You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
Apologies to my dear brother who gifted this book to me, but I physically cannot finish it. I’m not really a sci-fi fan, and this was way too technical for way too many pages.
TSIASOS, on paper, was perfect for me. I grew up on the Inheritance Cycle and deeply love the themes presented here. The book had a lot of potential, but ends up as not much more than a sequence of setpieces that persistently contorts itself to keep the protagonist central. Like Starfield, some will love it, and I'm sorry to not be one of them.
The main problem is the POV character. Kira is unlikeable, unreflective, bumbling, several chapters slower on the uptake than the reader, and constantly flinging herself & everyone around her out of the pan and into the fire by somehow managing to be simultaneously paralyzed by fear and impulsive, going off half-cocked at every turn.
The book could've been about any member of the supporting cast and been better (and probably half as long, with a fraction of the body count) for it. They fare vastly better in the likeability and competence departments, though most of them seem to be one-note archetypes: the savvy, rogueish captain with a secret heard of gold; the excitable hotshot kid; the no-nonsense doctor, and so on.
The nail in the coffin was formalistic, mechanical prose that failed to provide a compelling authorial or character voice by filtering every thought and emotion though an explicitly external perspective. TSIASOS isn't a terrible book, just a terrible disappointment. 2/5
The main problem is the POV character. Kira is unlikeable, unreflective, bumbling, several chapters slower on the uptake than the reader, and constantly flinging herself & everyone around her out of the pan and into the fire by somehow managing to be simultaneously paralyzed by fear and impulsive, going off half-cocked at every turn.
The book could've been about any member of the supporting cast and been better (and probably half as long, with a fraction of the body count) for it. They fare vastly better in the likeability and competence departments, though most of them seem to be one-note archetypes: the savvy, rogueish captain with a secret heard of gold; the excitable hotshot kid; the no-nonsense doctor, and so on.
The nail in the coffin was formalistic, mechanical prose that failed to provide a compelling authorial or character voice by filtering every thought and emotion though an explicitly external perspective. TSIASOS isn't a terrible book, just a terrible disappointment. 2/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence
Moderate: Death, Medical content, Religious bigotry, War
*No Spoilers*
I REALLY wanted to enjoy this story more than I did. Like many others, I was an Inheritance Cycle fan, and was extremely excited to read a new story from the author.
This book had potential, but it was just too shallow of character development for such a vast world. I mean, it's freaking Sci Fi! The world building is expected and is delivered. Unfortunately, the characters within just don't hold up. I love a good romance, and I didn't feel a thing for the emotions shared between characters. I didn't care for the platonic relationships built. If someone died, (or would have died) you didn't/wouldn't have caught me crying or cursing at the author.
I think part of this is because feelings and actions were told rather than shown.
Everything was convenient, shallow, and I found myself zoning out during action scenes.
I'm sad to say this book was more than a bit of a let down for me.
I REALLY wanted to enjoy this story more than I did. Like many others, I was an Inheritance Cycle fan, and was extremely excited to read a new story from the author.
This book had potential, but it was just too shallow of character development for such a vast world. I mean, it's freaking Sci Fi! The world building is expected and is delivered. Unfortunately, the characters within just don't hold up. I love a good romance, and I didn't feel a thing for the emotions shared between characters. I didn't care for the platonic relationships built. If someone died, (or would have died) you didn't/wouldn't have caught me crying or cursing at the author.
I think part of this is because feelings and actions were told rather than shown.
Everything was convenient, shallow, and I found myself zoning out during action scenes.
I'm sad to say this book was more than a bit of a let down for me.
This isn't one of my usual genres, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book!
This was a pretty fun read.
This was a pretty fun read.
This book was a wonderful journey, the characters, the plot, and the action were all wonderful! Eat the path!
I listened to the audiobook from the library for To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. If you are an audiobook user, it is a significant sized book and took two borrowing cyes of 21 days each to get through it.
I really enjoyed the story journey.
I really enjoyed the story journey.
This book is SO LONG. The premise was nice, the writing was nice, but I felt like the story just kind of dragged on and it felt like there was no end in sight.
I'm abandoning this on page 50 so I can return it to the library for the next person. I may come back for it someday when 850+ pages doesn't seem like such a commitment. But today it's not calling to me.