It is so nice to be back this week and to be able to say that I have actually finished a book!

The book which has taken me so long to read is To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini. First of all, we have the 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 . . .”

Here is the review that I have just written on the Goodreads website:

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow! I am usually a fast reader, but this mighty tome took me some considerable time. I must admit that I almost gave up at some points, when the story began to drag, but it became more difficult to cut my losses when I had already read 500 pages, or 700, or even more.

There was a lot of good, exciting writing in this book – this kept my attention. There were also some glaring and some silly errors, which were hard to forgive. This is a science fiction book after all! I won’t go into a load of negativity but one glaring, and almost funny, mistake involved the author forgetting that Kira had lost one arm and writing that she held a cup in her “hands”!

I really feel that the book should have been somehow re-shaped into a trilogy. It was far too long as a single volume. Or it should have been cut down and edited into two or even one volume. There was a lot of unnecessary repetition, in my view.

All in all, however, I am glad that I persevered with the book and I am sure that the story will stay with me for quite a long time. I am left with a feeling of awe and wonder about the Universe in which we live and what may be waiting out there for us to discover in the future!

View all my reviews

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I know that I repeat this next statement rather frequently, but it really is worth reading other responses to this book, as well as mine. My reviews are coloured by the effects of my very poor health, especially the stroke. Perhaps I am not always as unbiased as I should be. Anyway, bear in mind that the book is the Goodreads Choice 2020 Winner of the Science Fiction category!

I am not sure which book I am going to read next. There are a few queued up for me, so I will check through the blurb first. I think I need something shorter and snappier this time!

Happy Reading to you all!

Love and best wishes

Anne

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