lamesjayman 's review for:

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

4.0

---

A story of the interplay between magic and science, told through the friendship of Patricia (a girl who can talk to birds) and Laurence (a boy who builds a two second time machine). They first meet as socially awkward middle schoolers, and later in life reconnect as young adults whose talents have multiplied exponentially. The characters are generally likable and well-realized, and the world has an amusingly surrealist tinge to it, with details like assassins who are thwarted by the temptations of the Cheesecake Factory and a sentient AI blackmailing school administrators. The plot gathers momentum too quickly and becomes too apocalyptic for my tastes--I didn't think the stakes needed to be that high or accelerate so quickly--but still an enjoyable read.