3.5/75☆ — in a similar vein to sci-fi classic 'solaris' by stanisław lem, ‘fractal noise’ is a thoughtful mediation on existentialism, grief and the human search for purpose

we follow xenobiologist, alex, as he ventures on a brutal expedition to study an anomaly on a seemingly uninhabited planet. very quickly, the novel descends into an almost nihilistic rumination on loss and suffering. the closer the crew gets to this hole on the planet, the deeper they sink into madness (imo, it felt reminiscent of ‘solaris’, specifically in the way that the characters are forced to confront past traumas - but i did enjoy this book more)

i think it’s important to state that this book is nothing like ‘to sleep in a sea of stars’, and going into this expecting tsiasos 2.0 will leave you feeling disappointed. i was quite surprised at how different in tone this book was. it felt hopeless and bleak (it almost reminds me of the feeling i got whilst reading ‘i who have never known men’). all in all, a stark contrast from the fun adventure story that is tsiasos

while this book had interesting enough concepts - the man vs environment dichotomy as they traverse this harsh planet, as well as the more psychological and existential explorations - i found that the way some ideas were delivered got repetitive? almost all of the looks into existentialism were introduced through 2 members of the crew who are just arguing the entire time. having two insufferable characters non-stop shouting at each other about life and religion and god gets boring very quickly

i do recommend 'fractal noise', but idk there’s just something about this book that makes it difficult for me to evaluate exactly how i feel? maybe it’s the fact that i went in with the wrong expectations, i’m not sure. it was okay, i did enjoy it, but i do also think there’s something lacking (i can’t quite pinpoint what that is). maybe that feeling of "something is missing" is the whole point? i really do not know lmao