Reviews

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

tamilynn1313's review against another edition

Just couldn’t get into it- space aliens aren’t my thing. 

earthtoamber's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

willjacks's review against another edition

4.0

A lengthy book that in all honesty could’ve been edited down to about 650 instead of a behemoth 870+ pages. The story wears its influences on its sleeves, a difficult aspect of sci fi that most writers can’t help but include or pay homage to. However, the amount of attention to detail, scientific awareness and overall preparedness of the author is astounding. The afterword really painted a picture as to how this book slowly came into existence and the perseverance of the author; who believed in his heart and soul that the idea he had 14 years ago was worth all the agony. I would say that this is a more accessible Children of Time, where the science-y jargon can be completely bypassed by the reader or listener if it suits them. It’s fascinating, don’t get me wrong, but the dialogue between characters is so down to Earth and plucky that it sometimes feels like a Marvel movie rather than a deadly serious sci-fi. Not wanting to spoil anything, the story is great and the ending is sublime. Only other complaint is that the repetition of certain words and phrases became slightly distracting. However, a book this long is bound to have some editing issues, which can also be said of the audio recording which on a couple of occasions included outtakes and false starts. A great book, highly recommend for those with patience.

enzoisprettycool's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

carohd's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

terra_firesword's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

3.5

scottyboybooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging fast-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

3.5

I enjoyed this read, but likely wouldn't re-read it. It kept me entertained and thinking throughout. The ending surprised me, and I didn't like it initially, but after some thought, I think it came to a good conclusion. There were some loose ends that I felt could've been cleaned up, but this is a universe, and those may be addressed in another book.  

Some advice if you are reading this for a bookclub; place each break before an Exeunt, which in this book is the chapter before a new part. At each Exeunt/part, most things have been resolved for the moment, which doesn't leave much to talk about. Stopping at a chapter break towards the end of a part has better cliffhangers and there will be more to talk about. 

yodamom's review against another edition

5.0

Holy Shiitake !!!!
That was amazing ! I just read 800 plus pages and it felt like 100. I couldn't get enough, I was so invested into his world and his characters, I was there. Yes it was like that ! This author creates worlds that are so vivid and layered, his characters are flawed, fantastically realistic and he's getting stronger with each book he writes. I could not recommend this book enough. Yes it is an alien space movie but it isn't really an alien story this is a life story. If you read Eragon you must read this next level in his work.
Please someone make a movie series from this book !!!!!

abby__1's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

3.0

tbaer's review against another edition

5.0

Good book. Can't quite understand the sub 4.0 ratings... something about dragons or something, idk, ppl are kinda dumb sometimes. Solid sci-fi.