To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

By: Christopher Paolini

Narrated by: Jennifer Hale

Length: 32 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Narrator Jennifer Hale's outstanding performance brings this story of alien invasion to life.... Hale's range of differentiation is masterly as she animates all the quirky characters Kira meets. From the rough, snarky slang of ex-military woman to the half-mad musings of a human 'ship mind,' every unique voice enhances the listening experience." (AudioFile magazine, Earphones Award winner)

This program includes an afterword read by Christopher Paolini, as well as a bonus conversation between Christopher Paolini and Jennifer Hale.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a brand new epic novel from New York Times best-selling author Christopher Paolini.

This program is read by Jennifer Hale, a Canadian American actress and singer who has appeared in hundreds of cartoon episodes and taken on roles in well over 185 video games, winning multiple awards. Her varied roles include Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, Rosalind Lutece in BioShock Infinite, Cinderella in both games and animation, Kronika in MK11, Naomi Hunter in the Metal Gear series, several roles in The Powerpuff Girls, Justice League, Avengers Assemble, the Emmy Award-winning Lost in Oz, Jean Grey/Phoenix in both games and animated series, and dozens more. This is her first audiobook.

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....

Barnes & Noble Best New Books of the Year - 2020
Goodreads Choice Awards - 2020
Amazon.com Best Books of the Year - 2020
NYPL Best Books of the Year - 2020

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

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

Verges into horror; strong language

The story is well written and voice acted well. CP has really matured in his ability to spin a story and world; I was captivated and anxious to get to the next word. However, the story leans into tropes of horror and uses strong language suitable only for mature audiences. I was taken back by the first f-word, less than an hour in, and they didn’t stop coming after that. I don’t prefer horror, but I would have tolerated the mild language and horror tropes (so far) without such frequent and strong language. I just don’t need that kind of content.
I really looked forward to reading this book by one of my favorite authors. However, I have returned it.

This is a story about curiosity

LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. Science fiction was my first love as a reader, and it’s still the genre that gives me the most joy. This was such an adventure! I enjoyed every character, especially the station pig- a valient creature exploring the reaches of space with a brash, brave crew. I loved that this book integrated the tropes I expect in science fiction with horror elements, and the beauty of trauma recovery. Also, A+ world building!

As a bonus, the narration was excellent!

Sophmoric, overdescriptive, cringey

You really could sense the author's lack of relational experience in this story. He writes women characters especially in a way which gives you the feeling he has no real life experience at all. Honestly,the whole novel suffers from horribly dull over description and characters that are cardboard. I stopped counting " he said" or "she said" after 15O times. The dialogue is bad. The story is full of tropes (I swear I hate that word) but there is nothing original or worth reading here. I do not feel this author has matured at all. I wanted to like this. D if I was grading it. I do not want to spoil the plot by using examples of the borrowed "tech" and plot lines from multiple space movies and books. I mean this is really silly and badly written stuff here folks. This is lousy writing and the fact it is getting such high praise goes to show just how far down the scale our culture has gone.

A very promising start, if there's more.

For his first foray into si-fi, it's excellent. Narrator Jennifer Hale, an excellent voice actor, really brings the story to life with her talent.

Pretty good but I lost interest.

I tried to give this story a fair chance because I enjoyed Eragon and Eldest, but I lost interest about a third of the way in. The beginning starts off well but as the events unfold between the character Kira and the mysterious alien/tech she bonds with called “Soft Blade” (it's given several other names but I lost track) things got more complicated trying to understand what the Soft Blade is and what it has to do with bonding to Kira and automatically starting a war. Maybe it’s my impatience or the Sci-fi, but after a third of the way into the book I was really ready for an “ah-ha!” moment that would reveal a strong hint of the “Soft Blade’s” purpose and Kira’s story to keep me interested. Instead I got bombarded with vague dreams, more characters, aliens and RGP fight scenes.

Jennifer Hale was an excellent narrator. It’s not unusual to hear a story narrated by a male voice actor if the story was written by a male author and it pleased me to listen to a story about a woman narrated by a female voice. All of Hale’s character voices were on-the-spot except for the ship/computer voice called Gregorvich. I just thought a goofy sinister voice would've suited the comedic intentions better versus a creepy sinister voice.

I was looking forward to seeing what this brilliant author would write next. There’s dedication in his storytelling but I was expecting more chemistry and high stakes. Maybe if there’s a good follow up that turns it into a series, I’ll give this story another chance. It definitely has good potential for more.

Fantastic story and narration

I had no idea who Paolini or Jennifer Hale were until the very end of this book. Minor spoiler, there's some interviews at the end you totally should listen to after the book is done.

Imagine my surprise when it turns out the author of this book was the same guy who did Aragorn, the fantasy book famously written by a teenage author that has gathered acclaim around the world. And, I've never read Aragorn even though I've heard of the series for years.

Take a step further and it isn't until the author + narrator interview at the end of the novel that I find out the narrator has voiced some of the biggest characters in video games for the better part of 2 decades!

Can't recommend this new novel enough. As the author says, it took some convincing of his agent to write an adult novel rather than the YA (young adult) novels he's famous for, and he did it right. Given such a wide range of characters both alien and human, they're all very well written.

For one of the few times in years (in regards to other scifi stories), the aliens are interesting both as characters and they have a very plausible and realistic history of their own. The human characters are mature and make rational choices in the situations they're in. The main character is mostly aware of her own story and makes decisions based on that. Characters actually talk to each other and share information! Its like these are real people on a journey and not cheap cardboard cutouts being moved around a stage, as happens in so many other stories.

The narration is just top notch too. This is currently the *only* novel that Jennifer Hale has narrated. I mean, she does such an amazing job. Every single character has a unique voice that is consistent throughout the entire novel. Remember, this book is 30+ hours long. I really, REALLY want her to narrate some other novels. Going to be keeping my eye out.

Don't be turned off of this novel if you're a Paolini and fantasy fan and don't like that he's working in a different genre. Its really good and well worth your time.

Had to Give Up

I’ve listened to over 25 hours of this book and I’m giving up. I applaud Mr. Paolini for attempting a new direction in his writing, but this book just couldn’t decide if it was an action/adventure book or a more introspective tome on the nature of what it means to be sentient.
If most of the introspective pauses could have been eliminated and the constant whining by the main character that every bad thing that happened was her fault I feel there would have been a strong sci-fi book here. I suggest an editor with a firmer hand.

Probably higher expectations than necessary

So most likely you know Paolini from Eragon and the following books with that series. So just a preface my expectations were probably higher than they should have been. I won’t say this book is “bad” but it doesn’t hold a candle to any of the other book Paolini wrote. It is a tedious listen on audible and I found myself regularly not interested. It didn’t draw me in. It took roughly 8 hours to become a somewhat enjoyable book. The pace was all over the place and when captivating stuff happened it was over to quick and back to a grind. There is also somewhat like 2 hours of appendix so I had to cut my losses once I got there. I’m not looking forward to the next book if there is one just from how this progressed. I wish Paolini all the best luck in his writings. This just plain out misses the mark 90+% of the time for enjoyment.

I raise my glass to you, Paolini

Well sir, you've outdone yourself once again. Couldn't possibly recommend this book harder. Hats off!

Impressive worldbuilding, fabulous narration

Paolini has grown as an author and this is a great start to the Fractalverse series. Jennifer Hale’s narration is superb and allows the material to reach an even higher level. I want more Gregorovich!