Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

18 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

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Grief, and Cursing

Minor: Religious bigotry, Medical content, Medical trauma, Genocide, Violence, War, Slavery, Xenophobia, Alcohol, and Forced institutionalization

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

ashlightgrayson's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I don't usually read hard sci-fi like this, but this one gradually grew on me. It reminded of original Star Trek in terms of pacing, but with really enthralling action scenes in between the lulls of the plot. There is an emphasis on the vastness of outer space and this first book feels like an introduction to the Fractalverse overall. It takes a while to really get to know the characters, but by the end I really appreciated the humor and friendship amongst the crew. I would say it is definitely more of a plot dye l driven story, though.

The conclusion of the story is open ended and emphasized how far in the future the story is occurring. I think some people may see some aspects of fantasy in the world and story. Personally, I found that interesting and enjoyable. I’m not one to nitpick at the minor aspects of a world if it doesn’t really affect the story. It’s a fictional story with aliens, spaceships, and impossible space travel, so a symbiotic relationship that modifies the host party isn’t really where I draw the line is what I’m saying. If you want to just read this first book and stop here you totally can. However, I definitely think I'm going to read the sequel. I feel like I appreciated the story most after finishing it and having time to digest everything that happened. It’s one of those books that I think you have to sit with for a bit in order to determine if it’s for you or not. Even if it’s not for you, I think it’s not a bad introduction to hard sci-fi. I'm looking forward to more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical trauma, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual content and Violence

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

drinaiscold's review

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Violence

Moderate: Colonisation and Medical trauma

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

erynpaige's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, and War