Reviews with content warning for Violence - Fractal Noise

Would make an excellent Sci-fi episode.

Oof this was a hard one. I think I really wasn't in the mood for it? I could tell I would like it, but I had to keep pausing and going back and was distracted a lot.. which really ruins the tension.

I feel like if Sleep in a sea of stars was ever adapted into a show, this would make a really great episode or parallel B plot kind of thing.

I also realized that I don't much like the enhanced audio thing much? Aaaand Paolini is fond of Apenicies and whatever and they are torture in audio book. Not as bad at texting chats, but they suck. The whole last hour was just that.

Anyways, I didn't rate it because I didn't know what to do with it. I liked it, but my listening habits ruined it? So
Edit:jk, I hated seeing it without a rating. So I just gave it something appropriate for now.

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that_boi_eliza's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

3.0

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menacingmarble's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Very stressful read. I had to put it down for a few weeks. It's
THUDS
the way that things
THUDS
get interrupted often is what really got me

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lymadebell's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.25

I loved this book! It was tense and dark and emotional. It was told partially through flashbacks to a previous time and present day events. I thought the crew that was listed in the book was diverse and interesting and sort of fully formed people. But mostly the ground crew that was on the strange planet was who you got to know and I felt like they were all very fully formed people and that's always great. The narration for this was really good. They had some music that was done and some sound effects that I think really added to the book. I was really happy about the constant building of tension throughout the book. I don't think this book really had an ending per se, more of a possible continuation. Although, that makes sense as this is technically a prequel to "to sleep in a sea of stars." So that does make more sense when you think of it that way. Either way, strong characters, really tense Interesting plot and an amazing narration and musical score. Musical score was unexpected but still very good.

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momokomoon94's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I liked this book, I wanted to like it more. Spoiler alert:
The whole book is the journey to the freaking hole. Also Alex’s character is a little one dimensional imo.

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daniparvu's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

2.0

I have far too many unanswered questions finishing this book. Some are okay; some are even necessary... but most of them, in this case, should've been answered. This book is very bleak and somehow also not as emotional as it could've been so it left me feeling dazed and confused. I'm sure someone will love it, but it's not for me. That said, based on reading other reviews, I recommend listening to the audiobook of this one rather than reading.

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gladiolus17's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

If you want to be stressed for ten hours I recommend this audiobook!

Such a grueling journey to the alien hole. Whenever something would happen, I would be screaming in my head GO BACK GO BACK GO BACK but they just kept going onward. As a plus, the audiobook had music and sound effects (such as radio static over the comms) which made the book that much better of an experience.

Like To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, this book is well-researched and it feels like the characters are really professionals in what they do.

I was really satisfied with the character development of the main character in the end, but was dissatisfied with the others. I felt like I wanted to know more about the others’ backstories in more depth in relation to their decision-making. I wanted to know exactly what happened to them that wounded them. I also wanted to know more about the world and have at least an inkling of an answer in the end. So, though I enjoyed this, I didn’t enjoy it as much as To Sleep.

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herceia's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.0

The only reason I finished this was bc I love Paolini as an author. The Inheritance Cycle is my favorite series. However, I would have stopped at about a third of the way through if I didn't have this weird loyalty to him. I almost stopped anyway at several points beyond that. I gave it a 1 because the story was actually pretty interesting to me when the main character, Alex, wasn't in his woe-is-me mood (which was very often. Too often. Almost unbearably often.).

My main complaint with this book is how utterly upset and despondent Alex is for the entire book. We get it, your wife died and you're sad. You're really about to make your attitude everyone else's problem? I also have complaints about the character of the people he's traveling with. At this point, you think they'd send a better-vetted group out on missions like this.

The struggles in the book were very real, but I was almost too distracted by Alex's feelings to feel any compassion for any of their situations. That was frustrating during the read bc I really wanted to feel for them, but just couldn't.

This book is a close look at humans in extreme and unknown conditions, and for that, the book is a 2. I was missing anyone or any thing, thought, or feeling to root for. I could have had about fifty pages less of self-pity.

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