Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

17 reviews

sithphilosopher's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-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

This relatively hard sci-fi adventure follows a female protagonist bound to a strange alien technology, and a highly advanced for future interstellar human civilization.

To sleep fantasy of stars, expertly, weaves, powerful plot, motivation with internal character development and a amazing cast of characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Medical trauma, and Death

panickedhonking's review against another edition

Triggering content 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Medical content, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Torture, and Body horror

retrofuturism's review

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Was really enjoying it and was thinking a 4 rating until Part 5 when it suddenly started to fall apart, both in plot and in writing. Could have seen it coming as it bloomed from an earlier plot element I found ridiculous but I trusted the author to wrap things up nicely and was disappointed. Paolini's deep world-building and sincerity usually gets him through plot/dialogue corniness with me, but not here. Some stuff with the interaction between species was corny, and it just got worse and worse until it affected everything. 

Still a good read, but for its length the ending feels so unsatisfying as to retroactively mess with my enjoyment of the rest of the book. I agree with other reviewers that it could have used heavy editing, but I would've been fine with the length if the ending was good. 

For fans of creature features, transhumanism, and space fantasy.

Jennifer Hale was a great audiobook narrator.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Body horror, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism and Confinement

Minor: Fatphobia and Sexual content

yomireads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A thrilling story that spans a universe, literal an metaphorical. In spite of a setting that's as alien as the literal aliens, the story is at once inviting in the familiarity of the characters. Encompassed in this behemoth of a read is so much, and is somehow not overcrowded for it: the delicate and yet ferocious nature of life, the complexities of finding common ground with those who hold fundamental philosophical differences from our own, and who we are in the face of tragedy and hope alike. This was a layered story on so many fronts, allowing for our protagonists growth to take center stage without sacrificing the nuances of foreshadowing and plot development. Absolutely worth every page of the read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, War, Grief, Violence, Xenophobia, Cursing, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Dysphoria, and Genocide

pineapplesurvivor's review

adventurous sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Grief, Medical content, War, Gore, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Confinement and Forced institutionalization

mar's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

this book was a lot of fun!!! loved how it seemed like hard sci-fi and science fantasy simultaneously. but it did Not need to be 880 pages long. anyway gregorovich my beloved <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Confinement, Medical trauma, and War

Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Body shaming, and Pregnancy

whatswithrandy's review

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, War, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement

tiffanysmith's review

adventurous challenging informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Like many people, I grew up with Paolini’s debut series The Inheirtance Cycle, which I was quite fond of. As an adult, I was thrilled when I discovered he had written a space adventure novel and immediately got my hands on it. 

I can say that I enjoyed the premise and the characters up until I was about halfway through this tome…that’s when I began to despair. The story was slow. The plot and characters began to grow stale by the middle because their was a lack of forward motion to the story. I didn’t really know what the true plot was for quite a while and the character’s devoted much of their time to mundane dialogue and many scenes aboard the Wallfish that really just didn’t seem relevant. I think if the story had been condensed down by 300-400 pages, it would have been totally awesome! Instead, it grew dry and I had to slog my way to the finish line. 

I did enjoy the plot premise and the space world that Paolini built. It was brilliant. He writes beautifully, and the description drew me into each moment.  I just didn’t enjoy how it was executed in terms of pacing. From the middle until the climax at the end, I was desperately challenged to read through it, but I’m glad I finished it, so I can relish the parts I loved about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Murder, and Medical trauma

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, and Drug use

ehmannky's review

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book is kind of hard for me to rate. Because on the one hand, the plot is very good, I was interested for all of the 800+ pages that this book goes on (though I did have to do a hard pass on the ending addendum stuff), and I was invested in these characters. On the other hand, the plot kind of meanders (it is 800+ pages long and I personally feel like at least 100 pages could have been cut overall) and the dialogue is clunky. It's a fun space opera and it gets really good once Kira starts really merging with her alien biomass, but I wouldn't rank it as one of the best books of all time. Read for a good time not a smart time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Confinement, Torture, Murder, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit and Police brutality

swazwald's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Medical content, Murder, Torture, and Violence