Please see my post for review.

Blog tour - http://ramblingmads.uk/2023/05/31/blog-tour-fractal-noise-christopher-paolini/

It's a good space opera, a prequel to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. I think it's a good story featuring well developed characters and an interesting world building.
It's a bit too simple if you are into sci-fi but i enjoyed it.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I've been a fan of Christopher Paolini since I first read Eragon while still at school and Fractal Noise didn't disappoint. I was completely immersed in the story, the science felt real and the storytelling and pacing were spot on. Absolutely brilliant! A great read for any sci-fi fan.

I felt that this was a different book from Christopher Paolini. No four thousand page space opera, no myriads of cast members from different points of time and alien races to encounter and most of all to remember, instead a relatively simple story based on a race against time.
This author is accomplished and able enough to change tact and write a superbly taut space thriller which I really loved. Stripped down, with a tight storyline, it reminded me of Lifeboat by Alfred Hitchcock, in terms of it's simplistic story but also the restrictions that it places on the author.
Another significant accomplishment by this skilled author.

Today I'm kicking off the tour in anticipation of the release for Christopher Paolini's standalone prequel to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. Fractal Noise is released next week and if you loved TSIASOS you will need this in your life but make sure you've got time to read TSIASOS again straight after!

Fractal Noise follows a small group who are investigating a giant hole on planet Talos VII. The majority of this book is their toil towards this hole and I cannot explain how every page gave me anxiety in anticipation of what was coming.

I wasn't disappointed either.

Paolini is an expert at making me sweat, every step the characters took moved me more and more to the edge of my seat. I was immersed completely in Alex's thoughts as the MC and I hated Pushkin. I'm usually pretty ambivalent to characters like that but the further through that I got and the more wound up the tensions got I started to really loathe him. Considering I was reading as well I started to actually hear a dull thud in my head every time the word was written! THUD

Despite a slow start, I devoured this book mostly in one sitting. It's not as chunky as TSIASOS but it's a nice companion novel and I'm honoured to have read it early.

3.5 stars.
This was a tough book for me to get into. It is billed as a prequel to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars which I haven't yet read (but have on Audible to start soon) so that might have influenced/marred my initial experience. That said, by the time the four intrepid explorers hit the planet I was fully committed and it started to get more interesting.
That said, I wasn't particularly enamoured by the MC Alex. He is still struggling with the loss of his wife and it is affecting everything he does - not sure where the corporate duty of care went in this situation as he didn't really hide his struggles but, there we are...! It did get a bit all consuming and I think overshadowed what I wanted to be the main story of the giant hole anomaly that they discovered. It all became a bit more philosophical and went the way of four people in a bad situation and their ways of coping, or not as the case may be. And it all got a bit messy and pointless. I really wanted more sci-fi. It's really more the journey rather that the destination and I am afraid the destination was a bit lacking for me.
All that said, I think it is more a me thing... it wasn't what I expected from the blurb and wasn't what I wanted. No one's fault, just one of those things... Despite all that though, it was well written and even though I didn't like the characters, they were well described so it has not put me off trying TSiaSoS. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I have always liked sci-fi based on the finding of an anomaly that might have been built by extraterrestrial life. In this book , the journey on the surface of a planet to the anomaly reminded me of the logistical problems , physical and psychological strain and personality clashes of an early Polar expedition on Earth. Difficult enough to get there . then there is the return journey. It is hard at first to connect with the main character Alex who is depressed and apathetic after the death of his wife but he finds some need to succeed in the mission and give himself some purpose in life again. The other three crew members on the planet were slightly over the top characterisations , especially Pushkin the huge and stroppy geologist but it does allow for plenty of conflict to build up between them and leave the reader wondering if the crew are going to cooperate enough reach their goal.
Although there was some philosophical and religious discussions which i felt were not necessary , they did not detract much from the fast paced action.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

The story itself didn't work for me. Hyped for Paolini and certain parts were handled well but the inconsistency and the monotony really distracted me from the novel.

I would not call this an enjoyable read. From the start, the central character is overly stricken and this pervades the whole story without it adding to the plot. The reader faces this endless reflection, which is both repetitive, self-destructive and given the timeline and circumstances, goes well beyond what is meaningful. The remaining characters are similarly stereotyped and what is worse, you never find out the reasons why they are as they appear. These individuals are then placed in a situation to understand a phenomenon that makes no sense and to which, there is similarly no answer. In the appendix to the book, the author states that the idea for the story came from a dream; certainly, it seems very much nightmarish in its structure. The story is written mostly in the third person; however, reflections seem very personal and there is a sense in which, as in a dream, points of view shift.

Given the highly reflective nature of the story, the pace is slow and the plot is very linear. Characterisation, as noted, is quite bizarre, so there is little with which to empathise. Consequently, it is a struggle to keep going.

There is a lot of terminology, that seems well-researched and is supported by the appendix.

The ending has more to do with the state of mind of the central character than the story. As such, much is left unclear or unresolved. Perhaps the point of the story has eluded this reviewer.

3/5 stars due to inappropriate incorporation of AI artwork. I will not leave a 1-star review because I do think the quality of the author's work is high. However, I cannot give this more than an average review after both Tor and Christopher Paolini's unwillingness to change their work to not use an AI cover. Although I'm sure a majority of the decision-making is the publishers', the author has a responsibility to speak up against AI artwork. It is damaging to the community and sets a poor standard for theft. The story itself was a bit repetitive but enjoyable.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

Anyone who’s ever been here before knows I’m the biggest Christopher Paolini fan. The Inheritance Cycle is an annual read and I loved To Sleep In A Sea of Stars.

Imagine my excitement when reading his newest science-fiction novel: Fractal Noise. Set in the same ‘verse as TSIASOS, it’s a stand-alone novel and – by Paolini’s standards – relatively short.
Now imagine my disappointment when it was a big disappointment.

What’s worth mentioning are the acknowledgements. I’m don’t usually read them, but this one caught my eye. Paolini talks about how the book was originally half the length but too heavy going. It was shelved, then revisited.

The reason I found this interesting is that’s exactly how I found it. The entire feel of the book was despondent and dull.

Our main character, Alex, is grieving and his behaviour and attitude from the beginning show the toll this is taking. As a depression sufferer myself, I could relate to Alex’s mindset, but found it difficult to connect to him. It was an accurate representation due to him not caring, but, as a reader, that made it hard to engage with the character. We get nothing from him.

The other characters are equally impossible to connect with. We have what appears a stereotypical Russian mobster, adamant he’s in the right and refusing to accept anyone else’s opinions. A war-survivor who is highly opinionated about religious matters. Allow the mobster and fanatic to argue, and suddenly a vast proportion of the book is a religious/theology debate. The fourth member of our main team is a chemist with no opinions of his own and whose entire purpose is being manipulated by others.

I’m not sure I’ve ever cared less about a group on a perilous mission. Any sympathy you feel for Alex is combatted by his selfishness: he wants to continue forward even after injuries and infection, knowing it puts everyone at risk.

It wasn’t just the characters I struggled with. The pacing of the book is incredibly slow. Nearly the entire thing is the team walking across an inhospitable planet. It batters at them relentlessly, and Alex’s thought-patterns about it batters at the readers relentlessly.

Nothing appears to happen, apart from short bursts of action so extreme I had to read sections again in case I’d missed a clue. There’s no explanation given, no reason as to why these characters start acting in this manner, which makes it really jarring. There’s no build-up, just intense action without warning, then back to the journey.

I usually love the in-depth creations Paolini comes out with but the world-building wasn’t effective either. Perhaps it was due to being lost in Alex’s meandering thoughts or following a philosophy debate, I never got a sense of the planet. When some answers were presented, I had to re-read because I couldn’t keep myself immersed in the world.

I wanted to love this book but it was a disappointing read. Hopefully Paolini’s next will be back up to his usual standard.

*blog link will be added closer to release date

"Fractal Noise" was a disappointing read for me. It just moved soooo slowly. Just over 300 pages, and it felt twice that length. That said, the writing is great, the imagery impressive, and the setting awesome. There was a feeling of being pulled in and thrown out like a yo-yo, because it just couldn't hold my attention. I think I would have enjoyed this more had it been a short story.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Ok, so, in my past review of Paolinis SciFi epic - To Sleep in a sea of stars - I skirted around it feeling more like a fantasy book with SciFi surroundings… this one felt like SciFi!

This actually hit some key notes that I enjoy most in SciFi.
Other worldly struggles. The unknown. Ideology of another species that has had no interaction with humankind and… to sweeten it off, a personal struggle that is making an individual persevere through difficult circumstances.

From reading Paolinis other books this felt so different! In a good way!
It was still his handwriting but pushed to a level that made me so intrigued and transported me to the plains of Talos VII

4.5 stars

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is one of my all time favourite Sci-Fi books and I was so happy to hear that we were getting another book in this universe and a prequel at that (so you can read it without having to have read TSIASOS). ⁣
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I really enjoyed this one and the journey these characters find themselves on. Paolini's writing is superb and so atmospheric that you feel as if you are on this planet with the team, feeling the same effects that they are whilst also wondering what awaits you at the end. The constant thumps throughout had me on edge so I can only imagine what these characters would have been feeling as they trekked across the planet. ⁣
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I quickly found myself hooked with Fractal Noise and flew through the story. I am so happy that we have had another book in the Fractalverse and I can only hope we get more. ⁣
⁣Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Headines:
thud, Thud, THUD
Missions
Ensuing madness

Fractal Noise took the reader on a personal, an existential and an exploratory journey. I had so many questions, so much tension and I got some answers. The story was told from Alex's perspective, a somewhat morose but understandably grief-striken xenobiologist who found himself in the centre of investigating an anomoly.

Unlike the crew of the Wallfish, this crew (the Adamura) were a disfunctional bunch of people. The wider group on the ship had some positives but as this group focused down into an exploratory group, only Alex and Chen had facets of integrity. The trek became a demise in the style of Lord of the Flies.

There was so much fascinating about Tavos VII while at the same time the planet presented a creepiness both in terms of the environment and creatures. I read the second half of this book drenched in adrenaline and found the culmination both satisfying with a slice of frustration. I want more story and answers and maybe we'll get that in the future, maybe we won't.

This story was as much an anthropological narrative as it was science fiction. That worked for me because humans interracting with alien worlds and environments do stupid stuff, make their ego the focus and the fall out is fascinating. You'll find much here to entertain.

Thank you to Tor Books for the review copy.

This book explores the impact of scientific and technological advances on society, set in futuristic and alternative worlds. The author has done a fantastic job of dealing with themes such as time travel, space exploration, artificial intelligence, extraterrestrial life, and the human condition.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

A good follow up (prequel) to 'to sleep in a sea of stars'. Science fiction that pays homage to some classic while still having it's own story. The pace is fast but easy to keep up with and takes the reader on an interesting journey both during the book and existentiall. The crew are dysfunctional, but in a way that still seems realistic, and both them and the environment deterioate as the book go on. I feel like i want more from the story, but in a good way in that theres still questions i want answers to, but i know they may never get answers and that leaves it open to my interpretation.
There is a lot of worldbuilding here, which makes sense given it being a prequel, but that may put some poeple off if they don't know theres more to come.

Much like To Sleep In A Sea of Stars, I could not put this book down. Thankfully it’s a bit shorter than the other book set in the same universe! Fractal Noise is a story of grief and how far people might go to run away from or heal their trauma, or both. The story also doesn’t have an ending with much of a resolution, much like grief and trauma. Many of the characters were quite annoying, but I was really happy to see some character growth from the main character by the end.

Life is much like the premise of the book, a long and treacherous trek towards an unknown purpose with lessons learned and conflicts had along the way. Overall it was an easy read and I do like the universe that the author has created.

I wasn't sure where to start with this review. This is a prequel to another book by Christopher Paolini ('To sleep in a sea of stars') which was a fast moving, galaxy spanning tale that never let up on the action. I started reading this expecting more of the same only to quickly realise it is a completely different type of book. Yes, it is science fiction, Yes, it is set in the same universe as the other book. Beyond that though, the similarities end. This is a thoughtful, slow drift of a story with an existential focus on life and death, and the question of what keeps us all moving forward.

The main character (Alex Crichton) has suffered a terrible loss. He is just surviving and nothing more, When his crew discover a potentially alien structure on a remote planet, they set out on a treacherous journey to investigate it. The novel becomes more about the journey than the end, with a focus on the effect it has on Alex and his companions as they get nearer and nearer.

Was the book what I expected? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes. It is a thoughtful and moving work that lingers in your thoughts long after you have read it, and one that shows that literary fiction and science fiction can exist together.

I'm afraid this just didn't work for me. It was too intense on the 'random group of strangers abandoned in a hostile environment ' which has been done before. This was just done in space. From that point of view it was predictable. I have loved this authors books before. Not this one.