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Jump to navigationJump to searchTo Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini (view source)
Revision as of 13:33, 15 September 2020
, 13:33, 15 September 2020no edit summary
The vast majority of human space is made up of the League of Allied Worlds, a United Federation of Planets-type body, protected by the United Military Command, with the exception of independent systems like Tau Ceti, where Hwa-Jung is from. There is also a little map at the front of the book that show what star each world orbits, the distances between systems and where they are in relation to each other, as well as maps and images of each system visited throughout the book. There are also a couple of appendices in the back of the book (both of which take the form of transcripts of in-universe lectures by experts) that explain both how the setting's faster-than-light travel and combat work, which is a really nice touch and shows the sheer amount of effort Paolini went to in order to create this universe. One of the more interesting additions to the book's world is that of the Ship Minds, which are not artificial intelligences, but human brains that have been expanded enough that they can run all the systems on a starship. The most prominent of them is Gregorovich, the Wallfish's Ship Mind, who revealed that he was once a regular human, who chose to become a Ship Mind after a what seemed like a pretty bad automotive accident. It's a very interesting idea, and not one I've seen much in other science fiction settings. While artificial intelligences do exist in this universe, known as "pseudointelligences", they're mostly just considered backups for actual human minds. There are also the Vanished, a highly advanced race that have long since, well…vanished, leaving behind only a few markers of their civilisation. They're not really featured much in the story, and they mostly serve as a catalyst for the Jellies' technological development. All in all, the scope of the world is absolutely stunning and I'd be interested in reading more stories set in this universe.
One of the most impressive aspects of the book are the main alien race, the Jellies (or "Wranaui", as they call themselves). They appear to have parts from both jellyfish (hence their name) and insects or crustaceans and communicate via scent [[Insert name here] Alex here: which is interpreted like this, which is a little confusing]. The Wranaui also make use of a device called a Nest of Transference, which they upload their consciousnesses into and allows them to switch between bodies that are optimised for different tasks (e.g. you have one body for fighting, one for mechanical repair, etc). They are also biologically immortal, being able to turn back to an egg at the end of their lifespan. I think Paolini may have taken inspiration from the real-life [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii immortal jellyfish ], which reverts back into a polyp once it has procreated. It's revealed that they were originally an aquatic species with around an iron-age level of technology (which makes sense, since the discovery of fire pretty much kick-started humanity's evolution into a technological civilisation, and it is very difficult to light a fire underwater), before they discovered the technology of The Vanished, which allowed them to advance leaps and bounds. The Wranaui are by Ctein, an ancient being who has ruled over them for centuries, to the point of becoming an almost Cthulhu-esque entity, so massive and complex that it can't use a Nest of Transference (which is also a plot point in the climax of the book), and has also hard-coded the Wranaui to feel physically repulsed by the idea of attempting to attack him. They are an amazingly well-thought out race of aliens that genuinely feel alien, so kudos to Paolini.
Overall, this is a truly massive book, both in terms of page count and the in-universe size, written with a lot of humanity and featuring a well-developed cast of characters and aliens that seem realistically alien.
