I confess to giving this one only 4-stars because I'm mad at how it ended even though I think the ending is perfect. It's irrational, but it's my review so I'll go with what I'm feeling.

The crew of the Adamura is in deep space working to find inhabitable planets and profitable resources when they stumble upon a giant, perfect pit dug into the surface of uninhabited Talos VII. One of that crew is Alex, a xenobiologist who's still hurting from the tragic loss of his wife and is honestly depressed enough that it makes you feel it as well. But a crew will have to land on Talos and walk the inhospitable surface to get close enough to research and Alex volunteers out of some weird sense of obligation to the fact that his wife would have done it.
The four people that land on Talos have personalities that should not be together, let alone in an enclosed space such as the pod they spend nights in. Personalities clashed even before they landed and things get even worse as the inevitable disasters start happening. It makes for heightened emotions that get even more intense as the team gets closer to the pit and the accidents and injuries start taking their toll on everyone.
It's a deep, philosophical story that keeps to Paolini's penchant to write a long tale about a journey from point A to point B in which the lead will discover much about themselves. It's full of heightened emotions, imaginative science, and lots of philosophical pondering. You will walk away from this one thinking about it long after it ends, even if it's just incredulity at the very rational but unexpected ending.

I'd be remiss if I didn't give major kudos to the production team for the incredibly well-incorporated sounds and effects. The thump from the hole the crew of the Adamura is investigating makes an appearance at certain times and it really ramped up the uneasy anxiety you feel right along with the characters. Paolini's writing places you with the characters and the production makes sure that you stay right there. A truly, expertly executed production.
And this includes the great work of narrator Jennifer Hale. She nailed the accents and different ways of talking of each character so that you always knew exactly who was talking. Emotions and their expression play a big part in how the story plays out and Hale nailed always getting the right tone for the moment.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the early listen!

This was not what I was expecting. I was expecting this to be a sequel not a prequel and a novel not something that was more novella-ish. I also found the first part to be slow, and I am not sure I would have gotten through it if I had not been listening to it. With that said, the audiobook is brilliant. It is not just someone reading to me; it is an immersive experience. The sound coming from the planet is an actual bass thud. When the characters are talking over their intercom, it sounds like they are speaking over the intercom. I love audiobooks that provide you with an experience that you would not have just reading the book.
As for the story itself, Christopher Paolini does an amazing job of describing a journey, whether that journey is a physical journey or an emotional one. He explores the mental and physical toll of traversing the hostile environment of a newly discovered planet and the characters' motivations for persevering in this endeavor. He also explores the process of grieving a loved one and all the emotional baggage that goes along with it. as well as the existential question of what it means to be human or a sentient being. Overall, this book was really well written and tells an amazing story of being human. It was very deep. I think the biggest issue I had with it was that it was not what I was expecting. I really wanted a continuation of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars and this was not that. Would I recommend this? Yes. Would I read it again? No, but I have to really LOVE a book to reread it .Would I listen to the book again? Maybe, because the audiobook is definitely an experience! Will I read the next Fractalverse book? YES, because I really want more of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, and maybe the next will be that. I think this book is a 4.5 rounded up to a 5.

Jennifer Hale will always be my queen! Her voice acting abilities will forever hold me in awe. Being a huge fan of Mass Effect, I find her voice soothing and nostalgic. In this audio, it is no different.

However, I found most of this book quite boring. What was interesting was overshadowed by the constant focus on grief. Not exactly an exciting first contact story.

Alex was annoyingly depressive. The journey was a trudge. The cast was also quite annoying. The "hole" could have been called anything else, yet, Paolini stuck with hole.

The solid points of the book is that it has a clear direction, interesting science, first contact and quite a bit of interesting tid bits about the planet they are researching. I just didn't feel like it was executed very well.

Overall: 3/5
Audio: 5/5

To give some reference-I LOVE watching Scifi. I'm a huge Battlestar but I don't do a ton of scifi reading. I have not read the 1st book of this series, so I had no reference going into this prequel. I was a huge Eragon fan, so I really wanted to have a listen to this. That being said, I didn't enjoy this one. I only give this a 3 because I wanted to know what the heck was going to happen with this hole they discovered. I couldn't make myself stop it because I wanted to know. The pace was slow and I had to double the audio speed to get through it. So, the great audio ended up getting ruined for me from about 40% into the book on.

The characters were interesting and the dialouge was good, but the story was just so slow and mostly uneventful. The MC's existential crisis and increasing anxiety from the hole were palpable. There was a lot of time for the MC to reflect on this long, long, neverending slow walk they were taking toward this hole.

If I had been reading the physical book this would have been a DNF. I love Paolini's other stuff, but this one was not for me.

(Probably slightly spoilery so proceed with caution but it was difficult to review otherwise.)

After loving TSIASOS, I was thrilled to be sent the audiobook for Fractal Noise for review as well. Jennifer Hale is one of my favorite narrators so I started listening as soon as I finished my other audiobook. She did not disappoint. Her performance was excellent once again. She’s consistent with her voices, infuses everything with the appropriate emotions, and knows exactly how to adjust her voice appropriately for each scene. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the thuds because they felt so out of sync and only put in whenever convenient rather than at a specific frequency. It threw off the experience of it being disturbing a little. Other than that though, the audiobook was excellent. The narrator even sang for us!

Now to the story itself. I hate to say it but it didn’t quite work for me. I was so hyped for this book but the majority of it fell rather flat for me. I thought Paolini did really well with the emotions and psychological issues caused by the trek across Talos. The flashbacks of the MC and the histories of the characters that we found out made for interesting additions. The characters themselves felt consistent as well.

But despite these positives, I found myself growing bored or thinking about other things instead, making me lose my spot in the book and having to rewind. The idea of this trek across an unknown planet and what issues might arise was definitely interesting but it felt like the same conflicts and struggles kept repeating themselves. While I understand the psychological choice behind that, it just didn’t quite work to keep me hooked on the story. I was as ready for this walk to be over with as the characters because I just could not listen to another fight without stopping the book again.

The ending was… alright. There was so much buildup throughout the entire book that left me hoping for… more. I don’t mind leaving some things unanswered but man. I don’t want to spoil things too much but this was just to open for me. Answer some mysteries at least, please.

I do hope there’ll be more stories in the universe and I’ll still give them all a try because I loved the first book. This one just didn’t quite land for me.

So, did the publisher skimp on the cover art and spend that money instead on the audiobook production?

The audiobook was perfect. There was music, the narrator sung a song, there were special effects, etc. This is why I'm giving this 3 stars instead of 2.

But ultimately, I don't think Christopher Paolini is for me. I remember reading Eragon in high school and I didn't understand the hype. It was so long and dragged out.

I feel the same way about Fractal Noise.

It did start to get better around the 80% mark though. It became more of a suspense and thriller type of novel and kept me on the edge of my seat. I wanted to see what the MC would do.

But then nothing really happened? The conclusion was such a letdown.

The buildup to the team going to the hole wasn't even exciting. The team's dynamics were seriously messed up. Everyone either disliked or were ambivalent about one another. The MC kept talking about his dead partner the entire time. Pushkin and Chen felt very racially stereotypical characters. Pushkin was abrasive and antagonistic. Chen was quiet and thoughtful. Talia was annoying, but became interesting in the end when she went all cult mode.

The story was such a struggle to get through. The characters weren't all that interesting. They were literally dragging their equipment across the alien landscape to the hole, and I could literally feel myself being dragged along the storyline. The MC was moping all the time, and that was definitely a drag.

There were these giant turtle aliens that kept following them, but they were never explained or explored further. They were just there. They interacted with one of the characters and that was cool in a messed up way I guess.

If this was supposed to be philosophical, then I didn't get it at all.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this arc.

Fractal Noise (A Fractalverse Novel)
by Christopher Paolini, narrated by Jennifer Hale

Into the Fractal world comes this novel, Fractal Noise. The anomaly that the crew of the Adamura finds on the planet of Talos VII is a circular pit, 50 kilometers wide, the curve of the outer edge perfectly even, made not by nature but by something sentient. This circular pit is beyond the skills and technology of man to make.

Four crew members are picked to explore this anomaly and the risks are great. The trek to the pit will take at least 4 days if all goes well, pulling sleds to carry everything the team will need, packing out everything so as not to leave any debris on the planet when they are finished. Under the best of circumstances this opportunity for first contact is both exciting and tension filled.

But this story is about much more than a great discovery. It's about the four who make the trek. The story is told from Alex's point of view and Alex is a depressed, grief stricken, guilt ridden mess. He really doesn't have the will to live after a tragedy in his life that he can't ever see getting past. Add in crew members, Talia, expounding her religious beliefs which only claim salvation for a select few, antagonistic and demanding Pushkin, and passive Chen, who both Talia and Pushkin seem to be trying to win over to their opposing sides, and not only are the conditions almost unsurvivable but companion-wise it seems this team couldn't be more ill suited for this journey.

Throughout the trek Alex is on another type of journey, one that allows him to see and hear some of his lost love's stored memories, memories he hadn't been able to experience before now because the hurt would be too much. Now that the trials of this travel to the pit hold little chance of survival, Alex accesses the memories little by little and I had such a feeling of dread for what he might learn. Do we really want to know what our loved one hasn't shown us already, do we really want to be there for last horrible minutes of a life? The story comes at us from all directions, none of them pleasant, and it seems there will be no escape from the hardships of body, mind, and heart.

I'm looking forward to more from this Fractalverse. Jennifer Hale is such a good choice to narrate these books. Oh, and there is the sound, the sound of that pit, the THUD, THUD, THUD that permeates the audiobook. As if things were not ominous enough we get to experience that sound and it felt like it was vibrating in my bones.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.

I was extremely excited about this book, but wasn't 100% sure where it would fit into the universe. This book was really interesting, parts were intense.

I love the narrator, Jennifer Hale also narrated To Sleep in a Sea Iof Stars. I wasn't fond of the sound effects... it startled me more than once.

Fractal Noise is set in the same world as Paolini's 2020-release, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. I really enjoyed that fast-paced story of first contact, so was pretty excited when I heard of this release.As with To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, I listened to the audiobook of this and it is incredibly well done. I cannot recommend it enough as a format choice for taking in this story.

Jennifer Hale is such a talented voice artist and truly is able to bring life to the characters and the story. Additionally, there's great sound effects included, perfect for this high-tech SF-tale.

In a way, this is also a story of first contact. It's not as intense, or action-packed, as TSIASOS. It has a lighter touch and focuses more on the philosophical side of our place in the universe, our purpose and what our relationship would/should be with other sentient beings.

Don't get me wrong, it's still gripping, emotional and full of tense moments, just overall, it's a different focus for the SF-elements, IMO.

In Fractal Noise, our main character is Alex. Alex is a xenobiologist, who has lost his wife and at the beginning of the story, to say he is struggling emotionally would be to put it mildly. What even is the purpose of his life anymore?

In spite of his depression, Alex is an active member of the crew of a ship called the Adamura and this crew ends up discovering a giant hole, an anomaly, on the desolate planet of Talos VII. Perhaps, Alex has a purpose after all. It's unlike anything that could occur naturally. It's too perfect. It has to have been created by something, or someone, but for what purpose?

The crew of the Adamura agree to partake in a mission to investigate the hole first hand. The truth of the anomaly could help to fill in answers for some of the mysteries of the universe. Who wouldn't want to investigate that?

Because of the nature of the hole, they can't touch down too close. They have to land some distance from the hole and then traverse the planet on foot in order to even get close. It's incredibly dangerous. The four member team is ready to take it on though. The other members of the team are Talia, Chen and Pushkin. Each of them specializes in a different area of science and each brings their own strengths and weaknesses to the table.

These individuals cannot be more different and their personalities definitely clash at times. It ends up bringing quite a bit of tension to the story. If you think their only threat would be aliens, or the hole itself, you'd be wrong. Humans can be volatile, whether on terra firma or in space.

The coolest aspect for me though was the hole itself. Once they begin their mission on Talos VII, it becomes clear very quickly that the hole is emitting a pulse of some sort. It's so powerful that it messes with their comms and they can feel it through every fiber of their bodies. If I am remembering correctly, it is emitted in a pattern, something like every 10.9-seconds. The closer they get, the more powerful it is. It gets to the point where it seems it is driving them a little mad.

Additionally, the closer they get to the hole, the higher and higher the tension gets amongst the team members. What is up, what is down? It's hard to keep it straight. Who is in the right, and who is the evil one in their ranks?

I really enjoyed my time listening to this. I feel like Paolini is such a solid SF-writer. The story flows so fluidly and is full of fantastic sci-fi concepts and ideas, yet is so approachable and easy to understand.

I felt like I really got to know these characters and while I wasn't crazy about all of them, or even most of them, I felt like I understood where they were coming from and why they made the choices they did. Their conversations did open up lots of avenue for thought into our place, and our greater role, as a species in the universe.

I would recommend this to people who enjoy SF-stories with a dangerous space-set mission, or stories of first contact. Especially if you like considering those types of scenarios for our own future, what that could mean. I felt really connected to this story and definitely hope Paolini continues writing in this genre.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I have nothing but the highest praise Hale's narration and this audio production in general!

First off a big thanks to the publisher for inviting me to listen to Fractal Noise ,because I was so surprised and excited when I received the email,. And the second thing is I couldn't wait to listen to it , had to listen to it right then and there and I'm so glad I did , it was amazing just like the first book,( in fact I've added both books to my wish list ). Now let's see of I can put in a few simple words what I loved about :
1: the world and atmospheric sense of dread, fear, and tension I got while listening to it ,

2: The characters themselves- and how their personality came through and off the page .


3: but what really made the story
Was situations, built up tension and the not knowing of what was coming next , as well the creepy planet life, and the strange noises that you got to hear while listening to the audiobook - in fact it's the perfect book to listen to on a dark stormy day or night .

Fractal Noise
By Christopher Paolini
I loved 'To Sleep in a Sea of Stars' and was very happy that NetGalley and the publisher allowed me to read this book! Thanks so much! What a tremendous world and atmospheric sense of dread, fear, and tension.
These characters were so different from each other and had very powerful personalities. Their backgrounds, or enough of it, came to light as the story unfolds that helps the reader understand the character better.
The cover show the Anomaly as a circle upright but it was a giant hole! The long trek to the Anomaly is most of the book. The characters, the strange life of the planet, the sound from the Anomaly, and conflicts between the members of the crew. Lots of crazy situations, built up tension, creepy planet life, and the strange noises. The book makes the reader feel like you are there dealing with all this stress! But there is so much more! Especially as they get closer and closer to the Anomaly! Loved it!

**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.**

Solid 4.5 stars up from 3.5 for the amazing audio and stellar soundtrack effects. What a way to build tension in an audiobook!

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.

Jennifer Hale does it again with spectacular narration! I thoroughly enjoyed the audio version of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, and the narration on this one is no less fantastic. Physically reading this book builds immense amounts of tension, but the audio amplifies that feeling exponentially. Highly recommend consuming this book on audio in lieu of or in combination with a physical read if possible.


My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.

This audio was so much fun, it was like having a tv show playing in my ear. I was completely absorbed into the story line and found my pulse racing the further along I got. 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 on audio is the absolute best! The narrator is superb, and the sound effects and music are A+, I was hesitant going into this book because I loved To Sleep in a Sea of Stars so much and didn't want to be disappointed. I am happy to say that I was sucked in from the beginning and didn't want the book to end. Don't miss this one!

A must read follow up to Sleep in a Sea of Stars. Paolini can make you laugh, cry and terrify you in one paragraph. Not to be missed