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sestout's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
grizzlysnack's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Hank Green should stick to creating YouTube videos and educational content.
I understand that this story is meant to be reflective and show that humanity is not a horrible thing, but rather something each and every human shares and should create with one another. The way that this story delivered that message frustrates me.
April (our main character) points out multiple times that she is a bad person—she actively shows the audience exactly how bad she is to the people she supposedly loves. April is not a likable character, and yet we’re supposed to root for her.
April is so self-centered that I feel as though she’s incapable of being ‘humanity’s liaison’, which you find out is the role set upon her, after seeing New York Carl.
April acts on impulse, rarely (sincerely) forgives or acknowledges when she’s wrong, and is narcissistic. That doesn’t make me want to buy another book from Hank Green, with April talking in my ear for 9 hours
I will listen to a content creator’s views all day long, but as soon as you throw those views into a fictional character that actively proves themselves to be a morally shitty person, you’ve lost my sympathy for that character’s decisions and reasoning.
0.5 stars because there are a few topics that could be written about and make a convincing story, but those topics are rarely brought up between the 338 pages I just read.
I understand that this story is meant to be reflective and show that humanity is not a horrible thing, but rather something each and every human shares and should create with one another. The way that this story delivered that message frustrates me.
April (our main character) points out multiple times that she is a bad person—she actively shows the audience exactly how bad she is to the people she supposedly loves. April is not a likable character, and yet we’re supposed to root for her.
April acts on impulse, rarely (sincerely) forgives or acknowledges when she’s wrong, and is narcissistic. That doesn’t make me want to buy another book from Hank Green, with April talking in my ear for 9 hours
I will listen to a content creator’s views all day long, but as soon as you throw those views into a fictional character that actively proves themselves to be a morally shitty person, you’ve lost my sympathy for that character’s decisions and reasoning.
0.5 stars because there are a few topics that could be written about and make a convincing story, but those topics are rarely brought up between the 338 pages I just read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Addiction, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship
thesupermassive's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Gun violence, Medical content, and Gore
mangofraiche's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Violence, Biphobia, Blood, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
dreamerfreak's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, and Death
kellysavagebooks's review
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
A massive transformer-esque statue appears in New York. Intrigued, April calls up a friend and they shoot a YouTube video. April wakes up the next morning an internet celebrity and finds herself launched into a world of TV interviews, hateful Internet forums, and—just maybe—first contact?
I put off reading this book for ages for two reasons. One, I don’t read a lot of sci-fi, and anything with “contemporary” in the subgenres usually isn’t for me. Two (and this one is stupid), I loved John Green’s books as a teenager, but I’ve completely grown out of them. I’ve adored Hank and John for over like 15 years so I REALLY didn’t want to be disappointed by this book.
And I certainly wasn’t. Hank’s debut is insightful, powerful, funny, and it whisked me right along for the ride. April is wildly unlikeable but still kind of charming and I couldn’t look away. I thought about R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface a lot while I read this. The themes (aside from the racial focus of Yellowface) are very similar. April’s less nasty than June, but she still ends up in the position she’s in because she’s privileged and lucky and little else. The books have similar discussions about online spaces and internet fame. AART, though, leaves you feeling hopeful about the human race, and it wants to point you toward compassion. Yellowface, not so much. Different approaches, and I found I preferred this one.
I’m genuinely shocked by how much I loved this, and I need to get my hands on book 2!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Biphobia, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
kitwhelan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
At first I was disappointed that this book was more of a commentary on our times of social media madness and political division, I was hoping for much more sci-fi. But once I got into it, damn it’s so good and smart and funny and insightful and brutal and unexpected. I will happily skip right on the the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
sylvestra's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia and Violence
Moderate: Death
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
casira's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book made me feel a lot of things and consider a lot of truly interesting facets about how we all interact with each other in the world day. It wasn't a consistently enjoyable experience, but I was enraptured the entire time, and that was clearly the intention.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Classism, Emotional abuse, and Biphobia
Minor: Outing and Toxic friendship
kimmy0__0's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I love the way Hank Green can explain any topic to a wide audience so I was really excited for this book when I found it. It was a really interesting premise, just really slow at times. Tackles a lot of modern problems, but no real satisfying conclusion (curse you sequels!!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Cursing, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail