Reviews

Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini

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shaykeretz's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

astrangewind's review

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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.

Content Warnings

rayroyall's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

Initial Thoughts:
I found this book to be a fascinating read. I didn't realize until after finishing this book that it was a prequel to another book. As the reader, we follow Alex, a xenobiologist who's dealing with the grief of his dead wife.

Paolini does a great job of writing a suspenseful story about the dangers of unknown regions of space. It was intriguing yet saddening to see a group of skilled people slowly drive themselves to insanity.

This book felt like a stand-alone novel rather than an introduction to another story. I also wish that there was more world-building as I was confused by some of the references to other worlds.

carrerabooks's review

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adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I was enjoying the book and it had a fun Mass Effect feel, being based around a crew on a ship and eventually going on an expedition.

The characters are all generally unlikable, but that seems intentional. The main character is very tough for me to ever want to support, personally, but he isn’t the worst person ever.

I enjoyed the way the science was handled for the most part — one small hiccup early on (said there were no EM readings, then said there were radio waves a few paragraphs later (which are EM spectrum) and later seemed to clearly know that it was an EM reading. But overall, what hard science was included felt done well and one of my favorite parts was the “Pure Fucking Magic” quip from one character. Great balance that doesn’t hurt the story at all.

SPOILERS AHEAD/light ranting lol

There’s also some things I wish Alex had slightly more curiosity to look into within the other characters — what’s with the obsession with Chen? Sure, I can make my own psychoanalysis but it seemed like he was kind of being built for some bigger piece in the puzzle. Also, near the end we see more weird indications about Talia and her experience at Bahgrev — but no full answers!! :(( I’d love for her character to have less mystery in that aspect.

I felt like the ending really was not my style. Sure, the main character finally develops to be slightly less pathetic and has a big moment. But there’s so much tension on this journey and never having to see any of it come about on the Adamura as he reports it is a let-down, and maybe avoidant of the real consequences that should occur (which if I had to guess could be very intense due to possible infection, the hysteria experienced by his whole crew, and more). Ending it that way is I guess great for the main character, but feels like a disservice to the characters that were killed along the way (and hopefully Chen is still alive).

nclarke84's review

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4.0

This prequel to Paolini’s Fractalverse novel ‘To Sleep In a Sea of Stars’ was published refreshingly quickly after the ten year wait of that juggernaut novel.

This time round, we have an entirely different writing style, with none of the flashy lasers and jellyfish-like sentient aliens of the first novel.

I won’t say too much as there are already many great reviews already. I much preferred the story length this time, as well as the discovery and exploration aspect of the book. The incessant THUDS emanating from the ‘mysterious hole’ grated on me towards the later half of the novel, although I suppose this was the idea as it was the same for the characters within (perhaps this would be better in audio form, which I hear is superb). The main character Alex spends the majority of the novel disconsolate with grief, and I would have liked a more satisfying conclusion back on the space ship for him and some answers about the hole and the turtle-like aliens. Wonderful storytelling nevertheless.

I look forward to reading future Fractalverse novels and of course the upcoming return to Alagaesia!