To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini | Part 1 & all the reasons why I want to read this book!

What a journey! I’ve never read the Inheritance Cycle series by Christopher Paolini, although I did hear about it quite a lot, as I’m sure most of you did. «To Sleep in a Sea of Stars» is his new Sci-Fi and essentially a “come-back”, as it’s the first one he publishes in almost 10 years! [The last book of the Inheritance Cycle was published in 2011!]

Even though I have no point of reference to his previous works, I still wanted to be part of the hype and see what this new Sci-Fi is all about. And let me tell you, Christopher Paolini delivered an incredible, well-planned, and emotional science fiction novel!

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goodreads blurb:

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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Thank you Netgalley and Tor, Pan Macmillan for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by the company or its affiliates in any way.

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The ARC of Part 1 of «To Sleep in a Sea of Stars» was available on NetGalley, and considering the time I spent reading it, it is approximately 200 pages long. According to Goodreads, the complete edition has a total of 880 pages :O A beast! But I will definitely be buying the final copy once it’s released on September 15th! 

The book begins on the planet Adra, where we follow a xenobiologist Kira Navárez. In this world, humanity’s advanced technology allowed them to explore space, to create colonies in other “solar” systems. Kira was part of the team sent to Adra to collect organisms, to research and explore and see if this planet was fit for colonization. 

This first introduction did feel a little bit overwhelming, but Christopher Paolini knew exactly how to catch his readers, how to make them even more interested, and how to make them care about the characters. 

In all honesty, the very beginning – of getting to know Kira and the planet, of her task to explore something detected by a drone – was one of my favorite parts of the book (so far!). It really reminded me of «The Martian» and made me remember why I love space-related science fiction. 

I was just starting to enjoy my time on this new planet when the plot took a very unexpected turn and things went wild REALLY fast! I don’t want to give too much detail away, but Part 1 felt like a complete book. So many things happened, so many people got involved in Kira’s discovery. The stakes were very high! And that fear for the characters and how fast the plot was progressing kept me glued to the pages. I’m pretty sure that I’d have read the whole book in a day if I just could get my hands on it. 

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Since I only read Part 1, I won’t be giving any rating, but so far it’s a solid 5 stars. 🙂 I’m really hoping to get my finished physical copy asap so I can follow Kira’s journey and see what happens next! 

Are you excited about the new Christopher Paolini book? I’m currently waiting for my pre-ordered copy to arrive! 

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