To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

Christopher Paolini is well-known for his fantasy novels, most notably Eragon and its subsequent sequels, which became New York Times bestsellers. With To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, the first novel in what the author calls the Fractalverse, Paolini moves into the science fiction genre and goes to great lengths to differentiate the Fractalverse works from his earlier fantasy novels. Science fiction is a broad category with many subgenres, and Paolini has used the conventions of the “space opera” to distinguish the series from previous works and organize his plot.

The term space opera is not derived from musical opera but from television soap operas, and the content is correspondingly dramatic, featuring sprawling epics that span space and time. The Star Wars movie series is possibly the most well-known example of a space opera, featuring political intrigue as well as large-scale interstellar war—both genre conventions that Paolini uses in his novel as well. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars features an interstellar war that involves at least three species and dominates the action of the novel. In addition, many of the issues that concern space operas, including imperialism and colonization, drive the action of the novel, as well as the decisions and beliefs of the characters. In another nod to the space opera, Paolini introduces a wide cast of characters, some of whom appear only once or twice, but all of whom are named and described with specificity, indicating a vast and culturally-complex universe.

In space opera, unlike a hard science fiction novel, human technologies do not have to be scientifically accurate. Paolini’s novel features light speed travel, human limb regeneration, and a wide range of futuristic weapons, among other seemingly impossible technologies. True to space opera convention, these technologies and their development are not the focus of the narrative but rather accepted phenomena of everyday life that are given very little thought by the characters, and even come to be felt as a part of their bodies.

When Kira’s implants, which connect her to a universal network, are destroyed by the xeno, Kira feels “diminished. The thing had reduced her to the level of an animal, to nothing more than meat. Primitive, unenhanced meat” (76). Kira actually feels her implants as a part of her and feels correspondingly less human without them, evincing how inextricable technology has become from humanity in the world of the novel. Similarly, light speed travel is ubiquitous in the novel, used by all ships and species as an accepted, normal mode of transportation. 

Most importantly, the space opera must live up to the origins of its name and encompass melodrama rooted in adventure and risk. There is a grandiosity to space operas, which Paolini illustrates with dramatic backdrops like Nidus, the home of the Vanished, an ancient species that possesses an almost mystical knowledge. Similar to Star Trek, another famous space opera, Kira and the Wallfish crew travel to the fringes of deep space, where few other humans have gone. The novel also thrives on the risky behavior of Kira and the crew, such as when they agree to be brought to the main Jelly ship under the guise of being prisoners to assassinate Ctein.

The ending also operates perfectly within space opera conventions, as Kira, traveling alone to keep her friends and family safe, heads into the unknown to seek out the remaining pieces of the Maw. She is the epitome of the space opera hero, sacrificing her own comfort for the greater good of humanity and embarking on a grand, risky adventure into the far reaches of space to gather the pieces of the Maw.