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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
I so wanted to like this book. It had all the ingredients for a really tasty story but it was so tough to get through. Despite how much time is spent on the character's actions and encounters I didnt feel like I knew them at all. The story jumped around and it felt like the author tried too hard to be relevant.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Well somehow I lost my review. Not doing it again. I liked the quirkiness of this book, but definitely weird and a one time read for me
Read this immediately
Writing this on 22 December. All emergency Xmas present making and most other life functions have been on hold since I started reading this
book.... yesterday. It's like a waking
dream and it's about real and important stuff. Thanks for following your dream of writing, Charlie Jane Anders!
Writing this on 22 December. All emergency Xmas present making and most other life functions have been on hold since I started reading this
book.... yesterday. It's like a waking
dream and it's about real and important stuff. Thanks for following your dream of writing, Charlie Jane Anders!
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
All the Birds in the Sky was written by Charlie Jane Anders and published in 2016. Birds in the Sky is about wonderfully eccentric friends, Patricia, a "witch" who can communicate with nature, and Lawrence, an inventor whizkid. After mysterious circumstances in high school, Patricia and Lawrence move away from each other and don't reconnect until their adults living in San Francisco. As adults, they have mastered their respective crafts yet unknowingly set towards a path that could end modern civilization as they know it. They must now reckon who they've become and what they believe in to help save the world.
I liked this book and immediately saw the inspiration Anders drew from Neil Gaiman's writing. Like Gaiman, Anders treats the absurd and unusual as everyday occurrences and all tongue and cheek. I admired Anders' commentary on environmentalism and its pending collision with modern society. I thought this first 3/4th of the book was much easier to follow and more enjoyable than the last quarter. I felt Anders skipped/sped through some important moments, making the ending rushed and confusing. Overall, a good read for those who like absurdist fiction or "Magical Realism."
I liked this book and immediately saw the inspiration Anders drew from Neil Gaiman's writing. Like Gaiman, Anders treats the absurd and unusual as everyday occurrences and all tongue and cheek. I admired Anders' commentary on environmentalism and its pending collision with modern society. I thought this first 3/4th of the book was much easier to follow and more enjoyable than the last quarter. I felt Anders skipped/sped through some important moments, making the ending rushed and confusing. Overall, a good read for those who like absurdist fiction or "Magical Realism."
This sounded a lot better than it was. It was almost campy, but felt accidentally campy? I think I'd have enjoyed it more if the writing style was consistent, I get that it was a choice to write more "young" style while the characters are young and then more complicated as they age, but it was just annoying to follow.
I feel like the book club is judging me for this one because virtually no one finished it and if they did it was a chore so I have to use this as motivation to do better research next time.
I feel like the book club is judging me for this one because virtually no one finished it and if they did it was a chore so I have to use this as motivation to do better research next time.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to love this. Because I couldn't stop reading it (except for that little blip where I had to return it to Libby and borrow it again). But I really couldn't see where it was going, either. It was just one random escalation and plot point after another after another. Sometimes that's good -- sometimes, it's confusing, and sometimes, it's maddening. But still, I read on.
I'm amazed this is only 300ish pages because there is so. much. packed. into this scifi meets fantasy meets enemies to lovers meets YA (until it's NOT), meets... well, you get the idea. So much -- arguably, TOO much -- is plotted (or not) into this book, such that all the ends vaguely tie up, but at the same time it also feels like a NaNoWriMo exercise gone rogue. It needs a tighter edit, is what I'm saying. Especially where there were large gaps in time jumped, and characters were doing the "remember that time when..." to catch the reader up, which was frustrating to me as a reader (and writer).
At the same time, there were some unusual and (for me) enjoyable unnecessary weird asides, such as for example the appearance of a certain type of singing group, really for no reason other than it's weird and quirky. (A quick example: "He would never, ever be able to pull his butt out of the sofa, he was just going get dragged in deeper until he was swallowed, as if by a Venus Asstrap.")
That's about how this sums up read: weird and quirky. Cheers to the author for the effort.
I'm amazed this is only 300ish pages because there is so. much. packed. into this scifi meets fantasy meets enemies to lovers meets YA (until it's NOT), meets... well, you get the idea. So much -- arguably, TOO much -- is plotted (or not) into this book, such that all the ends vaguely tie up, but at the same time it also feels like a NaNoWriMo exercise gone rogue. It needs a tighter edit, is what I'm saying. Especially where there were large gaps in time jumped, and characters were doing the "remember that time when..." to catch the reader up, which was frustrating to me as a reader (and writer).
At the same time, there were some unusual and (for me) enjoyable unnecessary weird asides, such as for example the appearance of a certain type of singing group, really for no reason other than it's weird and quirky. (A quick example: "He would never, ever be able to pull his butt out of the sofa, he was just going get dragged in deeper until he was swallowed, as if by a Venus Asstrap.")
That's about how this sums up read: weird and quirky. Cheers to the author for the effort.
I was really excited about halfway through All the Birds in the Sky, I had finally been able to touch on what the book reminded me of. There are clear influences from Neil Gaiman here, from subject matter to writing style, and I love Neil Gaiman. Unfortunately, after this realization, it was all downhill for me. Comparison can really be the thief of joy because it made me think on what makes Neil's books special, it is the extra quirkiness, the true pathos, the originality, and the well-fitted worlds.
All the Birds in the Sky gets like 60% of the way there and sputters out. The truly fun concepts it has are tried on and tossed out fast. The writing tone is a bit too flippant, missing the irreverent bliss that was clearly aimed for. There are too many characters that pop in that have a bit of flare but no lasting substance. It has a grand concept and large storytelling scope but it really fudges all the details around the edges in favor of a more unquestioning and free-flowing pace.
For me, it feels like an honest try at something that just needed to be expanded upon and given more space to grow.
All the Birds in the Sky gets like 60% of the way there and sputters out. The truly fun concepts it has are tried on and tossed out fast. The writing tone is a bit too flippant, missing the irreverent bliss that was clearly aimed for. There are too many characters that pop in that have a bit of flare but no lasting substance. It has a grand concept and large storytelling scope but it really fudges all the details around the edges in favor of a more unquestioning and free-flowing pace.
For me, it feels like an honest try at something that just needed to be expanded upon and given more space to grow.