A review by willjacks
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

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.