters - though the main character's love story is a bit gushy, like something out of a trashy romantic novel. By the mid point I really began to lose hope. Much of the plot is completely implausible, with sudden twists that just don't make any sense except that the author needed something to propel the story on. The aliens are not particularly alien, more like monsters out of some YA horror story. The characterisation doesn't live up to any of its early promise either. All the soldiers are real tough guys, the 'kid' is a real wide eyed innocent, the hero doesn't seem to have any problems with just ignoring pain and injury, and look! -just when it looks like the end of the world has come, some of the mindlessly aggressive enemy aliens turn out to be a liberal rebel wing who actually like humans and want to help!Overall summary: starts quite well but degenerates into trite rubbish. I have no idea how it ends. Life is too short to waste reading stuff like this.

I’m still reading this book and almost at the end. Brilliant. I have to edit this review as now I have finished the book and am disappointed in it. It was a page turner then became a will it ever end. It turned from fairly good sci fi into enchantment fantasy, lord of the rings stuff and magic. As I was reading it, I thought I may have lost the ability to read clearly but it’s just very badly punctuated and makes you read things twice to be clear. Maybe this was written in a different language and wasn’t translated as well as it could have been. Bought it for kindle at £9.99. Will never spend that kind of money on this author again. Feel sad at how much hope I had for this book.

I made it through the first third quite happily, then gradually found it more and more repetitive and superficial, gave up about 65% the way through, just plain bored.Not all sci-fi has to be hard sci-fi, but this is too "soft" to really fit the genre at all -- the protagonist has a magic suit that discovers new abilities and exposition happens when the suit conjures up a vision to motivate a plot device. The shipmate characters are superficial and tokenistic.It all just feels like something I could have got into as a teenager, but as an adult there are far better novels out there.

Ther's no plot spoliers here so don't worryI can tell you that there is a very interesting and quite incredible story at the back about how this novel came kicking and screaming into existence.The book is comfortingly long, I like big books when I am enjoying the story and I didn't want this book to end which is why it achieves the full 5 stars, no questions asked.It is, as the Author very humbly admits, not perfect. That's true but then what is perfection? It is surely subjective.So I can see dark elements of a Neal Asher book populated with similar charming characters from the Expanse, cheeky references to Alien, an unfulfilled love story, plausible (enough) physics, a satisfying twist on some of Iain Banks imaginings on AI and ships (so often copied these days), even poetry and rousing speeches, Aliens with names we would actually give them (nice that) and driving it along, almost unnoticed is a fine narrative and intriguing plot. Top marks, it may not be entirely original but it sure is a fine book and worth every penny.