To sleep in a sea of stars is (I think) the first book of Christopher Paolini’s new science fiction series. I say “think” because there’s no official statement saying this is a series, but the ending of the book sure makes me feel that more books on this theme are on the cards.
Which would be a good thing, because this book is one hell of a wild ride. It starts off with Kira Navarez (our protagonist) making a first contact with aliens in a foreign planet. From then on, the action starts and doesn’t let up. It had me reading breathless into the late night while Kira and her band of friends hop from system to system, battling aliens and humans alike.
More about the book
Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds. Now she’s awakened a nightmare. During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she’s delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.
As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn’t at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.
While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity’s greatest and final hope.
~ Synopsis from goodreads
My Review
This book was a Goodreads choice 2020 winner, and I think it deserves the award all the way. This is one of those binge-y novels where I sat and read through all 800+ pages of it over two consecutive weekends (something I rarely do in these days of streaming media).
What I liked
- Very accessible. A lot of science-fiction errs on the dense side. While this is a genre I love, I go in prepared to wade through some heavy-duty scientific/mathematical concepts. This isn’t the case with To sleep in a sea of stars. It’s accessible and fairly easy to read. I would also recommend it for readers who are just venturing into science-fiction, or younger readers (YA) as it gives a very nice toehold into this genre.
- Tons of action and excitement. Like I said earlier, there is a lot of adventure in this novel. It almost reads like an Indiana Jones type story, only set in outer space. I loved 🖤 this aspect of the book.
- Great characters. I loved Kira, I loved her friends, and even some of the aliens were pretty darn cute!
- That ending. No spoilers, but OMG, that ending was just note-perfect! Paolini nailed it. Whether this book is a standalone or a series, the ending worked beautifully!
- That cover. I just fell in love with the cover.
What I disliked
- The pacing. So, it’s a great fast-paced book and all, but it did take going into around 400 pages to fully understand the direction the book was heading. In addition, there are some super fast-paced sections, followed by some extremely slow sections, which I get (a break in action is good), but I don’t think it was executed very well.
- The world-building. I felt the world-building was a little off. What I mean to say is that when a book is set up so far into the future, I expect the world to feel completely unnatural to me. But that wasn’t the case. While there was a decent amount of technological advances, it felt that the people hadn’t changed as much as I would expect. I think this is what separates a good science fiction novel (this book) from something great (think The Left Hand of Darkness).
Overall thoughts
I loved this book. It’s a solid book, fun and was a perfect start to 2021 (the first book I started and finished this year).
