Reviews

Alle Vögel unter dem Himmel by Charlie Jane Anders

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timinbc's review against another edition

2.0

OK, we meet a young witch and a young techwiz. They are both in "It's so unFAIR!" lives as they grow and develop. She goes to witch school, he goes to military school briefly. She can talk to birds and a Great Tree (which asks her a Zen riddle). We keep seeing references to events that haven't been explained yet. He joins some powerful techies who are building heavy-mojo stuff that apparently no one else in the world knows about. She joins some powerful magic-wielders who are clearly round the twist, and some of them appear to be mockeries of Marvel superheroes. So far this is all not so bad. Well, except for the Caddys - like emo iPads that cause coincidences to happen. My WTF alarms are twitching.

Lots of references to the little trendy restaurants etc. the the Really Cool Kids go to. Probably there to keep the YA readers engaged. At least it didn't drone on about obscure indie bands the way the book before this did.

Spoiler alert here? I dunno, the plot pretty much spoils itself without any help from me. But don't read on if you don't want to know.

At this point Anders must have developed writer's block and taken LSD to fix it. Suddenly the girl is a megawitch and the guy is essentially Tom Swift (Tom found a teaspoon, two matches and a banana; in ten minutes they were on their way to the moon). They end up in a cringeworthy sex scene. Suddenly, with hardly any warning, we learn that the US East Coast is being hit by a big storm. A couple of pages later the end of the world is don't-buy-green-bananas away. But that's OK, our heroes are on it. One team is building a Giant Wormhole Maker so we can jump to a new planet, and has a Giant Mobile Destructo Gun to stop the other guys (but heroine calls down lightning to stop it), another is going to Unravel society down to a small, workable number living in primitivism, and heroine is off to talk to her tree. Heads get blown off, we learn that techwiz customized the AI in his Caddy and it has taken over everyone else's Caddy and is manipulating half the people in the world - and had been manipulating some of them for a LONG time. The payoff includes the Tree and the Caddy AI and is totally, utterly ludicrous. There is a structure to it, and I think I see what the author had in mind, but it all collapses under its own weight.

Lev Grossman liked this, and I didn't like his Magicians series. Several reviewers mentioned The Night Circus as vaguely similar to this, and I thought it flopped too. I may be grumpy. Get off my lawn, you darned kids.

As some reviewers noted, mixing magic and hard science is risky business. Like making fish ice cream. Success is possible but unlikely.

kylegach's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious 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

3.0

tregina's review against another edition

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3.0

While the book was interesting, and I ultimately did enjoy it, I struggled to get a strong sense of place and time in it, and not just because of the weaving of magical and technological elements (which was what I loved most). I also--and this is certainly a personal reaction--found the descriptions of abuse and bullying in the earlier sections to be more traumatic than cathartic, with no relief to offset the trauma, to the point where I almost didn't continue reading it. Can't argue with the fact that they were realistic, though.

kluwes's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted 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

5.0

katieivey's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

3.5

cjvphd's review against another edition

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3.0

I did not like this book. But maybe you will! Lots of people do. Reasonable people sometimes disagree. For me, Anders' sophomore effort fell flat and came across as amateurish rather than revolutionary; a series of misfires with characters and a structure that just didn't work. Close, but no cigar. If I may, please allow me to point to Drew Magary's "Point B" as a better, more satisfying reading experience with a similar tone. I suggest you read that instead.