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To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

2 reviews

lestie4short's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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

5.0

The only way I can think to describe this book is if Alien and Firefly meshed together. It's more serious than Firefly, but not as Horror-driven as Alien. The world that Paoloni has built is fascinating and in-depth.

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the_chaotic_witch's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

878 pages; 2020; 5/5 stars; 9.57 CAWPILE; spoiler-free

This junker of a book was gifted to Me by a youtube-friend who was really excited about the release of this book and desperately wanted Me to read it, too. At first, I was a bit apprehensive, not really even knowing what the book was actually about. I had just put it on my wishlist because she praised it so much.

On another note, bear with Me here; it will all come together. A few weeks back, a friend from home and I talked about Sci-Fi books and how we never seemed to find what we were looking for in them. And that was: plotting, political intrigue, universe/multiverse-vast world-building, multiple characters, that may not all be that important and not only our knot of that perfect friend group, (for Me:) found family, (for her:) engaging battles, aliens (duh), with more than "they are different we'll fight them" and logic. Logic was a big part for both of us. We didn't want a poor reason to get the plot going, no holes in the world-building or illogical character choices.

And then my friend sent Me this book. "To Sleep in a Sea of Stars." The title alone is beautiful, isn't it? It's melodic and mysterious. The cover, too, is intriguing. A human floating in space, seemingly naked, meaning no suit, not ship, nothing to keep them alive. Nothing to sustain their body. How do they do it? Why are they there? What do they feel beholding the universe all around them? What does it physically feel like?

Needless to say, the book was everything I was looking for.

To start this off, let Me quickly summarize a snippet of the plot. It is the year 2157, and our Main character is a young woman working as a xenobiologist on a far off planet with her team and her boyfriend. On their last day, she is sent out to recover some of their machines, and in the process, she stumbles upon a strange rock formation with a curious cave inside. As is the fashion with Main characters, she falls in. Her being a xenobiologist, someone who does science on the life forms on different planets, she is fascinated by this cave and what it beholds. But when she touches something, that something starts to move and to absorb into her body. And she doesn't like that. And the rest of the universe won't either.

Now that we have the basic premise out of the way, let Me tell you what else it is about: loss, grief, being separated from family, travel, responsibility and having to deal with things that are outside of your control, bureaucracy (would you believe it), science (duh), what makes a person a person (but not in the way you think), love of all different kinds, mental health, determination, dealing with cultures you are not accustomed to, confidence, willpower, friend( )ship, safety on a global rate (also not how you think), the multitude of human life experiences, sacrifice, the greater good, trust, the frustrations of life, and an ending that is open and so different from what you usually find in stories in general.

You can really feel that Paolini worked on this book for nine years. It is coherent in its plot, world, and characters. There is a logic behind each action. Each character is adequately fleshed out and has their reasons to act the way they do, that are not just there to serve as a sob-story but contribute to the plot. The development of different civilizations and cultures is handled with much care and diversity. Being a white, german woman, I can't speak to their accuracy, but I like to think that Paolini dedicated himself to writing them as best he could. There were some parts where I was like, eh, but then again; I cannot be the judge of that.

From the very beginning, the world-building was intricate. Of course, it is a stark difference from our own reality, so it needs to be a bit blunt and extreme, but that only lasts for the first few pages. Once the action starts, it fades quickly into the naturalness of the storytelling. The world/universe expands are we (the Main character) learn ever the more, and it is done with precision and careful planning. I have rarely read a book that was so cohesive in its world, characters, and plot each. Usually, one of those is lacking. Not here.

Over almost 900 pages, there is plenty of room and time for the characters to develop, and they did not fail to do so. Some of their development happened on them plot-related, some came from within. Some of it was caused by the people around them, so was for the people around them.

The cast of characters is big, and while we have our group of main characters, not even the small side-characters that appear once or twice feel one-dimensional. There is an undercurrent of meaning and depth to all of them and their actions, and that is one of the things that makes this book so magical. Not the glitter of stars, not the epic battles, not the crew's feelings and emotions. But the inherent humanness of it all. Even of the parts that were not human and weren't portrayed to be human, there was a realness to them that made it easy to emerge yourself in the story.

Now, of course, 900 pages makes this a very long story. So, I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook (at the time of Me writing this review, it is up on Scribd).

The ending of this book was bitter-sweet in more than one way. Of course, and more prevalent for Me because it ended. I didn't want to lose these characters. To not know how they would continue onwards, what their next adventure would be (because this story is truly more than only one adventure). But also because of the nature of the ending. I hinted at this before, and, to be honest, it frustrated Me - goodness, it still frustrates Me! But at the same time, I do love it so much. Because this is what I've been looking for for so long, something that is so close to life and that does not depend on what toxic traits the characters tried to overcome initially (trying hard to keep it vague and spoiler-free).

So, needless to say, I highly recommend this to anyone, who wants a cast of characters to fall in love with, a world that almost feels more real than this one, and a journey through space to find not only humanity's only hope but also themselves.

This is Me signing off, be kind, especially to yourselves. Bye ♥

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