To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

The Book in 1 Sentence

A weird alternate reality to Children of Ruin where the parasite alien is both the problem and the cure following the story of Arrival.

Brief Review

A sleeper of a book. A read that keeps you entertained with vivid imagery and great science. Paolini does a great job of expanding on true theoretical physics problems and making them a reality to include a fictional timeline. He does a fantastic job of take what should be an inanimate parasite and giving it life. Pun intended when you read the book.

Why I Read this book

I grabbed it some time ago and probably because it was space themed and has a cool cover. If you don't know, you do now. I just 100% of books by their cover. There is a reason that industry exist.

In-Depth Review

I will first say that I seriously thought that I had somehow picked up an alternate universe book to Children of Ruin . It was freaking me out because it was octopus (Aliens from Arrival) and Alien from The Thing all over again and they were fighting. It was weird. But all that said, I digress.

I enjoyed the book. There is a plot point in the book that deals with a "staff" that I felt never paid off for the amount of time that was spent on the book to talk about it. I mean you could have skipped anything about that reduced the book by a good 5-10% and never changed the story. Actually the more I think about it, the more that entire section of the book plays no purpose. I just checked and there is a sequel but it makes no sense to start the story there (Looking at the synopsis). My theory is that the plot point that was forgotten is the big bad in the second book. Just my theory.

The characters have a really rich backstory. I am really happy with their growth and style. The progression was well paced and I felt very natural.

I thought about not putting this in previously, but the more I think about it the more it sticks out. There is a unrequired sex scene that felt like a college setup with people passing in the ship that could have been skipped and been fine. Unneeded and pointless in a story that is really based on life and love. It just seems out of place.

Rating

I enjoyed the book. If I am being honest, I had a hard time shaking the similarities of the book and Children of Ruin which made me not like the beginning of the book, however looking back it wasn’t bad. Story is presented well, no crazy jumps in time, and the confusing parts of the book are meant to be confusing. 7.5/10. Read it. Sequel apparently comes out this year.

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