Christopher Paolini: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Paperback, 2021, Tor Books)
Paperback, 880 pages
English language
Published Oct. 19, 2021 by Tor Books.
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...
I think this is three books that I listened to as a single book. Engaging but at times I was thinking “what is taking you so long to figure this out”. Aliens were quite alien but had human thought processes as well. I enjoyed it nonetheless, although I did not care for the Epilog.
I originally found a hardcover copy of this book in a "free books" bin, then borrowed the audiobook edition from the library. I definitely enjoyed it, but I never felt emotionally invested in the characters. The episodic nature of the plot made the book feel very long; whenever I expected things to wrap up another conflict was tacked on.
