Book Summary:

Alex is lost. He's a xenobiologist in space – but that isn't the problem. The problem is that Alex doesn't know how to live without his wife. So he signed up on tour and put himself out there – literally.

Now he and his crew are circling Talos VII, and there's a problem. Well, maybe not a problem. Not yet. There's a massive hole, and it's emitting sound on a scale you wouldn't believe. Given the choice to run or investigate, Alex would rather look into the mystery.

My Review:

So, Fractal Noise is the prequel to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. To be honest, I never considered the original novel needing a prequel – but I certainly wasn't going to complain about more from this world (er, universe).

That said, I don't believe Fractal Noise holds a candle to the original. It's still a decent read; it doesn't have the same magic if that makes sense. For me, the biggest problem had to be some of the storytelling decisions. I understand that static (and other factors) made communication difficult, but this, in turn, did make it harder to read certain scenes. Ironically, there is one place where this format worked really well – Thud. You know what I'm talking about if you've read the book.

Alex's internal dilemma and how it flowed outwardly fascinated me. I almost wish there had been more room to explore these concepts. I do believe that the addition of other crewmates resulted in too much to work with (and thus portray). But that's just me.

**I didn't hear about the AI art controversy revolving around Fractal Noise until after I finished the book. I'm not thrilled with this new trend and hope somebody puts a stop to it sooner rather than later. My review of the book is not reflective of this opinion or vice versa.

Highlights:
Part of a Series
Science Fiction
Existential Crisis in Space

Trigger Warnings:
Graphic Injuries
Death of a Loved One
Mental State
Suicidal Ideation

A memorable sci- fi first contact novel where four scientists are sent to explore a gigantic hole in the ground on the remote planet Talos VII. The giant hole appears to be a mammoth speaker, on an otherwise barren and extremely windy planet, emitting a fierce thudding noise every 10.6 seconds. While I hope they make this novel into a movie, it would be very difficult to sit through, if they included the noise which is elemental to the story. I loved the turtle-like aliens and the imminent sense of horror.

Highly recommended for sci- fi fans

Like many other reviewers have stated, I’m not really sure what I think about this book. I had previously read To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, liked it and was happy to receive an Arc of Fractal Noise. With this book being a prequel, I figured maybe some backstory, maybe a look at how the ships’ minds came to be, basically more Sci-fi stuff. What I got instead is a main character I didn’t really care about, Alex, who lost his wife previously to a wild alien animal attack and never really processed or healed from that grief. The story is still science fiction. They live on other planets and travel the stars, but it’s more a philosophical journey story. Our main character is also a xenobiologist like in TSIASOS, and the crew of the ship he’s on finds a perfectly round hole on a planet they are studying with some sort of repeating noise coming out of it. Obviously not a natural phenomenon, the crew sends four people to investigate.

Our hero goes, not because he’s interested, but because his lost love would have been ecstatic and would have happily gone. Talia, the ship’s astrophysicist, is in charge of the expedition and is super religious. Thus the philosophy part. Pushkin, who incidentally reminds me of a Russian super soldier Mole (the piles of dirt man from the animated movie Atlantis - The Lost Empire), is the geologist. He is constantly bickering with Talia and plays devil’s advocate for her. And finally, Chen, the chemist, who basically does nothing the whole trip and tries to stay out of the bickering. The ship can’t land near the hole due to the noise basically being an EMP so the four have to journey to the hole with what they can carry.

The story starts off really slow, but by the back half to two thirds, it starts to pick up. Ironically, the closer the group gets to the hole, the noise, since they are getting closer, picks up in volume as well. You can see how the noise affects the group and not only their physical well being, but their mental state as well.

Without giving the whole story away, the ending kind of felt cliffhanger-y to me. I didn’t really feel like I finished the book. I gave the book four stars to offset the other reviews tanking the rating because of the AI cover art. Like Christopher Paolini had anything to do with that. Publishing houses do. Up until this point, I have loved all his books. I’m still just not sure if I liked this one or not. I didn’t dislike it. Probably a three/ three and a half star story.

Loved this book! Fractal Noise is a great prequel to the world of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. The imagery of the expedition and the use of repetitive language evokes a sense of the reader being fully immersed in the story. This book also explores grief and the limits we are willing to push ourselves and others when faced with unknown challenges in such a way that, as the reader, you can feel the angst of each character as they each grapple with their demons.

If you’re going into this expecting something like To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, well, you’re going to be disappointed. The Adamura sure as heck ain’t the Wallfish and the main characters are also on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. Fiancé/spouse dies? Kira goes and stabs stuff, Alex… goes for a very long walk. This is a philosophical and introspective story about one man’s (rather depressing) reaction to the discovery of the Anomaly and search for the Meaning of Life.

“For him, forgetfulness was a gift more valuable than any memory.”


After his wife Layla died in an accident on their home planet, Alex took a posting on the Adamura as the xenobiologist. It’s been routine and boring, analyzing alien bacteria, good for Alex since he’s barely managing to function in the depths of his depression. When the crew spot an unmistakably artificial formation on a nearby planet, even the prospect of intelligent alien life isn’t initially enough to interest him. But Layla would’ve been so excited about their discovery, so Alex commits to being part of the mission team sent to survey it in person. Because of the electromagnetic qualities, the team has to approach the hole from several days away on foot. As their journey progresses and things begin going wrong, what does Alex expect to find at the end of their trek?

Four of the Adamura‘s crew are chosen to investigate the hole: Alex (our grief-stricken MC), Talia (a religious zealot), Pushkin (who just wants to get paid) and Chen (basically a doormat). To be honest, all of the characters are unlikeable and obnoxious in various ways. They all have quite a bit of emotional baggage they’re carting around along with their rations and core sampling supplies. And naturally their trip to the hole of course quickly runs into issues. Their already difficult journey becomes a grueling trek through an unfriendly and barren landscape that tests their endurance and teamwork. In the afterword, the author wrote that the idea for this book came to him in a nightmare and that made complete sense. For me, the best part of the book was the details of the trek: dealing with equipment malfunctions, the constant thuds every 10.something seconds (that only get more jarring as they get closer to the hole), the interpersonal friction. It’s deeply immersive, enough that I could almost see the sand blowing across the empty plains. There’s a suspense-like, eerie quality to the whole journey, which only gets worse as the characters get more and more isolated.

“Alex thought he was beginning to understand why so many religions started in the desert. The emptiness of the land did something to a person’s brain, focused it on the strangeness of one’s inner life.”


As anyone who’s hiked for a long amount of time can tell you, eventually your mind starts to wander. Alex’s thoughts return repeatedly to Layla, reminiscing and remonstrating himself for everything that went wrong in their relationship. But that pales in comparison to his struggle to try to find some sort of meaning in his current life. It’s impossible not to see the parallels between his incredibly bleak view of life and the empty landscape he’s trudging through. While I found some of it overwrought (Alex, you need therapy, pal), I did find his sometimes irrational and desperate attempts to reason around why he was still alive while Layla wasn’t engrossing reading. I’ve dealt with grief and chronic depression so it was fascinating to see which of his thoughts struck a chord with me and which were completely alien.

What didn’t work so well for me was when Talia and Pushkin entered into it. Throwing hedonism and a sort of religious asceticism into the whole Meaning of Life debate is interesting, sure, but the ideas didn’t feel as organically introduced as Alex’s. They’re so diametrically opposed – and so far from Alex’s POV – that it felt more like a debate class. Sure, it adds more friction to the team dynamics, but I’m not sure it really furthered Alex’s personal musings and personally it jarred me out of the story.

Overall, I’d probably give this 3.5 stars. It’s not at all what I was expecting and not my usual cup of tea, but parts of it were very enjoyable. Recommended if you’re looking for something philosophical with a good sci-fi bent!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and I was so so so excited to get an ARC! Thanks, @tor for making all my wishes come true. My preorder came in today, and I’m extra glad to have a physical copy of the book I enjoyed so much!

Paolini knows how to world build like few out there and this immersive standalone prequel to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars drops the reader into a nightmare of a new world expedition. The content is heavy and gets dark but ultimately has a solid exploration of the human spirit within the context of ancient alien race existence. The backstory lent depth to the story as the main character drove himself to his limit in a hostile world.

I loved the scientific pieces that got pulled in and how the characters initially chosen to complement each other on the mission gradually devolved with the increasing stress. The heavy tone and increasingly aggressive territory the team navigated made this a suspenseful and propulsive read.

I was shocked at how short the book was given Paolini’s other works but when I read it was meant to be a short story everything came together. Definitely a pleasant surprise making this a quick read! You must read the author’s note for a fun sneak peek at what might be next. 😍

Christopher Paolini is an absolute master of world building. He takes a barren wasteland of a planet and paints the most vivid of pictures in the readers mind.
The visual storyline, alongside the written one, was amazing. Those "thuds" gave the story a heartbeat, one that made me feel like I too was slightly losing my mind as the book went on.
All in all, while I was disappointed that this story wasn't a sequel to "To Sleep in a Sea of Stars," I was so pleasantly enthralled by it. I'd been searching for a good gritty sci-fi novel for a while, and this perfectly stepped into place. 10/10 would recommend to anyone who likes space.

If you liked The Martian by Andy Weir and Life of Pi by Yann Martel, I would strongly recommend checking out Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini! It is a spiritual journey encapsulated in a hard science fiction story about a man who has just lost his partner—and with her, his will to live—setting out on a mission with crew-members who hate each other.

I would particularly recommend the audiobook produced by MacMillian Audio and read by Jennifer Hale. Although the book itself was beautiful and included illustrations at the section headers of the story, the audiobook was incredibly immersive due to the sound effects. I doubt I would have enjoyed and been as immersed in the story as I was had I not primarily listened to the audiobook due to the incredible sound effects included on the track. A large part of the story centers around a recurrent noise, and it was much more impactful being able to hear this sound!

Before concluding, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the AI generated art on the cover. Although I personally believe AI generated art is unethical, I think that sci-fi—a genre which commonly explores the ethics of technological advancement—provides the perfect means of discourse on this topic. Science fiction has often predicted futures with AI, and books like Fractal Noise have the unique capacity to explore how we preserve humanity going forward.

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for providing me the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I might edit my review to add some spoiler-filled analysis once the book has been out for a bit because I already look forward to discussions about the themes in this book!

Fractal Noise is set in the same universe as 2020's To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. In the author's Afterward Paolini says that he actually started this story first, couldn't get it to work, and abandoned it to write the much longer novel. This is a prequel, but the stories have no obvious connection apart from the setting (interstellar space travel is possible, there are human settlements on other planets in addition to the Earth, and so on). This is also a first-contact story, although in this installment there are no aliens encountered, just a lot of mysterious alien technology.

The protagonist is Alex Crichton, a xenobiologist serving on the spaceship Adamura. He is wracked with guilt and self-doubt after losing his wife to an attack by alien wildlife and is on a survey mission in an attempt to run away from his old life. When an anomaly is discovered on a planet in the system–a gigantic perfectly circular hole that could not possibly be a natural occurrence–Alex volunteers for a survey team that will investigate it in person. Since it is not practical to land close to the hole, the team must travel across the alien landscape for several days, hauling scientific equipment and life support with them.

Of course, one thing after another goes wrong, intensifying the personality clashes among the team (which was not very harmonious to start with). The drama comes as much from personality clashes (including philosophical and religious speculation) as it does from the series of equipment failures, injuries, and other unpleasant surprises. Alex's ruminations and memories are central to the story, which can be a problem: he is depressed and self-absorbed, making him quite unsympathetic at times. Nonetheless, the story builds to a strong climax. But it is a huge cliffhanger, leaving the largest questions unanswered. I am hooked enough to want to read the next installment, but readers looking for a self-contained story should consider themselves warned.

Thanks to NetGalley for the Advance Reader's Copy.

Well, this was not at all what I expected. I enjoyed To Sleep In A Sea of Stars even though I am NOT a Sci-Fi reader. I was so excited to see another Fractalverse novel that I requested it instantly. I don’t really know how to describe this book or my experience reading it.

I felt lost when we jumped right into the story and hoped that it would provide information along the way but it didn’t really do that. I have seen reviews that say this is more a story of working though grief and I see that. I just don’t get why we were on this random planet with space turtles that were insignificant to the plot.

I struggled through the last 40% of this book but continued to push through to find out what happened. I don’t think it was worth it. To me, this was more symbolic than a sci-fi story.

This was my first Paolini novel so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I really enjoyed the writing style and the world building. It was just heavy enough for a clear picture of where everything was taking place. The story line its self was engaging and entertaining. I enjoyed the characters and their development throughout the story. This story was a little nerve wracking and was vivid enough that I found it creeping its way into my dreams. I definitely cant wait to read book 1.

Fractal Noise is typical Paolini for me—lots of travel, great world building, better than average characters.

I didn’t love To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, but I did enjoy Fractal Noise more. It follows a space crew as they discover a mysterious circular pit that’s unnaturally a perfect circle and as they try to figure out who or what created the pit and why.

This is solid science fiction and I enjoyed the way Paolini explored humanity and hubris. Would definitely recommend it to my sci-fi patrons! 4/5 from me. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini.

Before reading this book it is important to know that it is very much a "it's the journey, not the destination" type of story. The crew of a mining ship discover a giant, perfectly round hole on a planet emitting a powerful radio signal. They undertake an expedition to investigate the hole. The whole book is about the journey to the hole and does not reveal anything about the mystery of the hole itself. During the journey we get to know the characters involved. The supporting characters are somewhat one-dimensional, though there is arguably some evolution of the main character.

The plot is principally: "Sleigh ride in a blizzard through hostile terrain with a cast of conflicting characters." It has twists and turns, and an escalating series of conflicts amongst the crew with periods of tense action but with no grand payoff at the end. There is a spark of inventive hard-SF style problem solving when the expedition is first planned out but that's it. Nothing else in the story comes close to that spirit.

A big quibble I have with the plot is that no compelling and consistent reason is given for sending humans on foot on the expedition instead of using a vehicle or robots. In fact the marked absence of robots either in a lead or assisting role is puzzling. I get that we won't have a story if we sent in robots, but then we need a much better case for not using robots.

I should warn you that the main character is depicted as suffering from depression. It is a bold choice, but the depression is depicted too bluntly and the author may have gone overboard with it at the start of the book. I never quite connected with the main character, but kept reading hoping that at some point the main journey would end and we would learn about the hole. Because this never happened I was quite disappointed because I felt I had slogged through a somewhat tedious and depressing journey and come away with not much. If I had been more invested in the main character, I perhaps would have found it a better read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

**A NOTE ON THE COVER ART: I am not reviewing this book’s cover art. I do not believe review bombing is honest and fair to other readers (or authors). That being established, I also do not believe major publishing companies, or anyone for that matter, should be using art from artists without their permission, without crediting them, and without compensating them for their time and effort, which is what AI art does. Until a database is established where artists can consent to their art being used and paid for, AI art amounts to nothing more than plagiarism and theft. That is all.**

Fractal Noise is a prequel of sorts to Paolini’s 2020 SciFi debut To Sleep in a Sea of Stars and chronicles the discovery of an anomaly on a relatively uninhabited planet leading the human race to begin deeper, more coordinated exploration of space—and for intelligent lifeforms other than themselves. In the acknowledgements, Paolini admits the pacing is much slower and less action packed than TSiaSoS, though he does not mention the extent is stark in contrast. For a prequel that only covers one event, it is very detailed and slowly paced. Though there is a huge amount of tension building along the way to the destination for our travelers, the quarrels along the way among the team members seem trivial and inane. We have the typical conflicts all in one story: man vs. nature, man vs. man, and man vs. himself. All of these combined should make for a great plot in a SciFi novel, but I feel the resolutions fell short of a great climax that should have been mind-blowing. It’s not a required read before To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, which I highly recommend, but do go into it prepared for the pacing to drag. Also, don’t judge the first book by the experience you may have with this one. It is not the same.

Primarily, the issue I had with this book lies in the conflict between two of the team members exploring this desolate planet. One character who lacks faith or religion constantly ridicules and harasses the other, which causes an understandable amount of resentment on her part. The conflict not only spills over into the professional endeavors of the whole crew, but it also presents through the characterization as negative stereotyping for both involved. I didn’t enjoy this aspect. I find a lot of SciFi has this type of at least mention in it as a genre, which is why it typically does not appeal to me. I don’t enjoy reading negative commentary on any religion or lack thereof, especially those resembling the faiths of the real world.

I will admit that the psychology of the book, from the main character dealing with grief and each of the other characters dealing with some type of inner conflict, made for excellent tension building. Add to that the conflicts with the very harsh environment, unfriendly planetary inhabitants, and the increasingly difficult progress leading to the giant pit, you have a great horror-esque tale in another universe. I could only finish because I was physically propelled, along with the obsessed adventurers, to the hole in the center of the planet so see exactly what it is and what is in it.

Unfortunately, the end falls very flat. For a 290-page lead up, which could have had a shocking discovery, whether of self or some other means, there was a very anti-climactic ending that left me disappointed in the worst way. Details as to why reveal spoilers, so I won’t put any. I just feel something’s missing.

Even though this installment in the Fractalverse let me down a bit, I will definitely continue reading the series. I want to find out what happens to our heroes after the first one, and what other ways this universe can defy my imagination in ways I haven’t even dreamed.

Emojis:
🌌🔘🐢

My thanks to NetGalley for the eARC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.

"A new blockbuster science fiction adventure from world-wide phenomenon and #1 New York Times bestseller Christopher Paolini, set in the world of New York Times and USA Today bestseller To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.

July 25th, 2234: The crew of the Adamura discovers the Anomaly.
On the seemingly uninhabited planet Talos VII: a circular pit, 50 kilometers wide.
Its curve not of nature, but design.
Now, a small team must land and journey on foot across the surface to learn who built the hole and why.
But they all carry the burdens of lives carved out on disparate colonies in the cruel cold of space.
For some the mission is the dream of the lifetime, for others a risk not worth taking, and for one it is a desperate attempt to find meaning in an uncaring universe.
Each step they take toward the mysterious abyss is more punishing than the last.
And the ghosts of their past follow."

Yes, I'm excited for this book. No I won't be buying it. Because the cover is done by AI. Do not support AI. DO NOT!

I had opinions about Paolini moving from fantasy to sci-fi and overall I think he did a pretty good job with the previous book, this one just felt too chaotic? Still an interesting and fun read but I couldn't quite get caught up in the story.

Alex, who is grieving the death of his wife,signs on an exploration mission to find new inhabitable planets in the galaxy. He is hoping to escape the emotional strain of his new reality. The group are scanning and cataloging planets when the reach Talos VII and discover and anomaly, a giant black circle. They decide to send a lander down to the surface but have to land miles away due to the EMP pulse that is emanating from the hole. two people stay with the lander and four people proceed on foot to investigate the site.They encounter all kinds of trials, dangers, and personal problems along the way. it is a long and arduous journey. What will they discover???
I enjoyed this book - it was long but it keeps you guessing . I enjoy this authors writings and have read them all.

An edge of your seat space exploration and survival story. The author has an amazing ability to create a setting and drop the reader right in the middle of it. The characters have an emotional depth that drives the story.
Readers who enjoyed the Martian will love this novel.

So, I am conflicted about my review/rating here.

This book is a return to the world (uh, universe?) Paolini created in TSiaSoS, but from a VERY different place.

As he has made clear from the start, this is the first in a series of books exploring the universe. In fact, it's listed as book 0, so like a baseline of what is to come.

Which is good! Because this is a really hard edged survivalist existential story. As a world-building book, this makes sense... and don't get me wrong, there are highly entertaining parts. But if there wasn't the promise of more to come... after Sea of Stars... it would be a letdown.

HOWEVER! Paolini is an absolute master of world building, and I am READY for this ride! So many intriguing questions... so much to explore.. I, personally, can't wait!

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was aware that Christopher Paolini had written a science fiction novel in the last few years. I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere on my monstrous Goodreads TBR list. But as the case so often, once a bit of time is passed, it’s very hard for me to make room in my reading schedule to scour back through these past picks. Instead, I saw this new sci-fi novel coming out by him this spring and decided, ah, yes, here is where I will make up for missing the first one! So let’s see what’s in store!

A small crew, while out on a typical, exploratory mission, comes across something that confounds all explanation: a monstrously huge hole, dug on the surface of an uninhabited planet, and so perfectly circular that it cannot be natural. But with no signs of intelligent life, who or what created this hole and what is its purpose? Alex, a man running from his past, lands on the surface and sets out with a small team to cross the barren wasteland to reach the hole. But as they travel, the constant, resonating “boom” produced by the hole begins to test their sanity and their will.

Before I get into the review itself, I want to address what has happened on the Goodreads page for this book. It came out that the cover art chosen for this book was created using AI technology. In response, many reviewers took to Goodreads to protest this decision, and the loss of livelihood that it represented for illustrators, by review bombing this book with one star ratings. I think there is a very complicated, interesting, and unavoidable conversation to be had about how AI will impact many industries going forward, including this one. By no means do I feel that I have the answers to this. However, one thing I am firmly against is the cognitive dissonance displayed by review bombers tanking the ratings of a book, A WORK OF ART BY AN AUTHOR, to protest the decision of the publisher to forego supporting cover artists by using AI technology. There are places to have this conversation and protest this decision, but to destroy the rating for a book (again, created by an artist, the author) in the name of supporting artists…there’s just something supremely disjointed and misplaced about this. Obviously, Paolini is a big-name author, but I don’t think that should even have a place in the conversation. He’s still an artist who created a work of art and is now being trashed by readers for a decision a publisher made…all in the name of supporting artists. It’s unfortunate in every way and a shame to see. But on to the actual review…

I really enjoyed this book! As I said, I’ve haven’t read anything by Paolini since the “Inheritance Cycle” so many years ago. And while I enjoyed those, I also felt the writing itself lacked a bit of polish. But I can definitely see the improvements that time has played on Paolini’s style. Here, the writing felt confident and tidy, neatly weaving in and out between the events of Alex’s past and the building terror and dread that is his current situation. I also liked the exploration of grief, regret, and the mental barriers that we can create for ourselves. Alex’s journey is one largely of self-destruction and a search for meaning when he has begun to doubt that such a thing will ever exist for him again.

I also really liked the science fiction elements of this story. In many ways, this was a very restrained story, taking place largely on a barren planet with very few alien aspects. Instead, it very much reads as a survival story, with more and more things going wrong for the team and their struggles to continue on in the face of growing dangers. On top of this, the description of the corrosive effects on the mind that are the constant powerful winds the team must walk into and the ever-present, mind-numbing “booms” that are emitted from the hole are excellent. The increasing sense of doom is pervasive and very effective. I also will say that I’ve found that science fiction is a great release for my love of survival stories. With stories set in our own world, all too often I find myself bogged down on the details of survival stories and whether or not I find them believable. But science fiction? Who am I to say what is and isn’t possible? Honestly, it’s kind of a relief, since I really do enjoy survival stories and no one is more annoyed by my obsessive ways with these types of tales than me!

Overall, I thought the pacing was pretty good, but I do think it floundered a bit at the end. For all of the psychological build up, Alex’s experiences and reflections in the end all felt a bit too predictable and trite. I really like the general concept of the end, especially the reflections on the vast unknown that the hole represents, but it did feel a bit clumsy. And then it kind of just ended, which was also a bit jarring. But, still, I really enjoyed this one. I can’t speak to how similar or not this is to his first book, but I think this one will be enjoyable to most science fiction fans, especially those who enjoy survival stories and a slower, carefully paced story.

Rating 8: The brutal and harsh alien terrain perfectly parallels the mental and emotional journey of a protagonist who struggles with grief and finding meaning in a life full of wonder and tragedy.

Link will go live May 12