Teaser

Looking for meaning after the death of his wife, xenobiologist Alex Crichton joins an expedition into deep space. What he finds out there will change his life forever . . .

Review

Like a lot of people my age, one of my first exposures to epic fantasy was Eragon. Christopher Pasolini’s Inheritance Cycle was revelatory in its breadth and scale, and the sheer sense of wonder it entailed. Now older and (a little) wiser, it’s easy to pick apart the influences and origins of that world, but I remained a Paolini fan. As such, I was excited to learn that, after a short time away from fiction, he would be writing not fantasy, but science fiction. When it arrived, however, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars was underwhelming. Too long by far, with constant shifts in tone and narrative that left me adrift. It was, to be perfectly honest, a disappointment. One that held so much potential, yet seemed to do nothing with it.

That’s where Fractal Noise comes in. On paper, it’s a prequel to Paolini’s previous novel. Between the long gap between books and my general haziness, however, I honestly couldn’t tell you how direct the connections are. The good news is that that doesn’t matter in the slightest. If you take Fractal Noise as a standalone, it works just fine. Better than fine. It’s probably the best thing Paolini has ever written.

The immediate improvement comes from the length. This is by far the shortest novel Paolini has written. Probably around a third of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. A book this long can’t afford to go off on tangents or add extraneous characters, and Fractal Noise doesn’t. It’s leaner and tighter than its predecessor by a considerable margin. There’s no wastage here at all. It just feels neat.

In terms of story, however, neat is not the name of the game. The plot can be summed up as ‘scientists walk towards hole,’ but that’s just me being facetious. Although the material narrative is simple, it’s the philosophy and psychological aspects that really make the book work. Confronted by an inexplicable but almost certainly alien structure, everyone involved is forced to reckon with their preconceptions of how the universe works. For some, that means turning to religion. For others, it’s embracing the minutiae of science. As always, for some it’s just a job, and the only thing worth saving is oneself.

Fractal Noise walks that fine line between hard SF and cosmic horror. The commitment to the pursuit of meaning in an uncertain galaxy is admirable, and the lack of answers at the end is the only ending that makes sense. Because ultimately this isn’t a story about the hole itself. It’s a story about how humans face the unknown. Paolini’s step up in terms of narrative skill and thematic maturity is incredible, and with this book, he has ensured I’ll be rushing for whatever he prints next.

Book Stats

• A Prequel to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
• Published by Tor in 2023
• 257 pages