Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

26 reviews

ashlightgrayson's review against another edition

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, Death, Gore, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual content and Violence

zeneszerzo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, and War

Moderate: Sexual content

weinerman's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted reflective 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual content

darkefyres's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Vomit, and War

Minor: Medical content

bookishchef's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

di_the_reader's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

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: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Body shaming, Child death, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

whatswithrandy's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Violence, and War

Minor: Confinement, Sexual content, Torture, and Forced institutionalization

tiffanysmith's review against another edition

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: Gore, Blood, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and Alcohol

kfergey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'll start by saying I did like this book. The story (when it got going) was interesting and most of the characters were likable or interesting. The world was cool if under-explored. But, this book is TOO long, it did not need to be this long. The whole storyline of the staff of blue mcguffin was unnecessary and the dream sequences were overly long and dramatized and made the book drag. The main character was also hard to like at times as she was so introspective to the point of being a bit needy/whiny.  However, what dropped this below a 4* for me was the ending.  All of a sudden she can make all sorts of magical staffs and pills and she talks like an omniscient creature and overall I found it to be too much.  I'd only recommend this book to people who really like sci-fi and philosophy. <Spoiler>

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, and War

Minor: Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Torture