Review - To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

 

 

Title: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

Author: Christopher Paolini

Pages: 880

Publisher: Tor UK

Release Date: 15th September 2020

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

 Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds.
Now she’s awakened a nightmare.

During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she’s delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn’t at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity’s greatest and final hope . . .

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My Review:

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Pan Macmillan*

Kira Navárez and her crew-mates are nearly at the end of a mission to survey an uncolonised planet. Everything changes when Kira discovers an alien artefact and humanity finds itself fighting for survival.

Kira must do what she can to help and her journey will span different galaxies as well as put her and the people around her in great peril.

Can the humans win the war?

How will Kira's journey change her?

As a fan of sci-fi and the author's previous series, I was excited to read To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.

Kira was a likeable and relatable protagonist who was certainly put through the mill. I thought her reactions were believeable and liked reading her interactions with other characters.

I liked most of the characters and enjoyed getting to know them, but I don't feel that I really connected with any of them, even Kira.

The scope of this book was truly epic, as was the setting which spanned several galaxies. There weren't as many planets featured in the book as I expected, but most of the book was set on a spaceship.

The plot was pretty good overall - there was a mix of action and slower moments. It was a little repetitive at times, but that was due to the novel being set in space. I stayed interested in what was going on, which can sometimes be difficult with a novel this length, and I didn't feel that it dragged or was overly long. There were some good twists that I didn't see coming, and I didn't know what was going to happen next.

The aliens were interesting and I enjoyed finding out more about them.

One thing that I found odd was when Kira and the other characters didn't talk about something that happened and it was quite a big thing that impacted what happened next.

While this was an enjoyable sci-fi read, it didn't grip me and I'm disappointed that I didn't like it more as it was one of my most anticipated releases of 2020.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read.