A review by joaniemaloney
All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders
2.0
More like a 2.5?
I think I've moved past reading books with main characters like Laurence. It happened only a few times and in the grand scheme of things, a small detail, but I was so taken out of the story anytime we were looking at Patricia through his eyes and her breasts would be mentioned, however lovingly. He's not necessarily a terrible person or anything, really, though he'd have these moments, especially when he's dating Serafina and feeling all that inadequacy and knowing she's a 10+ while he's lower than that, and how he has to stay in good graces with her so she doesn't dump him, etc. that made him such a stock character.
Maybe I was expecting too much because this came off as something more subversive and different, and I figured I'd have a better time with it because I've barely read any sci-fi or fantasy, so I'm easier to impress without having many comparisons at my disposal to make, and yet, it still disappointed. I guess the childhood bits for Patricia and Laurence lulled me into something more charming, which quickly dissipated when the bullying got over the top (the parts with Patricia's family, in particular, I tried taking in stride as a more fantastical element because in fairy tales, the abuse and whatnot is played down even if it's horrific if you actually squint at it), then vanished completely when they became adults. They didn't have much chemistry or believability as a couple fated to be together or torn apart, though I could easily understand their stances, but that's less to do with the writing necessarily and more the tropes that we've been fed from all over. Now if Laurence was the sympathetic magical boy and Patricia was the analytical science girl, that would at least switch things up a bit.
The conflict made sense and I could see the world ending, but I don't know if there was enough build-up to make it worth it. And the resolution for it all wasn't satisfying in the slightest. Now that I say this though, would I even have wanted more build-up? This already felt pretty long and dragged for me once we got to future San Francisco, so it might've just made things worse. I sound like I didn't enjoy anything from this but there were good moments - all the lighthearted and absurd bits that did make me chuckle, the few moments of family, anything to do with birds or flying, ice cream, and Peregrine. I guess that's about it. The blurbs for this book were way effusive. That Chabon one that took up half of the back cover? Jesus.
I really didn't plan on reading this book. Perhaps I never was going to be the target audience for this. It flew on and off my radar but I didn't have enough motivation 'til I saw it being debated on the Tournament on Books, and the arguments there are usually so good that I'll usually be swayed to put books that I never even considered on my list, so the debaters did their job. I can totally see why people would enjoy this and some of it reminded me of [b:The Night Circus|9361589|The Night Circus|Erin Morgenstern|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387124618s/9361589.jpg|14245059] with the fated couple on opposing sides who are destined to face off, and a bit of books like [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489368740s/9969571.jpg|14863741] where you have the earnestness from the tech side of things but the main character is a bit of a cutout and can blend into a bunch of different stories.
I think I've moved past reading books with main characters like Laurence. It happened only a few times and in the grand scheme of things, a small detail, but I was so taken out of the story anytime we were looking at Patricia through his eyes and her breasts would be mentioned, however lovingly. He's not necessarily a terrible person or anything, really, though he'd have these moments, especially when he's dating Serafina and feeling all that inadequacy and knowing she's a 10+ while he's lower than that, and how he has to stay in good graces with her so she doesn't dump him, etc. that made him such a stock character.
Maybe I was expecting too much because this came off as something more subversive and different, and I figured I'd have a better time with it because I've barely read any sci-fi or fantasy, so I'm easier to impress without having many comparisons at my disposal to make, and yet, it still disappointed. I guess the childhood bits for Patricia and Laurence lulled me into something more charming, which quickly dissipated when the bullying got over the top (the parts with Patricia's family, in particular, I tried taking in stride as a more fantastical element because in fairy tales, the abuse and whatnot is played down even if it's horrific if you actually squint at it), then vanished completely when they became adults. They didn't have much chemistry or believability as a couple fated to be together or torn apart, though I could easily understand their stances, but that's less to do with the writing necessarily and more the tropes that we've been fed from all over. Now if Laurence was the sympathetic magical boy and Patricia was the analytical science girl, that would at least switch things up a bit.
The conflict made sense and I could see the world ending, but I don't know if there was enough build-up to make it worth it. And the resolution for it all wasn't satisfying in the slightest. Now that I say this though, would I even have wanted more build-up? This already felt pretty long and dragged for me once we got to future San Francisco, so it might've just made things worse. I sound like I didn't enjoy anything from this but there were good moments - all the lighthearted and absurd bits that did make me chuckle, the few moments of family, anything to do with birds or flying, ice cream, and Peregrine. I guess that's about it. The blurbs for this book were way effusive. That Chabon one that took up half of the back cover? Jesus.
I really didn't plan on reading this book. Perhaps I never was going to be the target audience for this. It flew on and off my radar but I didn't have enough motivation 'til I saw it being debated on the Tournament on Books, and the arguments there are usually so good that I'll usually be swayed to put books that I never even considered on my list, so the debaters did their job. I can totally see why people would enjoy this and some of it reminded me of [b:The Night Circus|9361589|The Night Circus|Erin Morgenstern|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387124618s/9361589.jpg|14245059] with the fated couple on opposing sides who are destined to face off, and a bit of books like [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489368740s/9969571.jpg|14863741] where you have the earnestness from the tech side of things but the main character is a bit of a cutout and can blend into a bunch of different stories.