Fractal Noise Review: A Depressing Hope For The Future

Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini is a book I have been very excited about ever since it was announced! I love everything sci-fi and tend to read a lot more of that genre than any other.

I pre-ordered it and was slightly disappointed when the release date was pushed back. However, all this waiting and excitement was a little bit in vain because of how the book turned out.

Having read Paolini’s previous book To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars, which I absolutely loved, Fractal Noise is something I was excited about because it is set in the same universe and is supposed to be some kind of prequel to his original, and first time, science fiction book mentioned previously. Let’s dive into Fractal Noise and dissect what the story is about, what I loved and did not love about the book, and my overall review of this science fiction tale.

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Quick Impressions After Reading Fractal Noise

Despite the fact that I loved Christopher Paolini’s first book To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, Fractal Noise was a much harder read for me. This was mainly because of the depressing and somewhat boring protagonist and the fact that I almost DNF’d this book twice. The desire not to finish the book came from the very long and extended pacing of the story, where the more interesting aspects come at about 3/4 of the way in.

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What Is Fractal Noise About?

In a seemingly inhabited part of space, a small crew on a spaceship called the Adamura discovers an anomaly. The anomaly is a planet called Talos VII: it is a small planet, only 50kms wide, but it harbors a giant, black, and seemingly unending hole. By the looks of it, the hole is not natural and it is not manmade. Could it be a sign of intelligent alien life? The crew of the Adamura of scientists and space explorers must embark on an adventure to explore this completely new discovery, despite all of the challenges they might face.

Early on in the novel, we are presented with Alex Crichton, the main protagonist of the story. We quickly learn that he is very depressed after the tragic passing of his wife a few years ago. This seemingly minor character trait becomes one of the major drivers of the character’s intentions and everything he does. He is pushed and motivated to leave his sorrows behind and only wants to focus on the exciting mission ahead; exploring this possibly alien-made gigantic hole.

Once the crew lands on the planet, this is where all of their troubles begin. They face a dangerous environment, isolation, physical and mental exhaustion as well as, yet to be identified “turtles” who lurk far from them but tend to get closer as the team advances close to the hole.

Throughout their perils, we discover more about each of the characters, their beliefs, motivations, and how they behave in dangerous situations. Fractal Noise is about exploration, science, teamwork, and most of all, it is about what motivates a person and most importantly about hope.

What I Loved About Fractal Noise

Fractal Noise is part of Christopher Paolini’s Fractalverse, which is something amazing that he is trying to create and I have to applaud that. He already has a full-on sci-fi novel under his belt, this new book Fractal Noise and an interactive Fractalverse story called Unity.

Fractal Noise offers a great way to dip your toe into the Fractalverse that Paolini is trying to create. If you think that To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars (TSIASOS) is a bit too daunting to start with, it being 880 pages, Fractal Noise is a great way to get started.

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Do You Have To Read To Sleep in a Sea of Stars Before Fractal Noise?

No, you do not need to read To Sleep in a Sea of Stars before Fractal Noise. Fractal Noise is a prequel to the TSIASOS book, but it is a standalone. Therefore, it is set in the same universe and has very much of the same terminologies, technologies, and general universe story, but the characters and stories of the two books are completely unrelated.

Universe

This is something that I loved about Fractal Noise, the way that Paolini goes about universe-building. It is set in the same universe and follows the same general timeline of the worlds as in TSIASOS, which makes following the events very easy.

The universe setup is also very interesting; there are different worlds, religions, and political powers, that influence the characters in Fractal Noise. Some influences are physical and some are character-defining. Yet all of these play a vital role in what happens to the characters throughout the story.

General Storyline

The story setting and the overall idea of the book is very interesting. The story of possible alien life that created a giant hole in a planet, what its purpose is, the unknown danger behind it, and how the characters go about navigating this theme, is a mix that is worth exploring from several angles.

Science Themes

Another thing that I love about Fractal Noise is the way that Paolini approaches the science part of science fiction. Despite the fact that he injects his own science into it, with FTL (faster than light) travel and the engine that allows for that, this is based on some information and research on the current technologies. Therefore, a lot of the technologies, as well as scientific processes, are very much real or at least very believable.

I personally love books and authors, such as Artemis by Andy Weir, who take the time to do a bit more research to make their stories that much more realistic and believable.

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What I Did Not Like About Fractal Noise

Unfortunately, there are a few more things that I did not like about the novel than those that I liked.

Main Character

Fractal Noise, at least at the start, is kind of a downer and is borderline depressing, because of the main character. Even though I understand that his emotions and backstory are mainly established for character development and to push forward his actions towards the end of the novel, it was very hard to read and sympathize with or try to relate to the character.

Alex, the main character of the story, is very dark and bleak. Yes, his wife was killed violently and tragically, and yes he should be able to grieve and process this the way that he needs to do it, but the time it takes to get something going in the story along with his granular exploration of his emotions makes it very hard to continue reading the book. This leads us to the book’s pacing

Story Pacing

Fractal Noise is slow… It is slow to get the main, interesting part of the story going: what happens when they get close to the hole. The only thing that I liked about the pacing is that it relates to the “fractal” part of the name of the book. A fractal being a recurring mathematical shape with no end, and the crew’s progress toward the hole is ever so slow and continuously longer and longer.

For a moment, while reading it, I thought they would never get to the hole, because of their path being a fractal which never ends. Alas, that was not the case!

However, because of the pacing, it almost made be DNF this book at least twice…

Lack Of Action

Just to touch quickly on this, the lack of action until about 3/4 of the book makes it a hard read. After reading the afterword and learning that this book was longer (and a bit more bleak) at the start, I wish Paolini would have put a bit more into it. Either more story or some sub-plot situations, because reading close to 200 pages until it gets very interesting, in a way that you cannot put the book down, is a long time.

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