The New York Times Book Review - N. K. Jemisin
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…It's going to be hard for even the most jaded reader not to fall head first into the tale of a boy who builds an artificial intelligence in his bedroom closet, a girl who magically talks to birds, and (among other hilarious characters) their school guidance counselor, who also happens to be an ice-cream-binge-eating assassin…The result is as hopeful as it is hilarious, and highly recommended.
Publishers Weekly
11/09/2015
A friendship between two adolescent misfits is the catalyst for an apocalyptic reckoning in Anders’s clever and wonderfully weird novel. Novice witch Patricia and preternaturally intelligent Laurence form an uneasy bond as they attempt to survive bullying at their Massachusetts middle school. Ten years later, they reunite in San Francisco, where Patricia quietly practices her craft and Laurence, now a tech-world wunderkind, attempts to manipulate time and space, setting off a battle between magic and science that could mean the end of the human race. Anders (Choir Boy) smoothly pivots from horror to humor to heartbreak and back again, and she keeps readers guessing as to the fate of her two protagonists—and the world. Talking animals and a sentient computer searching for love and understanding tighten the narrative strings. 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. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
"The very short list of novels that dare to traffic as freely in the uncanny and wondrous as in big ideas—I think of masterpieces like The Lathe of Heaven; Cloud Atlas; Little, Big—has just been extended by one."—Michael Chabon
“What a magnificent novel—a glorious synthesis of magic and technology, joy and sorrow, romance and wisdom. Unmissable.” —Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians
“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
"Charlie Jane Anders has entwined strands of science and fantasy, both as genres and as ways of experiencing life, into a luminous novel." —John Hodgman
"Has the hallmarks of an instant classic." —Los Angeles Times
“Genius....My fave read this year.” —Margaret Cho
“Do yourself a favor and go pick up All The Birds in the Sky! You will lurve it.” —Amber Benson
“Thoughtful and hip and fantasy and sci-fi all wrapped up. A+.” —Felicia Day
“Everything you could ask for in a debut novel — a fresh look at science fiction’s most cherished memes, ruthlessly shredded and lovingly reassembled.” —Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing
“Read it immediately. Thank me later.” —Laurie Penny
“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
“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
“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
“Highly readable and imaginative, All the Birds in the Sky will sing to Philip Pullman fans.” —Mail on Sunday
“An entertaining and audacious melding of science, magic, and just plain real life that feels perfectly right for our time.” —BuzzFeed, “5 Great Books to Read in February”
“Like the work of other 21st century writers — Kelly Link and Lev Grossman come immediately to mind — All the Birds in the Sky serves as both a celebration of and corrective to the standard tropes of genre fiction. [...] Like William Gibson, Anders weaves a thrilling, seat-of-the-pants narrative with a compelling subtext.” —Elizabeth Hand, Los Angeles Times
“Two crazy kids, one gifted in science, the other in magic, meet as children, part and meet again over many years. Will they find love? Will they save the world? Or will they destroy it and everyone in it? Read Anders lively, wacky, sexy, scary, weird and wonderful book to find the answers.” —Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club
"Impossibly hip fiction with the voice and cultural inflections of the millennials.... Often quirky and amusing but rising to encompass a moral seriousness and poignancy...an engaging book." —The Sydney Morning Herald
Library Journal
★ 12/01/2015
They met as children, both awkward and otherwise friendless but otherwise as different from each other as they could be. Patricia always wanted to be in the woods, where she came to believe she could speak to animals. Laurence was obsessed with science, building a computer in his bedroom closet. Still, the two were allies until Laurence witnessed Patricia's abilities and couldn't accept them. Decades later, the two are in San Francisco, where climate change has left the planet on the tipping point of disaster. Patricia is a part of a community of witches, and Laurence has joined a think tank of sorts that is trying to find a scientific solution to the world's ills. Nature vs. technology: the two old friends are on paths that will lead to unavoidable collision. VERDICT At turns darkly funny and deeply melancholy, this is a polished gem of a novel from the Hugo Award-winning (for the story "Six Months, Three Days") editor in chief of the website io9.com. Her depiction of near-future San Francisco shows a native's understanding (and love) of the city, while gently skewering it at the same time. Readers will follow Patricia and Laurence through their growing pains, bad decisions, and tentative love.—MM
School Library Journal
06/01/2016
Social outcasts Patricia and Laurence have been friends since they were young, when they dodged cafeteria food that was thrown at them. But when Laurence, a supercomputing genius, finds out that Patricia can talk to birds, even he isn't sure if their friendship will last. Fast forward a few years and Laurence is working for a billionaire who wants to create a machine that allows for intergalactic travel to save humans after they have destroyed their own world. Patricia, meanwhile, has honed her magic skills at a witch academy and is now wandering the city healing people when she isn't supposed to. With the help of smart devices, Patricia and Laurence find love, but the looming end of the world tests their relationship. Give to readers who don't mind a bit of quirky romance like Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park mixed in with their fast-paced Daniel H. Wilson-esqe futuristic science fiction. Patricia and Laurence are awkward, lovable, smart, and dorky, and readers will cheer for them to save the world hand in hand. VERDICT Perfect for fans of The Big Bang Theory, this novel has plenty of appeal for readers of fantasy, science fiction, and apocalyptic fiction.—Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2015-12-09
Will science or magic save our world and all the living beings on it? That's the question posed in this science fantasy love story by the editor-in-chief of online geek mecca io9.com (Choir Boy, 2005). Tweens Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead are desperate misfits who find both solace and confusion in each other. Patricia is a nascent witch, waiting for her magic to blossom and destiny to call. Laurence is a brilliant tech whiz building a supercomputer in his bedroom closet. Their parents, teachers, and peers react with hostility to their refusal to conform, but they're egged on by Theodolphus Rose, an assassin masquerading as a guidance counselor. Rose's manipulations separate the two until they rediscover each other at a party in San Francisco years later. Patricia and her fellow witches are attempting to maintain a quiet, unobtrusive balance in a world tipping toward ecological and political disaster but which they feel is still worth saving. Laurence has joined a covert project to open a wormhole to another planet, believing that humanity's only hope is to leave Earth behind. A relationship between these two seems impossible, given their incompatible points of view, until unseen forces help their love along. The author introduces technological and magical marvels in a wonderfully matter-of-fact way. But this lyrical pre-apocalyptic work has an edge, too. Laurence's behavior is often far from noble. His colleagues use violence to defend their inventions, and Patricia's compatriots employ some fairly creative, nasty solutions to people and things they deem problematic. Anders clearly has an intimate understanding of how hard it is to find friends when you're perceived as "different" as well as a sweeping sense of how nice it would be to solve large problems with a single solution (and how infrequently that succeeds). Reminiscent of the best of Jo Walton and Nina Kiriki Hoffman.
