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A review by pluviosity
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
1.0
The book didn't let me into its' world.
I hardly felt any connection, or sympathy, to any character of the book (well, that's something to say, being the characters are magicians and environmental villains..).
The lead characters, being abused mentally and physically by their families in their childhood, anti-social and bullied, suddenly grow up into this 'hip' magician and super-rich nerd, with lot of fine shag histories to tell. Whoop whoop.
(I say hip, because somehow the author apparently has this need to accentuate and insert the 'hipness' into any place the characters hangout)
Patricia is quite okay, actually. In fact, I really like the dark tone in the beginning of the novel, when she found out that she can talk to birds. But Laurence? Meh. Teenage Laurence is a whiny, self-absorbed, coward. And Adult Laurence is just the same apparently, seemed like that he never finish his puberty phase.
Why? because the world is collapsing when U.S military not there!
there's Arab Winter! (whatever that supposed to mean, it didn't explained)
the North Korea is coming!
Russians troops are moving west!
China's claimed border on South China Sea, OH NOOOOOO~~~!!
(not actually a news. it's already happening since the 19th century, dear.)
The solution? immigrate human population to a new planet. through a wormhole-sort-of-thing machine.
The time setting was questionable (twenty something years has gone and apparently nothing is quite different, in social-media tech and all). The trying-to be-hip-in-everything were gag-inducing. The sarcasm and the ironic jokes failed. The serious parts felt like joke. Hard to say anything about the quirky characters (Ernesto, Mr.Rose), because there's not enough to tell, even though they probably worth an attention.
Not that the imagination is not imaginative enough.
It's just so..unconvincing.
I don't feel any magic.
I hardly felt any connection, or sympathy, to any character of the book (well, that's something to say, being the characters are magicians and environmental villains..).
The lead characters, being abused mentally and physically by their families in their childhood, anti-social and bullied, suddenly grow up into this 'hip' magician and super-rich nerd, with lot of fine shag histories to tell. Whoop whoop.
(I say hip, because somehow the author apparently has this need to accentuate and insert the 'hipness' into any place the characters hangout)
Patricia is quite okay, actually. In fact, I really like the dark tone in the beginning of the novel, when she found out that she can talk to birds. But Laurence? Meh. Teenage Laurence is a whiny, self-absorbed, coward. And Adult Laurence is just the same apparently, seemed like that he never finish his puberty phase.
Spoiler
Main story is just ridiculous. A big storm coming in America and the leads somehow became the only saviors/heroes/saints of the world! While having overpriced coffee!Why? because the world is collapsing when U.S military not there!
there's Arab Winter! (whatever that supposed to mean, it didn't explained)
the North Korea is coming!
Russians troops are moving west!
China's claimed border on South China Sea, OH NOOOOOO~~~!!
(not actually a news. it's already happening since the 19th century, dear.)
The solution? immigrate human population to a new planet. through a wormhole-sort-of-thing machine.
The time setting was questionable (twenty something years has gone and apparently nothing is quite different, in social-media tech and all). The trying-to be-hip-in-everything were gag-inducing. The sarcasm and the ironic jokes failed. The serious parts felt like joke. Hard to say anything about the quirky characters (Ernesto, Mr.Rose), because there's not enough to tell, even though they probably worth an attention.
Not that the imagination is not imaginative enough.
It's just so..unconvincing.
I don't feel any magic.