Book Review: “Fractal Noise” by Christopher Paolini

Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini

This story is set in the same universe as To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (2020), twenty some years before the events in TSIASOS.  Same cultures and tech, but the explosive events are in the future.

Fractal Noise recounts yet another first encounter, this one by a pretty ragged corporate survey. Whatever they were searching for, they found an enigmatic alien artifact.  Literally a giant hole in the ground, the artifact is making a lot of noise and messing up the planet’s climate, so it’s hard to miss.   But there doesn’t seem to be anyone around, so who built it, and why? The big hole is an impressive bit of engineering, but it doesn’t seem to have any discernable purpose.

The under-crewed survey ship decides to land and take a closer look.  (This is, IMO, bad decision number one of many.)  This away team is marginally equipped for the task, and soon enough loses the use of their tractors.  They choose to hike on, pulling the disabled sleds.  (Bad decision number two.)  And so on.

The whole trek reminds us of the early polar explorations: and insane death march through lethal conditions, isolated and going insane.  They press on despite crippling injuries and multiple mission-ending equipment failures.  (Bad decisions three-infinity.)

You get the point.

Shockingly enough, there are heavy casualties, people go nuts, and not much is actually learned about the artifact.  (How much could four poorly qualified, badly equipped contractors have expected to discover, anyway?)

Worse, bio-quarantine is breached and contact is made in a haphazard and dangerously undiplomatic way.  I mean, what did you expect to happen?

All in all, this is a really bad job all around, with potentially catastrophic implications for all of humanity.  Nice work.

IMO, they should never have landed at all, and probably should have run away at first sight.

According to the author’s note, Paolinini takes pride in giving us an inspiring (if not happy) ending.  Personally, I wasn’t impressed by the spiritually uplifting experience of the protagonist.  This story is a terrible example of interplanetary exploration, and pretty depressing all around.

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1. Christopher Paolini, Fractal Noise, New York, TOR, 2023.

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