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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

"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

Editor's Pick

The triumphant product of nine years’ toil
We first met Christopher Paolini as the teenage genius who penned Eragon and the Inheritance Cycle, a generation-influencing series, in the early 2000s. Since then, Paolini has transcended into something of a character himself. We've gotten to know his journey as a writer through his honest commentary as he toiled on Eragon's story and then To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, his sophomore effort that took nine years of grueling, perfectionist work. Now, we fans can and should cheer for both the writer and his hard-won novel. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a well-researched and fascinating story with a propane-propelled plot that never lets up after an explosive first scene. It’s epic, and it’s topped off with the narration of none other than legendary voice actor Jennifer Hale, who executes her debut Audible performance to near perfection. It has been a long time coming, but Paolini’s sci-fi triumph was well worth the wait. —Melissa B., Audible Editor

What listeners say about To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome!

Talented narrator! Perfect for this book and the diverse characters. I buy my audiobooks listening to the sample while reading the summary. I actually purchased it based on how entertaining the Eragon books were for my older gr.kids, and, while listening to it with them, got so interested that I listened to it on my own! There was not one section that I skipped due to disinterest, which is my habit.
The swearing was in context of strong emotion
and realistic. I enjoyed the relationship-building of Keira and her crew members which also was very realistic. I am also partial to books portraying strong women and strong men who accept and encourage them. I hope that there is a sequel. Thank you , Christopher, for another great novel. You are, indeed, a super storyteller!

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6 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A satisfactory, if not slightly confusing read

While I enjoyed this book overall, I found the writing at times to be somewhat clumsy. There are lots of sections of abstract concepts where the character is delving into memories and her inner thoughts. I often found these to be confusing and hard to follow.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Love and wanted more!

I LOVED this book. The Inheritance Cycle was one of my favorite series and I’ve been waiting for something new from Christopher Paolini.
I binge listened for 3-4 days, I didn’t not want to stop listening! Jennifer Hales performance was awesome. She really gave each character their own voice and was consistent with it, which is incredible. I fell absolutely in LOVE with so so many of these characters and i cried so hard at the end. I don’t know if there will be another book, but this one was magical and I’ll definitely be listening to it again soon <3

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars

Too Long or Too Short

A strong female protagonist exposed to nanotechnology AI tech from advanced “missing civilization”. Brilliant future-world with enhanced humans installed in FTl starships. The cautionary tales of our race discovering tech we can’t control let alone understand and one woman who learns mistakes will be made and can be corrected. What beasts we loose when we let fear breed in us. Was the book long? It could have been two books. It stopped before our heroine’s new incarnation sought out the far flung shards of her fearful fragmented nightmare brood. Will she find “The Old Ones”? I hope we hear more of Kira Seed and her quest and also hope she finds love anew for even an immortal evolutionary jump needs love.

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2 people found this helpful

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Very pleasantly surprised

I have read the previous work of the author and while his writing matured a lot during the inheritance series i was sceptical about the change of genre. Suffice to say, I was taken aback by the breadth and rhythm of this book that managed to fit both the expanse of space and time and the small human things in a cohesive and enjoyable book.
Also cudos to the narrator for fleshing so many characters despite of being her first narration (to my understanding at least).

To the fans of scify, it might bring you notes of "the expanse", "brood wars", and "children of time" while still delivering something new.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

amazing journey

the ending I think was a bit stretched however, that doesn't take away from the beauty of the overall book. I loved all the self growth, story and just everything.

eat the path and listen to this book!

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Jennifer Hale Commanding in her first audiobook

It's not enough to say Hale brought the book to life, she brought the characters to life.

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1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disjointed

I found the book hard to follow and contrived. It seemed like the author was writing without an outline and would frequently write himself into a corner that requires some crazy new previously unmentioned technology to correct. For example, at one point the Wallfish was being moved away from the space station and Falconi used a light transmission through his eye implants that he had not previously mentioned and only worked if within visual range of the ship. Ridiculous.

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    2 out of 5 stars

Never ending

I loved Eragon, which was supposedly written for a younger audience and long as well. This book tried to adult it up a bit but all the author did was throw in some curse words that seemed out of place, almost added as an afterthought, and added one lame sex scene that left a lot lacking, which created hope for things that didn’t happen and left me disappointed in the end. The author tried to fit in too much, too much chaos, too many stupid puns, too many obstacles, too much explaining of many things and it was just too long. I got board with it all, started guessing what was going to happen chastising characters for dragging their feet, rolling my eyes at the little life lessons, and couldn’t wait for it to be over which surprised me because I thought it started out strong. The narrator was great.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

Fun story

Definitely a good book, I would love to here more. Jennifer has a very pleasant voice to listen to.

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1 person found this helpful