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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
I didn't have much patience getting through this. Too much happening here.
It's like those transparent pages that you can lift and see different parts of the underlayers. (Maybe in health books or something—skin page on top of muscle page on top of organs page on top of the skeleton.) The skeleton is the everyday life of SanFrancisco or whatever—the weird tech scene with lots of money. And then on top the author threw on a science fiction layer, and also a fantasy/witchery layer. It's a mess: Timey-wimey iPhone blaster ray delivered to Hogwarts.
But like a chump, I slowed down to read the sexy romantic parts.
It's like those transparent pages that you can lift and see different parts of the underlayers. (Maybe in health books or something—skin page on top of muscle page on top of organs page on top of the skeleton.) The skeleton is the everyday life of SanFrancisco or whatever—the weird tech scene with lots of money. And then on top the author threw on a science fiction layer, and also a fantasy/witchery layer. It's a mess: Timey-wimey iPhone blaster ray delivered to Hogwarts.
But like a chump, I slowed down to read the sexy romantic parts.
"All the Birds in the Sky" explores the tension between technology and nature as seen from the vantage points of two young people, both misunderstood by their families and rejected by their peers. One is a brilliant scientist; the other, a powerful witch. They become friends as children, lose track of each other in high school and reconnect as young adults. Charlie Jane Anders skillfully blends tropes of young adult fiction (school bullies, young love, social media obsession) with sci-fi and fantasy themes (apocalyptic weather, artificial intelligence, magic). The story unfolds at a good clip, and it will give you something to think about no matter how old you are.
One of the most amazing books I've ever read. The author's unique style is deeply idiosyncratic but pure genius. Her writing drew me in and held me like few books have ever done. Her quirky, offbeat approach to storytelling breaks any number of rules, but has the powerful gift of opening beautiful insights to the very heart and soul of life and love. The whole book is vibrant with youthful spirit and today's Zeitgeist like nothing else I've seen these days. This tale of love, revolution, and magic among young technohackers has stayed with me long after I got done reading it. I will have to read it again to relive the magic, and soon. I can't wait to see what else Charlie Jane Anders has in store for us.
3.5 - had high expectations going in, and immediately felt like I was reading a version of the Bone Clocks, but those expectations weren't 100% upheld. The beginning of the book was slow, but then I raced through it - I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen. I guess as is usually my complaint with ~300 page books is I want more depth - to the characters, world building, everything. Interesting and unique story, but ultimately wanted more. Should be good to discuss at book club though!
I skim read the last 50 pages of this. I'm going on vacation and this book took forever to read despite it being 300 pages. I'm not sure how I feel about it but I may try to reread it to get a clearer idea of what on earth was happening here.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A young girl talked to the birds and discovered she was a witch. A young boy built a supercomputer in his closet. They were briefly friends in middle school while being bullied by everyone else. A decade later their paths cross again as Climate Change is causing massive destruction around the globe. She is a witch who works with others to do small things to make the world better, while he is an engineer that is looking for an earth-shattering breakthrough to try to save humanity itself. Will science and nature be able to work together, or will they fight amongst themselves as the world crashes down?
This was a disappointment. I had heard good things about it, and while there are some interesting ideas in the world-building, overall it is not a pleasant or enjoyable read. The main characters are abused and bullied and gaslit by others, the friendship between the main characters (let alone romance) doesn’t work at all because he is horrible to her through most of the book, the flow of the story is jumpy and nonsensical, characters appear and disappear randomly, the whole assassin side-plot amounted to nothing, the blatant Chekov’s A.I. was annoyingly blatant, and the ending didn’t resolve anything. Oh, and the sex scene was just bad.
It kind of wants to be about technology vs nature, but does not adequately convey that at all, and instead is mostly just a story about unlikeable people refusing to communicate properly and being horrible to one another, all while making Earth-ending catastrophes worse.
This was a disappointment. I had heard good things about it, and while there are some interesting ideas in the world-building, overall it is not a pleasant or enjoyable read. The main characters are abused and bullied and gaslit by others, the friendship between the main characters (let alone romance) doesn’t work at all because he is horrible to her through most of the book, the flow of the story is jumpy and nonsensical, characters appear and disappear randomly, the whole assassin side-plot amounted to nothing, the blatant Chekov’s A.I. was annoyingly blatant, and the ending didn’t resolve anything. Oh, and the sex scene was just bad.
It kind of wants to be about technology vs nature, but does not adequately convey that at all, and instead is mostly just a story about unlikeable people refusing to communicate properly and being horrible to one another, all while making Earth-ending catastrophes worse.
Lot of mixed feelings.
It's very, very well written.
The bullying and abusive behavior by just about everyone and the consistent withholding of information in punitive and spiteful and just mean ways bothers me a lot. There's so many times problems would be solved if a little more information were shared.
Some of what's going on in the story is very reminiscent of books I've read before in the form of tropes or subversions of the tropes. Sometimes that's brilliant and cool. Sometimes it just feels like a cruel twist on something.
It's a really good book, but I don't think I will want to read this ever again.
It's very, very well written.
The bullying and abusive behavior by just about everyone and the consistent withholding of information in punitive and spiteful and just mean ways bothers me a lot. There's so many times problems would be solved if a little more information were shared.
Some of what's going on in the story is very reminiscent of books I've read before in the form of tropes or subversions of the tropes. Sometimes that's brilliant and cool. Sometimes it just feels like a cruel twist on something.
It's a really good book, but I don't think I will want to read this ever again.