Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

July 2020
I think I enjoyed this even more than the first one. It's a fascinating piece of speculative fiction and a wild ride with a satisfying ending. The story is told from multiple POVs, which I particularly enjoyed because of how much I love all the characters. Green's writing is funny and clever and the story feels so contemporary, developing the themes covered in the first one; capitalism, technology, collaboration and power. I know I'll be thinking about it for a while

Nov 2022
I had just as much fun as the first time. It's my favourite sort of speculative fiction, set in a world which feels like ours but with some very significant differences. I listened to the audiobook this time and I thought the whole cast was great. I love all the characters and it's such a captivating story. There's so much happening and I love just going along for the ride.

Content Warnings

robyn_fenix's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

chris_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.25

Content Warnings

lisa_m's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

5.0

This book was so different to the first one. It still tackled similar issues but the vibe was different.

Whereas the first book was about community, fame and working together to solve a mystery - the second book was more about society & social criticism while trying to avoid a war / complete human subjugation.

I took a break when I was about halfway through this book. Mostly because I wasn't in the right headspace to read about a possible war and so many bad people. This book is very realistic in it's approach. There is a lot of scientific knowledge and also social critisism done in a clear and well thought through way. It is obvious that Hank Green knew what message he wanted this book to have and he didn't incorporate it subtly at all. I didn't mind that though. The message was obvious but also fit into the story perfectly and gave the characters more depth. I loved the different POVs and how every character had a unique and explored personality. Also they are all flawed but still choose to do the right thing. It sometimes got frustrating to read about annoying, powerhungry and bad people but at least you knew that they would eventually loose and in reallife that doesn't really happen.

I listened to this book and I would highly recommend the audiobook experience. There are multiple different voice actors with easily distinguishable voices. Also Hank Green himself narrated the part of a podcast which was pretty cool.

I had a review almost twice as long as this but I accidentally deleted it... Anyways I think that was mostly what I wanted to say. I might add some stuff later on.

Oh also I would recommend this duology very much! Still I know that many people won't like it. It has a very particular narrating style and also the characters can be frustrating. It is definitely not a book you can read or listen to with only half your brain. You will need to think about it and analyse it. I know that I will continue to think about it for a long time to come.

Content Warnings