Christopher Paolini finally put out a new book. I was excited to see what he would do outside of his Inheritance Cycle books. He decided to go the science-fiction route. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is good, but nothing great. Paolini still has skills as a writer. He builds an incredible universe and creates interesting characters. There will be some spoilers from here.
Unfortunately, I could not get past the idea that the xeno Kira finds is basically the Symbiote from Venom. I did enjoy the idea that it was not created as a weapon and that it was actually a seed of creation. By the end of the book, Kira reminded me of Joshua Calvert from The Naked God. When he discovers the singularity, his mind is opened to all of the knowledge and he has incredible power (he moves our entire solar system).
The other thing that bothered me was the creation of the Maw and the Nightmares. Maybe I misunderstood, but the Nightmares were already there and Kira just created the Maw, right? It was still weird that in the short time the Maw was able to do all the stuff it did. Even with FTL travel, space is big.
The book was good enough that if there is a sequel or more books written in this universe, then I would continue reading them. I would like to learn more about the the Vanished and possibly the other seeds out there.
