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gladiolus17's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence and Gore
Moderate: Medical trauma and Medical content
raerae123's review against another edition
- 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
2.25
This book also contained a 💩 ton of filler. This book could’ve easily been 600 pages without losing any key plot points. This may be a failure of the editors, but the novel simply had too many unnecessary details discussing minutia that wasn’t plot related.
What To Sleep In a Sea of Stars lacked in character development, it made up in world building. The setting of this story was developed well and helped to keep me reading even with the bland characters. However, I think it should included more detailed description of how certain mechanisms work in the main part of the novel. There is some detail contained in the appendicies, but not enough to help understand key concepts like entering ports with a ship and basic rules for the universe.
Overall, I rated this book a 2.25. It had an interesting and engaging plot, but the writing made it hard to get through. I really struggled to finish it, but I’m glad I did. If you love science fiction, this book will prob leave you thinking for a few days. It contains some really interested concepts that haven’t yet been tested in the real world. It’s quite fascinating.
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Abandonment and Medical trauma
Minor: Xenophobia and Mental illness
ehmannky's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Violence, Confinement, Torture, Murder, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, and Blood
Moderate: Vomit and Police brutality
swazwald's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Medical content, Murder, Torture, and Violence
bluelaceagate's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Torture
Moderate: Cursing, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Chronic illness, Excrement, and Genocide
elizabeth_lepore's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Body horror and Medical trauma
radreadswithrachel's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Violence
fromjuliereads's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I was OBSESSED with the characters. All of the beginning kind of sets things up, but then when things get rolling, it is a great balance of bonding moments with terrifying space battles that have you on the edge of your seat! The addition of Inare was AMAZING and I saw the connection immediately - it put such a big smile on my face! There were other little references to the Inheritance Cycle that you see in bits and pieces. And of course Runcible and Mr. Fuzzypants were awesome! I wish they were in it a little bit more.
Gregorovitch has got to be one of my new favourite characters ever - his sass and retorts are next level, and his story just thoroughly pulls you in to sympathize with him. And his fierceness to protect his crew? Amazing. There wasn't a single character that I didn't like. Falconi is awesome, Nielsen, Sparrow, and Hwa-jung are all BADASS, and I loved Trig and Vishal. Kira of course is the most epic character of all, and I absolutely loved having the story from her perspective. I thought that Paolini did a fantastic job writing her pov - it definitely did not feel like how some male authors write female characters. While the focus had to be on her body at so many points because of the Soft Blade, it never felt like he was oversexualizing or using a stereotypical male author perspective to write her. I felt she was written so well.
I will say that there is obviously a lot of space travelling, and a lot of space battles. I felt that he did really well with the balance of pacing, slowing things down at point to develop characters and the plot but then ramping things up for completely epic escapes and battles. The space travel sub-chapters could get a bit slow, since most characters are sleeping or in cryo, but they were soooo important to the development of Kira's character, and he did a really good job of breaking them up at the ends of the parts of the book. The battles were intense and had me stressed out more than once - screaming in my head "DON'T KILL THE BABIES" - but written well where they were easy to follow and picture in my head.
Plus, I just love the artwork and the cool sciencey space maps!? Such cool additions.
I also HIGHLY recommend reading Paolini's afterward and acknowledgements. Knowing what he went through to write this book and how long of a process it was gives me an even deeper appreciation for this book.
Note: I was buddy reading this with two friends who love sci-fi, and I am someone who has not read sci-fi. Somehow, I was constantly past them in reading, and ended up finishing before them. Apparently, Paolini has gotten me to like sci-fi...
Graphic: Violence and Cursing
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, and Vomit