I’m disappointed in Christopher Paolini. Both books in the Fractalverse series turn into a long slog of misery and character torture. I don’t want to slog through upwards of 1/3rd of the book just being depressed, harmed, and mangled characters.
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars and Fractal Noise have a lot of interesting ideas. But they don’t carry the story. I can’t recommend his work anymore. In fact I actively advise you to avoid it. I don’t know if he’s trying to be dark and gritty, or if he’s just in a deep dark place, but it’s ugly, near saw level torture porn.
