Book Summary and Reviews of All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

All the Birds in the Sky

by Charlie Jane Anders

  • Published:
  • Jan 2016, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From the former editor-in-chief of io9.com, a stunning Nebula Award-winning and Hugo-shortlisted novel about the end of the world―and the beginning of our future.

An ancient society of witches and a hipster technological startup go to war in order to prevent the world from tearing itself apart. To further complicate things, each of the groups' most promising followers (Patricia, a brilliant witch and Laurence, an engineering "wunderkind") may just be in love with each other.

As the battle between magic and science wages in San Francisco against the backdrop of international chaos, Laurence and Patricia are forced to choose sides. But their choices will determine the fate of the planet and all mankind.

In a fashion unique to Charlie Jane Anders, All the Birds in the Sky offers a humorous and, at times, heart-breaking exploration of growing up extraordinary in a world filled with cruelty, scientific ingenuity, and magic.

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Book Awards

  • award image The Nebula Awards, 2017

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Fans of genre fiction will be delighted by Patricia and Laurence's story, and Anders's smart, matter-of-fact prose will appeal to a mainstream audience as well." —Publishers Weekly

"The craziest thing about Charlie Jane Anders' book is how it remains so intimate and accessible despite genre jumping. All the Birds in the Sky moves from a coming of age story to a millennial romance and then a dystopia ― and it's filled with so much of the uncanny. That includes, but is not limited to, a shapeshifting teacher, talking birds and an anti-gravity gun...A truly fun read." ―New York Daily News

"A fairy tale and an adventure rolled into one, All the Birds in the Sky is a captivating novel that shows how science and magic can be two sides of the same coin." ―The Washington Post

"Anyone suffering from midwinter blues should read Charlie Jane Anders's between-categories fantasy All the Birds in the Sky. The scenario is (almost) Harry Potter, the tone is (quite like) Kurt Vonnegut, the effect is entirely original." ―The Wall Street Journal

"Heartfelt, ambitious, and dynamic. Fantastic stuff." ―Financial Times (UK)

"Imagine that Diana Wynne Jones, Douglas Coupland and Neil Gaiman walk into a bar and through some weird fusion of magic and science have a baby. That offspring is Charlie Jane Anders' lyrical debut novel All the Birds in the Sky." ―Independent (UK)

"Into each generation of science fiction/fantasydom a master absurdist must fall, and it's quite possible that with All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders has established herself as the one for the Millennials...highly recommended." ―N. K. Jemisin, The New York Times Book Review

"Highly readable and imaginative, All the Birds in the Sky will sing to Philip Pullman fans." ―Mail on Sunday

"It's fantastic when someone who is so important in the scifi world can flat-out write as well as critique and analyze." ―Scott Sigler, New York Times bestselling author of Alive

This information about All the Birds in the Sky was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Charlie Jane Anders

Charlie Jane Anders is the author of Victories Greater Than Death, the first book in the young-adult Unstoppable trilogy, along with the short story collection Even Greater Mistakes. Her other books include The City in the Middle of the Night and All the Birds in the Sky. Her fiction and journalism have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, McSweeney's, Mother Jones, The Boston Review, Tor.com, Tin House, Conjunctions, Wired Magazine, and other places. Her TED Talk, "Go Ahead, Dream About the Future" got 700,000 views in its first week. With Annalee Newitz, she co-hosts the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct.

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