Fractal Noise

Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

DNF

I was in a hurry when I selected this book from the library and failed to see the warning notice on the back cover. Almost at once I realized something was amiss but it took thirty pages or so before I rechecked the blurb and then took a look at the back. There was the warning stating clearly this book had won an award of some sort. It happens that I, and those who act as judges for handing out awards are polar opposites. It they like a book I will abhor it and vice versa. I think many readers, particularly younger ones, will quite enjoy this work. The premise is excellent. A team of surveyors looking to find planets suitable for colonization stumble across an alien artifact. Until that time, no intelligent life had been found in the galaxy. The artifact is a hole dug into the surface of the planet measuring some number of kilometers in diameter and transmitting the Mandelbrot fractal sequence. This much is great. I wanted to keep reading to find out the mystery behind the artifact and transmission. Unfortunately the characters are a disaster. The author may write from various view points but I saw only one, that of a man who lost his wife more than two years before and is still a total basket case. And so we have to deal with the angst of this individual. In addition, I believe many (most? all?) of the other characters have inner demons with which they're doing battle. There are deep, deep conflicts roiling just under the surface. Not for me. This is the type of book I hate and refuse to read. Yes, I would have liked to find out more about the mystery but not enough to listen to page after page of whining. Those readers who enjoy characters with deep dark unresolved issues through which they have to battle in order to find some sort of resolution will love this book. Those who like a good rip-roaring plot are better off looking elsewhere.

Some reviewers dislike the cover being designed by AI. Personally I don't give a damn about whether a human or a computer designed the cover. It's the story I want to read and this one is decidedly lacking.



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