If you’ve played any hit sci-fi game in the past 20 years, you’ve heard Jennifer Hale’s voice. She’s behind iconic planet-hopping heroines like Samus Aran and Commander Shepard. She’s been called “The Queen of Video Game Acting” by The New Yorker, and was recognized by the Guinness World Records as “the most
prolific female video game voice actor.” Now, she will lend her talents to her first audiobook project. What sort of book could merit such a notable video game voice? Christopher Paolini’s To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.
Paolini is best known as the author of Eragon, which led to The Inheritance Cycle series. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars sees him take off from Alagaësia and soar into a space epic. The official summary tells us this:
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.
We won’t see how history is transformed until September 15, but TheGamer readers are in for a special treat. We were given a clip of the audiobook to share, as well as a chance to talk to Jennifer Hale about why gamers will love To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.
“Gamers will connect to the epic, massive scope,” Hale told TheGamer. The idea of a Hale-voiced character finding an alien artifact and being launched into a galaxy-spanning adventure might sound familiar to Mass Effect fans. But the way Hale herself tells it, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars achieves a scale that will awe even hardcore BioWare devotees. It was the sheer grandness of the story that made Hale want to jump onboard the project.
“If you love sci-fi and games with full universes, you’ll love what Chris has done with this book,” she said.
In fact, listeners should find Hale to be as invested in the story as they are. She deliberately avoided reading too far ahead before recording sessions to keep a sense of authenticity. “I wanted to be sure the narrator was living the book along with the reader,” she explained.
The clip, and Hale’s own excitement over the book, make a good case for To Sleep in a Sea of Stars filling the Mass Effect-sized hole in our hearts. And at 880 pages, the novel promises to tell a galaxy-sized tale.
The audiobook To Sleep in a Sea of Stars will release alongside the physical version on September 15, and can be pre-ordered now on Audible.
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