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To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

By: Christopher Paolini
Narrated by: Jennifer Hale
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Publisher's Summary

Goodreads Choice Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a masterful epic science-fiction novel from the New York Times and Sunday Times best-selling author of the Inheritance Cycle, Christopher Paolini.

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....

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Christopher Paolini (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Critic Reviews

"Christopher Paolini is a true rarity." (Washington Post)

"'An authentic work of great talent." (New York Times Book Review)

"A breathtaking and unheard of success." (USA Today

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What listeners say about To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story and great value.

Story was well constructed and narration performance is top shelf.... felt engaged the whole way through.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Should have been a trilogy or series...

Story:
I loved Paolini's "The Inheritance Cycle", so naturally was looking forward to a new story from him. I'm so glad I stuck it out.

There were times when I zoned out, finding it lengthy and boring (and this comes from a lover of long fantasy books and series). I may have missed important story lines as a result, but couldn't bring myself to re-read these dull areas unless I felt something didn't make sense or I'd missed something vital.

I feel this book would have been better if it was broken up into a trilogy or series of books. Way too much time was invested in explaining the back story and various nuances contained in this particular Universe. As a reader we needed to know this information, however, it became "information overload" and took away from the actual story. Rather, this information could have been "drip fed" over a series of books, making it easier to bare and not so boring. It was a monster of a book with such great, thought out cultures, technologies, species and Worlds. It would have been great if Paolini could have taken his time with the story, expanding it to the size a story like this needs, rather than condensing the monster into a single book.

In saying this, I absolutely loved the story! Paolini has a wonderful imagination and creates believable Worlds that are well thought out and scientifically explained.

Performance:
This is the first time I've heard Jennifer Hale narrate a story. It took a little time to get used to her style, but by the end I adored her! At the beginning I thought she was quite monotone and rushed, however, as the story developed I realised she was very well suited to the story and it's characters. I particularly enjoyed her rendition of the mad ship mind Gregorovich. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Jennifer Hale and will definitely look out for her future narratives.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

a great escape

an amazing story with an amazing narrator. a great and very long escape to get lost in.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Worth the wait

Paolini spent the 9 years since the release of Inheritance well. A masterful space opera.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

FAB-U-LOUS

As an extreme fan of Inheritance Cycle I was nervous coming into a new Paolini world. But the nerves were for naught. What a fabulous elaborate tale, always moving always going somewhere new.
Jennifer Hale (narrator) was so perfect for this story and does an incredible and engaging job.
Highly highly recommend

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A long walk down a familiar, but no less enjoyable, path.

Story:
It was cliche at times, had moments of long winded intermissions, and the action was patchy in parts. However, the story was in no way a poor effort and often produced quite dramatic and enthralling sections sadly missing from similar works. Furthermore, while supporting character’s motives and development tended to happen in chunks, never to be returned to, the dynamic between characters - some being cookie cutter personalities - still remained outstanding and heartfelt, working well towards the protagonist’s development.

‘To sleep in a sea of stars’ was nothing truly outstanding, but certainly provided a truly enjoyable read without the high-minded technical forms trending today.

Narration:
Simply put, Jennifer Hale was exceptional. It was my first time experiencing her VO/narration work, and frankly, I think she knocked it out of the park. She demonstrated a broad and expressive variety of character voices, and consistently remained clear in her vocal skills.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Best book I've read in the last couple of years

This is an amazing book, it's long, but the story is intriguing and with the amazing narration, it was was so easy to get lost is this world for hours on end. The universe feels so real and lived in and there was a surprising depth to all the characters and the story. Easily the best stand alone book I've read in the last 5 years.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fun Epic

So, I love SciFi. I've NEVER been able to read or listen to the genre before. It's always been too technical or, for lack of a better word, alien, for me to stay in the world, or able to imagine it at all.

But this was perfect. I LOVED that it used common concepts of the genre to create a galaxy that comes naturally to the imagination, allowing the reader to enjoy the journey without getting characters and places confused.

The narrator does an amazing job too, maintaining the individual characters effortlessly.

highly recommend

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An epic homage to the sci-fi greats

I loved the world Paolini created and I'm going to miss it, and Kira, now I've finished.

There are scenes that pay homage to Alien, characters that clearly drew inspiration from Star Wars and weapons that feel familiar from other space movies. However, these are balanced with plenty of original ideas.

Each character is beautifully drawn and voiced.
The detailed descriptions of scenes and settings made the whole story feel visually vivid, colourful and immersive.

Lovely!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • AJ
  • 21-07-2023

Great escapism - first rate narration.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Having played some of the games voiced by the narrator made it feel familiar too. Jennifer Hale breathes life into every character. Gregorovich is a favourite!. Do listen to the interview at the end if you are a fan.

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