15 great fantasy and science fiction books from 2020 you may have missed

6. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

Moving away from debuts or sequels to debuts for a minute, let’s touch on a few better-known authors. Did you know that Christopher Paolini, the author of the Inheritance series, released his first book in almost a decade last year? And it was a sci-fi epic that served as the introduction to a whole new universe that Paolini is developing to write stories in: the Fractalverse?

Here’s the back-of-book description:

"During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, xenobiologist Kira Navárez finds an alien relic that thrusts her into the wonders and nightmares of first contact. Epic space battles for the fate of humanity take her to the farthest reaches of the galaxy and, in the process, transform not only her – but the entire course of history."

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a tremendously ambitious book that spans nearly a thousand pages of space exploration and, as the description says, lots of galactic warfare. When the main character Kira unknowingly comes into contact with an alien object on the planet she’s hoping to settle down on, it ends up totally upending her life and thrusting her onto a voyage to find…a magical artifact?

This was perhaps one of the more polarizing SFF books of 2020, and with good reason. While it initially comes off and is pitched as a hard sci-fi book, a lot of fantasy elements creep in as the novel goes on, putting it somewhere in the awkward middle of those two genres. If you enjoyed Eragon and its sequels, you will likely find some things to love in this novel. If those weren’t your jam, don’t be surprised if this isn’t either.

Regardless, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is absolutely worth noting. It was one of the year’s major releases from an author whose work was incredibly formative for a ton of readers.