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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
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
What a journey. I very much enjoyed To Sleep in a Sea of Stars! Paolini does such a good job at allowing Kira to make mistakes and grow. No achievement was just given to her - she had to work for it. The major themes and plot points (biosuit for example) were all fresh to me and integrated in a way that was original and kept me curious. My only critique would be that the battle scenes toward the end of the story, while necessary for the plot, did start to become a little tiring. Beyond that, a fantastic book!
I was expecting more.
Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle holds a soft spot in my heart. I go back and re-read them every few years without fail, and love them. Those books helped inform my writing career. When I heard that TSIASOS came out, I was excited and apprehensive. I purchased the book and had it sitting on my shelf for a number of months before even cracking it open, as I wanted to be able to give it the attention it deserved.
When I finally did sit down to read, I could tell from the first few pages that the book was not going to be what I had hoped for. I had built expectations of a book written by a heavily practiced and matured author who had spent the years after success honing their craft; though I love his earlier works, for nostalgia or as a guilty pleasure, this book did not reach beyond the level of the Inheritance Cycle. It's unfair of me to judge a book on the bias of my own expectations, but I expected more growth from the author in the decade and a half he spent away.
Personal nitpicking aside:
To Sleep In A Sea of Stars felt like a middle of the road read to me. Some pleasant moments and interesting concepts, but borrowing heavily from past works. The Xenos, Ship Minds, and certain characters felt like almost direct callbacks to previous books by the author, though it was certainly intentional. The writing was not always up to snuff, dialogue was hit and miss, and there was a certain level of professional polish missing. Attempts at end of chapter cliffhangers grew stale, and I counted at least three chapters where it started with "Main Character woke up."
Fiction- and especially Science Fiction- is one of the genres where thousands of ideas have been explored in so many ways that it's difficult to be original, and execution of an idea takes precedent. I found the execution in this book lacking. I think part of it has to be how so much of the book takes place in FTL- it seemed that the main character would show up, everything would explode, they were at the center of the action, then they would go into FTL and travel for three months before doing it all again. It grew stale for me after the second time and didn't get better after that.
I found myself reluctant to pick up the book and continue reading because I didn't care, was not gripped by the story, and didn't feel that I was really seeing anything new or interesting. This is not a good thing when the base book is 825 pages long. I powered through and finished it, along with the end notes and whatnot, simply for the sake of completion.
I most likely will not read this book again. I will not add it to my shelf. I would hesitate to recommend it, and if so, only with the caveats mentioned above. If you're waffling on whether or not to read this book, I would say only do so if you're dying for more content from the author, or if there's nothing else on your list to read.
Three out of five. This is a book.
Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle holds a soft spot in my heart. I go back and re-read them every few years without fail, and love them. Those books helped inform my writing career. When I heard that TSIASOS came out, I was excited and apprehensive. I purchased the book and had it sitting on my shelf for a number of months before even cracking it open, as I wanted to be able to give it the attention it deserved.
When I finally did sit down to read, I could tell from the first few pages that the book was not going to be what I had hoped for. I had built expectations of a book written by a heavily practiced and matured author who had spent the years after success honing their craft; though I love his earlier works, for nostalgia or as a guilty pleasure, this book did not reach beyond the level of the Inheritance Cycle. It's unfair of me to judge a book on the bias of my own expectations, but I expected more growth from the author in the decade and a half he spent away.
Personal nitpicking aside:
To Sleep In A Sea of Stars felt like a middle of the road read to me. Some pleasant moments and interesting concepts, but borrowing heavily from past works. The Xenos, Ship Minds, and certain characters felt like almost direct callbacks to previous books by the author, though it was certainly intentional. The writing was not always up to snuff, dialogue was hit and miss, and there was a certain level of professional polish missing. Attempts at end of chapter cliffhangers grew stale, and I counted at least three chapters where it started with "Main Character woke up."
Fiction- and especially Science Fiction- is one of the genres where thousands of ideas have been explored in so many ways that it's difficult to be original, and execution of an idea takes precedent. I found the execution in this book lacking. I think part of it has to be how so much of the book takes place in FTL- it seemed that the main character would show up, everything would explode, they were at the center of the action, then they would go into FTL and travel for three months before doing it all again. It grew stale for me after the second time and didn't get better after that.
I found myself reluctant to pick up the book and continue reading because I didn't care, was not gripped by the story, and didn't feel that I was really seeing anything new or interesting. This is not a good thing when the base book is 825 pages long. I powered through and finished it, along with the end notes and whatnot, simply for the sake of completion.
I most likely will not read this book again. I will not add it to my shelf. I would hesitate to recommend it, and if so, only with the caveats mentioned above. If you're waffling on whether or not to read this book, I would say only do so if you're dying for more content from the author, or if there's nothing else on your list to read.
Three out of five. This is a book.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book builds a fascinating, intricate and unique world.
I liked that there were a lot of female characters (often lacking in sci-fi), but I wish the male characters had been a bit more fleshed out. A certain important "Han Solo" style character especially felt like he came straight from a cheesy teen romance movie.
The book is very long though, and really takes the time it wants to describe events at length. Not like Tolkien, who adds a painfully boring amount of detail, but rather there is just a constant stream of interesting information, twists and events that sometimes exhausted me a bit.
Overall I'd recommend the book, with a warning that although has a great and unique setting, the dialogue can be slow and characters can feel flat.
I liked that there were a lot of female characters (often lacking in sci-fi), but I wish the male characters had been a bit more fleshed out. A certain important "Han Solo" style character especially felt like he came straight from a cheesy teen romance movie.
The book is very long though, and really takes the time it wants to describe events at length. Not like Tolkien, who adds a painfully boring amount of detail, but rather there is just a constant stream of interesting information, twists and events that sometimes exhausted me a bit.
Overall I'd recommend the book, with a warning that although has a great and unique setting, the dialogue can be slow and characters can feel flat.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-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
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
funny
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:
No