Reviews with content warning for Blood - To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

This book is really interesting. It's wildly different than Paolini's Inheritance cycle, and it seems to blend a variety of different sci-fi, fantasy, and fiction conventions. His use of "exeunts" between chapters and systems shows the influence from his unsuccessful playwriting endeavors, and yet, it helps with the pacing of the book. I've read that some think this is a sluggish read, but for me, the balance between fast and slow pace feels apt for this particular story, using playwriting conventions to set up every action scene.
The main character of the story is a Latina woman, but the inclusivity in this book doesn't feel robust. The writing also feels rather male-focused, as Kira develops

relationships with primarily two male characters, Gregorivich and Falconi (aka Salvo) but doesn't develop any deep female friendships. The queer couple in the book is casually mentioned (at an attempt at normalization?), and Kira's family is always on the periphery of the story without getting any fleshed-out details. As a result, Kira's primary relationships are to two male characters, even becoming intimate with one of them. It feels limiting. And, the voice does not feel so different from that of Eragon's, only mentioning her "parts down there" in an early scene to remind us that Kira is female-identifying. The take on gender in this book also feels a little neoliberal. The alien species' focus on two-forms being ship minds and bipedal humans renders gender an afterthought, but gender norms nonetheless feel very classically reinforced. I feel like Paolini could have done a bit more with this. The ending with Kira becoming this Gaea-like god for the entire universe is disappointing. She becomes defined by reproductive power, instead of transcending it with the possibility for a post humanist feminist theory (see Donna Haraway's A Cyborg Manifesto. In that regard, gender defines the future, instead of being something to transcend.

. Despite that, I've read some reviews that find the banter of the characters to be childish or out-of-place. I'd disagree. There seems to be a realness in Paolini's writing when it comes to camaraderie and humor. It's easy to dismiss that as low-hanging dialogue fruit, but it resembles a lot of the silly merriment of real friend groups. And that's commendable. I'm satisfied with this book. It didn't feel long. The pacing was really enjoyable. And, it is very well-researched, making it feel like I'm diving into a world already there, in which Paolini has fully fleshed out the edges and spots that never make it into the narrative at all.
Despite the drawbacks, I found myself really enjoying this book, especially Paolini's commentary at the end. For what it is, it's really beautiful.

Content Warnings

ehmannky's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

This book is kind of hard for me to rate. Because on the one hand, the plot is very good, I was interested for all of the 800+ pages that this book goes on (though I did have to do a hard pass on the ending addendum stuff), and I was invested in these characters. On the other hand, the plot kind of meanders (it is 800+ pages long and I personally feel like at least 100 pages could have been cut overall) and the dialogue is clunky. It's a fun space opera and it gets really good once Kira starts really merging with her alien biomass, but I wouldn't rank it as one of the best books of all time. Read for a good time not a smart time.

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bluelaceagate's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

forthesanityof1's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Quarantine read!
I was super excited to read this since it was from the dragon god himself, Christopher Paolini. I pre-ordered my copy so far in advanced I actually forgot about it and almost bought it twice by accident. The premise sounded so interesting I was beyond happy to finally have the motivation to tackle it.
However.
While the world building was amazing, that was largely the only positive point I had for the book. I found all the characters to be one-dimensional and had a difficult time sinking into the story. It feels like it lacked emotional depth the entire way through except maybe the last 100 pages. I only maintained interest because I got to the halfway point and the plot finally gave me something interesting to hold onto with the Jellies. The character interactions themselves were superficial and did not inspire feelings of closeness between them to me. This led to me not giving a shit about any of the characters. The only ones I cared about were the entropists and Gregorovich. Everything else felt disjointed. There was a single section where the author added in a half page of dialogue about some politics that had literally never been mentioned before that point (think it was about 500 or 600 pages in) and was never mentioned again. Even in the beginning before plot occurs, Kira and Alan don't feel close or connected. I dont know, it might just be me. My other huge problem revolved around Kira herself. I love selfish characters or ones that choose to do things for reasons other than "what is morally right" but I could not get a read on Kira's motives at all. I didn't understand why she did what she did. She didn't come off as much of a scientist, either. It's like she has no personality, and yes, I know that's an issue with female narrators, I'm very aware of it; but the fact remains that Kira didn't matter to me. I felt no connection, no empathy, for her experiences. In addition, there were moments with Kira that took me completely out of the narrative. One example is when

Kira first looks at herself in the mirror after obtaining the Soft Blade and is so repulsed by her form that she wonders how someone will ever love her "in that way." That being the first thing a female character thinks after enduring an alien parasite attaching itself to her, murdering her fiance and crew, and being tortured by some government doctor seems a little male-gaze centered to me. In addition, the Soft Blade actually being a life-giver and being called the "Seed" literally made my skin crawl when it was revealed.

. Additionally, there were some weird moments of bullying and body-shaming that occurred for seemingly no reason at all,, which bothered me immensely when they happened. Overall, not super happy with this but I will still give his next book in the series a shot and hope for something a little more complex regarding the characters.

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noelanig's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

2.0

I was so bored the whole time goodness gracious. Thanks space sapphics, you really got me through.

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the_chaotic_witch's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

878 pages; 2020; 5/5 stars; 9.57 CAWPILE; spoiler-free

This junker of a book was gifted to Me by a youtube-friend who was really excited about the release of this book and desperately wanted Me to read it, too. At first, I was a bit apprehensive, not really even knowing what the book was actually about. I had just put it on my wishlist because she praised it so much.

On another note, bear with Me here; it will all come together. A few weeks back, a friend from home and I talked about Sci-Fi books and how we never seemed to find what we were looking for in them. And that was: plotting, political intrigue, universe/multiverse-vast world-building, multiple characters, that may not all be that important and not only our knot of that perfect friend group, (for Me:) found family, (for her:) engaging battles, aliens (duh), with more than "they are different we'll fight them" and logic. Logic was a big part for both of us. We didn't want a poor reason to get the plot going, no holes in the world-building or illogical character choices.

And then my friend sent Me this book. "To Sleep in a Sea of Stars." The title alone is beautiful, isn't it? It's melodic and mysterious. The cover, too, is intriguing. A human floating in space, seemingly naked, meaning no suit, not ship, nothing to keep them alive. Nothing to sustain their body. How do they do it? Why are they there? What do they feel beholding the universe all around them? What does it physically feel like?

Needless to say, the book was everything I was looking for.

To start this off, let Me quickly summarize a snippet of the plot. It is the year 2157, and our Main character is a young woman working as a xenobiologist on a far off planet with her team and her boyfriend. On their last day, she is sent out to recover some of their machines, and in the process, she stumbles upon a strange rock formation with a curious cave inside. As is the fashion with Main characters, she falls in. Her being a xenobiologist, someone who does science on the life forms on different planets, she is fascinated by this cave and what it beholds. But when she touches something, that something starts to move and to absorb into her body. And she doesn't like that. And the rest of the universe won't either.

Now that we have the basic premise out of the way, let Me tell you what else it is about: loss, grief, being separated from family, travel, responsibility and having to deal with things that are outside of your control, bureaucracy (would you believe it), science (duh), what makes a person a person (but not in the way you think), love of all different kinds, mental health, determination, dealing with cultures you are not accustomed to, confidence, willpower, friend( )ship, safety on a global rate (also not how you think), the multitude of human life experiences, sacrifice, the greater good, trust, the frustrations of life, and an ending that is open and so different from what you usually find in stories in general.

You can really feel that Paolini worked on this book for nine years. It is coherent in its plot, world, and characters. There is a logic behind each action. Each character is adequately fleshed out and has their reasons to act the way they do, that are not just there to serve as a sob-story but contribute to the plot. The development of different civilizations and cultures is handled with much care and diversity. Being a white, german woman, I can't speak to their accuracy, but I like to think that Paolini dedicated himself to writing them as best he could. There were some parts where I was like, eh, but then again; I cannot be the judge of that.

From the very beginning, the world-building was intricate. Of course, it is a stark difference from our own reality, so it needs to be a bit blunt and extreme, but that only lasts for the first few pages. Once the action starts, it fades quickly into the naturalness of the storytelling. The world/universe expands are we (the Main character) learn ever the more, and it is done with precision and careful planning. I have rarely read a book that was so cohesive in its world, characters, and plot each. Usually, one of those is lacking. Not here.

Over almost 900 pages, there is plenty of room and time for the characters to develop, and they did not fail to do so. Some of their development happened on them plot-related, some came from within. Some of it was caused by the people around them, so was for the people around them.

The cast of characters is big, and while we have our group of main characters, not even the small side-characters that appear once or twice feel one-dimensional. There is an undercurrent of meaning and depth to all of them and their actions, and that is one of the things that makes this book so magical. Not the glitter of stars, not the epic battles, not the crew's feelings and emotions. But the inherent humanness of it all. Even of the parts that were not human and weren't portrayed to be human, there was a realness to them that made it easy to emerge yourself in the story.

Now, of course, 900 pages makes this a very long story. So, I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook (at the time of Me writing this review, it is up on Scribd).

The ending of this book was bitter-sweet in more than one way. Of course, and more prevalent for Me because it ended. I didn't want to lose these characters. To not know how they would continue onwards, what their next adventure would be (because this story is truly more than only one adventure). But also because of the nature of the ending. I hinted at this before, and, to be honest, it frustrated Me - goodness, it still frustrates Me! But at the same time, I do love it so much. Because this is what I've been looking for for so long, something that is so close to life and that does not depend on what toxic traits the characters tried to overcome initially (trying hard to keep it vague and spoiler-free).

So, needless to say, I highly recommend this to anyone, who wants a cast of characters to fall in love with, a world that almost feels more real than this one, and a journey through space to find not only humanity's only hope but also themselves.

This is Me signing off, be kind, especially to yourselves. Bye ♥

Content Warnings

astronut's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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