Publisher’s Summary
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….
First Impression:
Now and then I’ll opt to listen to some sort of space opera. My favorite so far are the Illuminae series and the Aurora Cycle. The third book in the Aurora Cycle hasn’t yet been published, but I am anxiously waiting! The nice thing about this genre is that, from what I can tell, there seems to be some consensus among the authors about the realities of space and space travel while also allowing for significant variation in world-building and imagining. This book is no different. I was really excited that it was a 32-hour book. I love long listens if they have solid narration and they warrant the length. Paolini is also the author of the Inhertance Cycle which I haven’t read, so he is accustomed to writing epics. The length of the novel would allow for the author to do some significant world-building, but the beginning of the story focuses more on character building and setting the stage for the plot. The protagonist in the novel, Kira, is a strong female lead without being overbearing. Think Katniss, but older. She is dealing with some major issues and seems to take in all in stride…if not in a constant low-lying state of shock.
Review:
So…this is a long book. I mean I’ve listened to very long books but this one actually felt like it was dragging. There was a solid storyline with significant character development of Kira and a few supporting characters. There were a lot of action scenes, but the intensity was dulled a bit by extensive description. There are also many passages that are dream-like and the narrator does a great job of giving those passages a detached voice. The problem is that it’s easy to zone out during those times. Oddly, several of these take place in the middle of an action scene. The book reached a resolution with about 3 hours to go, and I just couldn’t see where Paolini was going with the storyline. It turns out that there was only about 1 unnecessary hour of storyline followed by 2 hours of appendix and author’s word!!!!! I think the appendix explains some things that would have been nice to know while I was listening to the story. Maybe the book has some references or footnotes that point to the appendix…not sure.
The narrator does an AMAZING job with all the characters and really gives them the personality that I would imagine they would have. There are two in particular that have big personalities and I think she nails them. The only exception to this is how she voices Kira. Kira is a xenobiologist who is an unwilling participant on this ride. She is written as feminine and vulnerable, with definite insecurity about the change in her appearance. However, the narrator gives her a harder and more cynical voice than I would expect. It’s a small thing, but a bit distracting.
Final Thoughts:
I thought this novel was innovative and generally enjoyable, but there was just so much detail. It really detracted from the overall story. And I still felt disconnected and confused at times. This might just be Paolini’s writing style. The content can be emotionally taxing and it’s definitely not a light listen. You’ll want to pay attention to this one so I’d go with a very basic pattern while you’re listening.