To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse)

This is fantastic, I’d give it 4.5 stars if I could! Why not 5 stars you ask? My only real issue is the length of the story. When the description says that this is an epic space opera, it means EPIC. This is vast and covers alot of ground, well space. The final version comes in around 900 pages depending on the format you choose. I swapped between print and audio because it is so long. I highly recommend the audiobook as well. Jennifer Hale is a fantastic narrator, it is hard to believe this is her debut as an audiobook narrator. There is artwork in the print version that you won’t get in the audiobook, but the narration really brings the book to life and with a long book like this sometimes you need that to keep you invested in such a long tome. Either format is great though!, The characters and plot suck you in and keep you invested. I do feel like there were a few parts that could have been condensed or were a bit repetitive, but they were also necessary to transition the story or move a plot point forward. We almost get two endings in this book. I thought the book had ended and we’d get an epilogue, but it kept going with the promise of more potential books in this world, which I would happily devour. I highly recommend the appendix as it has tons of reference material to the science used in the creation of the book as well as a glossary that explains some of the characters, concepts, and terms used. I learned so much from this section and it is invaluable to readers, and makes for great reference material as you are reading. I also recommend reading the author’s note as it gives great insight into his process and creation of the book. It really helps the reader understand where the book started and why it ended where it did., If you are a fan of Paolini’s previous work in the Eragon series, as I am, you won’t be disappointed. This has his wonderful writing style and great world building. I loved all of the characters. He dreamt up this amazing sentient alien race and they all look a bit different though they feature qualities of earth’s sea life and have a unique way of communicating. He describes them in such detail that you can really begin to envision what they look like. The same goes for the spacecraft, the other characters, and the action scenes. The action scenes can get a little violent and gruesome, so reader be warned. He doesn’t hold back when it comes to the fighting, some of the scenes are like a horror novel. Because the book is lengthy we get tons of character development and backstory on all of the side characters, which is something often overlooked in books. I loved that the author took the time to give each of the characters personality, a backstory, and they all played a role in Kira’s journey. We get to watch Kira evolved from a human, to a human invaded by this xeno organism, to something else entirely., I really appreciate that Paolini tried to keep to actual science (he mentions this in his afterward). He had a vision for what he wanted the space travel to look like without breaking all of the rules of science to make it work. While he takes his liberties with the science to make it fit his vision, it isn’t all a figment of his imagination. You can tell that he really put time, research, and effort into the creation of his sci fi universe from the tech the humans use to assist in their day to day tasks and military efforts, the space travel, the religions, and the creatures. It makes for a really enjoyable journey., If you are a fan of space operas, sci-fi, or Paolini’s previous books, I 100% recommend this! I’m so honored to have gotten a chance to read this early. This will take you on quite the journey of unbelievable science, action, creatures, and emotions. I just finished it and I want to reread it because I miss the characters already.

This is fantastic, I’d give it 4.5 stars if I could! Why not 5 stars you ask? My only real issue is the length of the story. When the description says that this is an epic space opera, it means EPIC. This is vast and covers alot of ground, well space. The final version comes in around 900 pages depending on the format you choose. I swapped between print and audio because it is so long. I highly recommend the audiobook as well. Jennifer Hale is a fantastic narrator, it is hard to believe this is her debut as an audiobook narrator. There is artwork in the print version that you won’t get in the audiobook, but the narration really brings the book to life and with a long book like this sometimes you need that to keep you invested in such a long tome. Either format is great though!, The characters and plot suck you in and keep you invested. I do feel like there were a few parts that could have been condensed or were a bit repetitive, but they were also necessary to transition the story or move a plot point forward. We almost get two endings in this book. I thought the book had ended and we’d get an epilogue, but it kept going with the promise of more potential books in this world, which I would happily devour. I highly recommend the appendix as it has tons of reference material to the science used in the creation of the book as well as a glossary that explains some of the characters, concepts, and terms used. I learned so much from this section and it is invaluable to readers, and makes for great reference material as you are reading. I also recommend reading the author’s note as it gives great insight into his process and creation of the book. It really helps the reader understand where the book started and why it ended where it did., If you are a fan of Paolini’s previous work in the Eragon series, as I am, you won’t be disappointed. This has his wonderful writing style and great world building. I loved all of the characters. He dreamt up this amazing sentient alien race and they all look a bit different though they feature qualities of earth’s sea life and have a unique way of communicating. He describes them in such detail that you can really begin to envision what they look like. The same goes for the spacecraft, the other characters, and the action scenes. The action scenes can get a little violent and gruesome, so reader be warned. He doesn’t hold back when it comes to the fighting, some of the scenes are like a horror novel. Because the book is lengthy we get tons of character development and backstory on all of the side characters, which is something often overlooked in books. I loved that the author took the time to give each of the characters personality, a backstory, and they all played a role in Kira’s journey. We get to watch Kira evolved from a human, to a human invaded by this xeno organism, to something else entirely., I really appreciate that Paolini tried to keep to actual science (he mentions this in his afterward). He had a vision for what he wanted the space travel to look like without breaking all of the rules of science to make it work. While he takes his liberties with the science to make it fit his vision, it isn’t all a figment of his imagination. You can tell that he really put time, research, and effort into the creation of his sci fi universe from the tech the humans use to assist in their day to day tasks and military efforts, the space travel, the religions, and the creatures. It makes for a really enjoyable journey., If you are a fan of space operas, sci-fi, or Paolini’s previous books, I 100% recommend this! I’m so honored to have gotten a chance to read this early. This will take you on quite the journey of unbelievable science, action, creatures, and emotions. I just finished it and I want to reread it because I miss the characters already.

My first thought during the first 20 pages or so of this was “What is this garbage?” It was reading like a bad Netflix movie. What I didn’t realize, though, was this was just the setup. The setup to an awesome roller coaster ride that just keeps going until the end. This book is a true sci-fi adventure., I wasn’t surprised to find that the author had written dragon books before. For much of this book it reads like a fantasy. Our main character discovers some long lost hidden secret that gives magical abilities. And it’s up to them and a crew of rag-tag misfits they meet along the way to save the world. Visiting far off places and meeting interesting creatures, this epic gets bigger and bigger as it goes on. A great example of why sci-fi and fantasy get grouped together., But eventually, we’re in straight-up spaceships, lasers, and aliens. I don’t think there’s a fantasy equivalent of cryo-sleep during FTL travel. And there’s a handful of that in here. The author never gets too deep into hard science, which in this case is nice. There are enough ideas about future tech to keep things interesting, but nothing that we stay with for too long. And this isn’t a book that really makes you think or try to analyze it on a different level. Except for what “first contact” might be like, it’s just a fantastic, straight-forward sci-fi adventure with some lovely writing, vivid descriptions, fun characters, and tons of imagination., Really the most impressive part is that while it is so long, there is never a dull moment. With each chapter something even more exciting happens and they’re off to an even more distant star. I can’t stress enough how enjoyable this was to read. It’s an awesome gem in what perhaps has become a clouded genre. And I was so lucky to have been able to take my time with it. Probably the slowest I’ve read a book, but only in the best way.