Author – Christopher Paolini

Publication date- 15 September 2020

Genre – Science Fiction

Review by – Amanda Hyde

Source- Review copy

Rating- 5/5

“The hardest lesson in life is learning to accept that there are some things we can’t change” Falconi.

Kira Navarez, wants to discover life on new worlds, make a name for herself, but with first contact with an ancient dust found during a routine mission her life quickly turns into what nightmares are made of and a war across the universe explodes with Kira in the middle and the only one who can stop it, but is she also the reason it started? First contact isn’t what she imagined as she is thrown into the odyssey of the universe and must transform and adapt or let the whole universe end.

I don’t know how to review this book without giving spoilers, but I’ll do my best. This was my first step into adult sci-fi, I’m in love, I read the back of the book where Paolini explains how much work and time he put into this book, it was worth it, it was nine years by the way. 

It was so heart-breaking and beautiful! So much happens from Kira’s first contact with the suit to the insane ending that had me venting to my husband while he played video games. You can tell how much work and attention went into this novel and it shows through every chapter, character, and the intense world building. Paolini says this book took him nine years! Nine freaking years guys, and he scraped it a few times? What? And honestly it shows it’s completely different from Eragon, the growth is crazy! 

It was beautiful, so well thought out. The world just made so much since, everything flowed together no strings have been left untied. I'm so upset this story is over, I’m going to miss the Wallfish crew, Kira, the Soft blade aka the Seed. The ending kicked me in the gut and when I realized that was the end I cried. I always want an ending like this. Where it’s not perfect it’s still messy, not everything is fixed, and for once when I finally got that I felt so heartbroken. But this couldn’t have ended any other way even if you could have stopped a chapter ahead or so. This is perfect, bitter sweet. But it’s life! Everything is not perfect and sometimes you have to make the choices you truly don’t want to make.

I grew up reading @christopher_paolini The Inheritance Cycle, it was one of my favorite series and after this read I’ll be doing a reread real soon. @christopher_paolini thank you for bringing us another story, I caught a few sneaky references and thought I was misunderstanding, so glad I wasn’t. This was wonderful. I’m so sad it’s over but I can’t wait for what you bring us next.