Reviews tagging 'Death'

Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini

20 reviews

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini is a prequel to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, and I was not at all prepared for what this book would be.

This is a book about pain, grief, hope, religion, love, and humanity's unceasing desire to know. I don't think I've ever read a book like this where I so viscerally felt the atmosphere. Paolini's writing brings the barren sand of Talos and its rhythmic "thud"s vividly alive. As Alex descends into himself, I could feel his fragmenting mind and the progressively louder THUDs.

I'm impressed that this book, while full of pain and gore and anger, ultimately has a lot of say about hope and coming out of grief. That sometimes answers are impossible, reasons unknowable, and everything we think we know wrong, but we keep going, keep trying, and keep caring about each other. Alex is set against himself, his team, and the physical environment, and yet he persists - sometimes foolheartedly, sometimes irrationally.

I think what makes this book so good is that Alex's interal struggle is reflected in the physical struggle to reach the beacon, coupled with the debated about human nature and religion in the face of potential alien lifeforms. The inherent contradictions of it all play out against the backdrop of an unwaverily empty and monotonous world.

This book needs major trigger warnings for death of a spouse, depression,  grief, suicidal ideation, religious zeal, physical assault, death, body horror, blood, and medical content.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

colossuscrunch's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Grief

astrangewind's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Fractal Noise is an example of what science fiction should be. Any techno-babble is defined properly in the appendix, and the story doesn't rely on the reader's understanding of math. The science felt realistic and interesting without being overly jargony. The writing style makes the book accessible and interesting.

The plot follows a group of scientists as they make their way towards a big ol' hole on an unoccupied planet, and... that's it. The entire book starts from being in orbit, moves to landing, and then to trekking across the inhospitable plains of a foreign planet. Despite that, I found Fractal Noise to be un-put-down-able. The characterization, the interesting parts of the science, Alex's struggle with himself and losing his wife, the underlying philosophical themes, and the mystery of the hole were compelling. 

I loved that there was an appendix to define in-universe terms, but there is a major spoiler in there ("The Great Beacon"), which bugs me. At the very beginning of the book, a lot of characters are introduced to the reader with some identifying characteristic or another, but most of these characters are not even remotely relevant for the remainder of the book, and it was a lot to follow. Also, the beginning of the book had some weird fatphobia towards Pushkin. (The protagonist referred to people on his planet as "starving gorillas.") I think the book would've been just as good without it. 

Besides those things, which are largely nitpicks, I greatly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone, even people who aren't science fiction fans. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gore, Violence, and Medical content

Minor: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Colonisation

boglord's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Addiction, Confinement, and Excrement

eliaa's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

really loved this, only marked down bc of the dead wife backstory fridging and bc I don’t rly like how it ended, but really strong over all

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Minor: Domestic abuse and Drug use

actuallyahorsereads's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Is Christopher Paolini okay?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

emmylib's review

adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Death and Rape

6nodder6's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

The book was quite boring

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Bullying, Death, and Colonisation

Minor: Addiction, Mental illness, and Murder

barbsantos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book has a very interesting premise and it's very well executed. However there is just so much action you can pack in a track to a hole in a desolate planet, it gets boring sometimes. I really liked how questions about the meaning of life and whether it's worth living were included in the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts

prynne31's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content