Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini

11 reviews

astrangewind's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Fractal Noise is an example of what science fiction should be. Any techno-babble is defined properly in the appendix, and the story doesn't rely on the reader's understanding of math. The science felt realistic and interesting without being overly jargony. The writing style makes the book accessible and interesting.

The plot follows a group of scientists as they make their way towards a big ol' hole on an unoccupied planet, and... that's it. The entire book starts from being in orbit, moves to landing, and then to trekking across the inhospitable plains of a foreign planet. Despite that, I found Fractal Noise to be un-put-down-able. The characterization, the interesting parts of the science, Alex's struggle with himself and losing his wife, the underlying philosophical themes, and the mystery of the hole were compelling. 

I loved that there was an appendix to define in-universe terms, but there is a major spoiler in there ("The Great Beacon"), which bugs me. At the very beginning of the book, a lot of characters are introduced to the reader with some identifying characteristic or another, but most of these characters are not even remotely relevant for the remainder of the book, and it was a lot to follow. Also, the beginning of the book had some weird fatphobia towards Pushkin. (The protagonist referred to people on his planet as "starving gorillas.") I think the book would've been just as good without it. 

Besides those things, which are largely nitpicks, I greatly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone, even people who aren't science fiction fans. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Death, Medical content, Violence, and Drug use

Minor: Murder, Colonisation, Fatphobia, and Suicidal thoughts

boglord's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Gun violence, Murder, Blood, Fatphobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Pandemic/Epidemic, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body shaming, Self harm, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Excrement, Confinement, and Addiction

eliaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

really loved this, only marked down bc of the dead wife backstory fridging and bc I don’t rly like how it ended, but really strong over all

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Gore, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Cursing, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Domestic abuse and Drug use

6nodder6's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

The book was quite boring

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Grief

Moderate: Colonisation, Bullying, and Death

Minor: Murder, Addiction, and Mental illness

barbsantos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book has a very interesting premise and it's very well executed. However there is just so much action you can pack in a track to a hole in a desolate planet, it gets boring sometimes. I really liked how questions about the meaning of life and whether it's worth living were included in the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

arlettep's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Gore, and Gun violence

emakay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Violence, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

menacingmarble's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Very stressful read. I had to put it down for a few weeks. It's 
 THUDS
the way that things 
THUDS
get interrupted often is what really got me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Blood, Gore, Murder, and Violence

daniparvu's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I have far too many unanswered questions finishing this book. Some are okay; some are even necessary... but most of them, in this case, should've been answered. This book is very bleak and somehow also not as emotional as it could've been so it left me feeling dazed and confused. I'm sure someone will love it, but it's not for me. That said, based on reading other reviews, I recommend listening to the audiobook of this one rather than reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Drug use and Violence

warriorfaeriequeen's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I finished fractal noise! a much more depressing book than he usually writes. the main dudes wife died right after they had a fight so he's SUPER depressed and not in great shape emotionally for the mission. but he thinks his wife would have loved the chance to see the first alien artifact so he pushes himself to get it together and go on the mission. the descriptions of the problems they have are really good, reminded me of the martian a little bit. I still have no fucking clue what was going on with the drama between the other members of the team. partly because Alex had no real interest so he doesn't spend any time trying to figure it out lmao but they were WEIRDOS
the visuals are GORGEOUS and really visceral. I am excited to learn more about the world in future books cause what the fuck is happening with that giant antenna

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Violence, and Gore

Minor: Vomit