Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini is the second novel set in his fractalverse and is the prequel to the novel To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. It tells the story of Alex Mercer and the crew of the Adamura. In 2234 the Adamura discovers an anomaly on Talos VII, a planet that is supposedly uninhabited. The anomaly in question is a circular pit that is 50 km wide and of an unknown depth. Upon closer look it seems to be emitting some kind of noise pattern, a fractal pattern of some sort. The crew decide to investigate closer by sending down a small team to get a closer look. Due to the strength of the noise they must land a ways away and make the trek on foot. The closer they get the more they struggle as the noise interferes with their radio and communications signals and the constant dust interferes with everything else. Each of them must face their own demons as they slowly work their way towards the pit and towards the unknown.
I was genuinely surprised by this book as it was only somewhat close to what the description implied. The story was about the ship Adamura and its crew finding and investigating the anomaly on Talos VII but at the same time it was also about Alex Mercer, a crewmember struggling with depression and grief after the loss of his wife in an animal attack. Because of this the story actually has multiple layers and deals with some pretty different topics throughout. It deals with the idea of the ethics involved in space exploration and archaeology while at the same time dealing with moving through the grief process and learning to move on after facing your past. The story is part space exploration and archaeology but also part personal introspection as well which is an interesting if fascinating mix of elements. I was rather surprised to see the story was also told entirely from Alex’s perspective as the description implied it was about the crew collectively and in some ways it was but the vast majority of the focus was on Alex and what he was experiencing. The story itself was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it but it was not quite what I was expecting from the original description in terms of narration style and focus. There were numerous times where the exploration of Talos VII and the mysterious pit were mere backdrops for the story of Alex Mercer as he worked on processing his grief. For how short of a story this was, especially compared to the first book in the series, there was a surprising amount of things going on. It did provide an interesting counterpoint to the previous book even as it also provided more background on the universe setting for the series as a whole and background on the anomaly that was referenced previously. The plot was great and did a good job of slowly building the tension and I rather enjoyed getting to know Alex over the course of the story. It was a great book and I am happy giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
This book is a great example of a modern science-fiction novel so I would assume it probably holds the most appeal for readers who prefer that genre. It would also hold some appeal for readers who like books that focus on character introspection as this book does a lot of that as well. At the same time it would probably hold limited appeal for readers who don’t like either of those things. There was some minor violence but there didn’t seem to be any mature or adult content or references. While the book may have been intended for adults I would feel pretty comfortable recommending it for readers older than about fifteen or sixteen. Overall a pretty good book and if you think it sounds interesting than I hope you consider trying it. If you do consider sharing your thoughts in the comments.