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Book Review - To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

Check out this Space Opera in all its majesty!


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To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini, Published September 2020 by TOR Books

This massive book is Space Opera in all its Space Opera trope glory!

This is my first Paolini book, I say that to inform other readers of my ignorance of Mr. Paolini's style previous to this book.

But I was engaged and the action keeps coming fast and furious.

Like a certain classic Space Opera, the story is loaded with religious / mystical overtones and certain characters sole purpose seems to be to spout mysterious phrases and encourage our protagonist with popular philosophy.

Our protagonist along with a motley band of smugglers set forth on an epic quest to save the galaxy, by means of finding an object of great power. Our reluctant heroes are pulled along via alien visions and pushed into fulfilling an enormous destiny. Humankind face a possible extinction-level threat, and only one person can save them! This is not fully a "chosen one" story, as our protagonist becomes chosen by accident and has to learn how to be not-quite human, but something else, maybe something more, to pull off what she must do.

This setup reminds of me strongly of many epic fantasies that I've read.

Paolini did seem to struggle with writing a woman's point of view at times, as Kira's feelings didn't strike me as realistic or genuine at certain parts, though I myself am not a woman either. Also I didn't fully buy into the choices many of the characters make throughout the story, but I can forgive it, as it was a lot of fun to read.


Rating: 7 out of 10 galaxies

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