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A review by plantbasedbride
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
When Kira discovers an ancient alien relic while on a scientific mission, the xenobiologist's life is forever altered.
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars started off strong. In fact, the first few chapters were my favourite of the entire novel and immediately drew me in. Sadly, with a few exceptions, it was all downhill from there.
I'll start with the good.
The discovery of the xeno and the early development of its nature and abilities. I loved how we learned of the xeno and I was intrigued by its purpose and origins. I couldn't wait to untangle the mystery! Sadly, the more we learned the less I cared. Paolini took the xeno in a decidedly fantastical direction that was at odds with the setting and expectations set forth by his work.
Gregorivitch. He is the star of this novel. I pretty much only finished it because of him. He is 100% responsible for at least one extra star in my rating. I would let him call me his spiky meatbag anytime! The only way I'd consider reading a sequel is if it's all Gregorivitch all the time.
The narrator of the audiobook. They did a fantastic job.
And... oh. I guess that's it for the good.
And then there's the bad.
Kira. She's our protagonist, and yet we know very little about her. She's incredibly one dimensional and not particularly interesting outside of the circumstances she has found herself in. I would much rather read a book about Gregorivitch (as previously stated).
The oh-so predictable romance between our self-insert protagonist and the roguish captain of a ship with a ragtag yet lovable crew.
The awkward dialogue where everyone starts each sentence with "[my name], here..." and ends every other sentence with "..., also." This got seriously irritating after several hundred pages.
The many space battles that bled into each other after a while and added nothing to the plot or character development.
The "our MC is actually basically a God/chosen one and is the only one who can save the entire universe!" trope, which I hate with a burning passion.
And an added dose of victim blaming (of a character being bullied by fellow crewmates) and body shaming (in regard to scars).
Oh, and it was easily 500 pages too long.
Listen, despite all my issues with this one I did enjoy it, for the most part. There were some interesting ideas (though none were fully developed), there were some loveable side characters, and I love sci-fi enough that I just enjoyed being in space for a while. But this is certainly not one of the better sci-fi novels I've read, and I don't plan on continuing with the series (if it in fact becomes one).
VIDEO REVIEW: (coming soon)
You can find me on...
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/plantbasedbride">Youtube</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elizabethturn/">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ElizabethTurn">Twitter</a>
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars started off strong. In fact, the first few chapters were my favourite of the entire novel and immediately drew me in. Sadly, with a few exceptions, it was all downhill from there.
I'll start with the good.
The discovery of the xeno and the early development of its nature and abilities. I loved how we learned of the xeno and I was intrigued by its purpose and origins. I couldn't wait to untangle the mystery! Sadly, the more we learned the less I cared. Paolini took the xeno in a decidedly fantastical direction that was at odds with the setting and expectations set forth by his work.
Gregorivitch. He is the star of this novel. I pretty much only finished it because of him. He is 100% responsible for at least one extra star in my rating. I would let him call me his spiky meatbag anytime! The only way I'd consider reading a sequel is if it's all Gregorivitch all the time.
The narrator of the audiobook. They did a fantastic job.
And... oh. I guess that's it for the good.
And then there's the bad.
Kira. She's our protagonist, and yet we know very little about her. She's incredibly one dimensional and not particularly interesting outside of the circumstances she has found herself in. I would much rather read a book about Gregorivitch (as previously stated).
The oh-so predictable romance between our self-insert protagonist and the roguish captain of a ship with a ragtag yet lovable crew.
The awkward dialogue where everyone starts each sentence with "[my name], here..." and ends every other sentence with "..., also." This got seriously irritating after several hundred pages.
The many space battles that bled into each other after a while and added nothing to the plot or character development.
The "our MC is actually basically a God/chosen one and is the only one who can save the entire universe!" trope, which I hate with a burning passion.
And an added dose of victim blaming (of a character being bullied by fellow crewmates) and body shaming (in regard to scars).
Oh, and it was easily 500 pages too long.
Listen, despite all my issues with this one I did enjoy it, for the most part. There were some interesting ideas (though none were fully developed), there were some loveable side characters, and I love sci-fi enough that I just enjoyed being in space for a while. But this is certainly not one of the better sci-fi novels I've read, and I don't plan on continuing with the series (if it in fact becomes one).
VIDEO REVIEW: (coming soon)
You can find me on...
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/plantbasedbride">Youtube</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elizabethturn/">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ElizabethTurn">Twitter</a>
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Gore, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, and Confinement