the prequel to 'sleep in a sea of stars' is the novel fractal noise which has just been released. apparently 'sleep' is part of a series which would make sense as it left me with a lot of questions, it was a huge book but a great story so i just immersed myself in it and enjoyed the soft sci fi narrative. it was nothing really new but it was good. 'fractal noise' which is a quarter of the length is almost the opposite, a sort of shaggy dog story with no real conclusion or meaning. 

a ship passes a planet and discovers a hole, a perfect hole in a perfect circle, so perfect it must have been made by intelligent life. three crew members set out on an expedition to gain data from what they discover and share this with humanity. what they discover is humanity when pushed basically turns upon itself. eventually when we get to the hole, i found myself not even caring what they found, and worse the conclusion was pointless. 

oh well, he's a respected writer, everyone loves him. i tried and failed. i need more.