kellysavagebooks's review against another edition
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 against another edition
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
maggiejean's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia
Moderate: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence
enchantedobjects's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
For starters I would totally give this book 5 stars (and I may change my mind) but the reason I didn't was because how genuinely tense this book made me feel. I was worried about April's fall to fame and her social and parasocial relationships and political repercussions.
The first few pages of the book made me roll my eyes a bit in a jovial way. Oh you wiley Hank Green and you're Mc named APRIL MAY whose a funky art major bisexual who finds a samurai type mech and becomes a social media star! What a little fun idea! Guess I don't really need to read the sequel....I got the point. Alright! And then....it just kept accumulating and building between consequences of actions on other people's lives, her life, politics, and just Twitter related angst. It became a riveting conversation about the determinants of fame and false leadership and so much more but also the glories and goodness of trying to be a better person and how the internet can raise people together. And now I'm desperate for the sequel.
April feels a little bit of a good-hearted yet still selfish cousin to Dorian Grey (which I love).
Also yes this book is wacky but roll with it
I did but cw for violence because there is violent attacks in the book but not much is "on screen" and when the significant one happens there's a warning that proceeds it. Well done!
The first few pages of the book made me roll my eyes a bit in a jovial way. Oh you wiley Hank Green and you're Mc named APRIL MAY whose a funky art major bisexual who finds a samurai type mech and becomes a social media star! What a little fun idea! Guess I don't really need to read the sequel....I got the point. Alright! And then....it just kept accumulating and building between consequences of actions on other people's lives, her life, politics, and just Twitter related angst. It became a riveting conversation about the determinants of fame and false leadership and so much more but also the glories and goodness of trying to be a better person and how the internet can raise people together. And now I'm desperate for the sequel.
April feels a little bit of a good-hearted yet still selfish cousin to Dorian Grey (which I love).
Also yes this book is wacky but roll with it
I did but cw for violence because there is violent attacks in the book but not much is "on screen" and when the significant one happens there's a warning that proceeds it. Well done!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Addiction
koplomps's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Confinement, Death, and Violence
Minor: Biphobia and Xenophobia
itsheyfay's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Blood, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, and Biphobia
brookey8888's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This was an interesting reading experience. I was interested in the story, but I didn’t love it. The characters were intriguing and I liked April for the most part she’s unlikable(that’s the point), but it was frustrating to read at times. This was funny and interesting and I learned a lot about some random topics which I enjoyed. I did also like the commentary about fame as well as like hate groups and humanity. I think I will continue on with the series because the ending was kind of shocking and I did enjoy the last 100 pages a lot. I also like how this was told and how the narrator would speak to us at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Violence