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    All the Birds in the Sky
    All the Birds in the Sky
    All the Birds in the Sky
    Audiobook12 hours

    All the Birds in the Sky

    Written by Charlie Jane Anders

    Narrated by Alyssa Bresnahan

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    From the editor-in-chief of io9.com, a stunning novel about the end of the world--and the beginning of our future Childhood friends Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead didn't expect to see each other again, after parting ways under mysterious circumstances during high school. After all, the development of magical powers and the invention of a two-second time machine could hardly fail to alarm one's peers and families. But now they're both adults, living in the hipster mecca San Francisco, and the planet is falling apart around them. Laurence is an engineering genius who's working with a group that aims to avert catastrophic breakdown through technological intervention into the changing global climate. Patricia is a graduate of Eltisley Maze, the hidden academy for the world's magically gifted, and works with a small band of other magicians to secretly repair the world's every-growing ailments. Little do they realize that something bigger than either of them, something begun years ago in their youth, is determined to bring them together--to either save the world, or plunge it into a new dark ages. A deeply magical, darkly funny examination of life, love, and the apocalypse.

    Editor's Note

    Nebula Award winner…

    A high-tech and purely magical pre-apocalyptic love story from beloved author Charlie Jane Anders. Patricia Delfine is a budding witch while Laurence Armstead is a science nerd, and being misfits seems to be the only thing they have in common. When the world needs saving, their methods for tackling the problem appear antagonistic, but they end up falling in love with each other. “All the Birds in the Sky” won the Nebula Award and was shortlisted for a Hugo.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 26, 2016
    ISBN9781501904455
    All the Birds in the Sky
    Author

    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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    Reviews for All the Birds in the Sky

    3.5/5

    907 ratings85 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This is one of the books that I would call "sticky". Not because it was obscene or made me have feelings that I did not like, but because it is a story that will stick with me. I'm very much looking forward to reading more of Ms. Anders work.
    • 5/5
      All the Birds in the Sky is not a book everyone -- actually, it is not a book for most people. ATBITS is a book for us weirdos, the ones who delight in the oddity and magic of the world. I found this book to be delicious and bizarre. The depth of the connection between Patricia and Laurence transcends space and time. Ander's ability to create a world of science fiction, magic, and our current and impending climate issues is brilliant. There were so many sentences that I absolutely loved and some chapters fell flat but I overall absolutely loved it and was invested in the story and characters immediately. I did feel a little let down but the last words of Laurence still makes my heart ache.

      If you like stories about childhood trauma, trauma bonding, magic, mad science experiments, friendship, sexual tension, and never really feel like you are okay...All the Birds in the Sky is the book for you. I'd love to see a TV or movie adaptation of it!
    • 4/5
      An intriguing book written by Charlie Jane Anders, the fascinating editor of io9. Enjoyed the unique mix of technology and magic in this story. I'd be interested to read a sequel that focuses on the character of Peregrine!
    • 4/5
      If you enjoyed the post-millenial sensibilities of Lev Grossman's 'The Magicians' but, like me, found that it sucked all the joy out of the room, you might find Anders' new novel a true pleasure. It is a very post-modern romance, between a young woman immersed in nature magic and a young man enamored with the stuff of science fiction. The core of the novel is the conflict and resolution between those two characters and their representative spheres, which results in the story sometimes flowing more like allegory than anything else, but the overlay of contemporary concerns keeps the reader moving from conflict to conflict. The ultimate resolution here is satisfies on both the narrative and the philosophical levels. While the book definitely gets better as it goes along, creating a real attachment between reader and characters, it maintains that post-millenial disaffected tone, which can be off-putting for readers unused to it. It might seem strange to pair strong allegory with such a contemporary tone, and there are places where that combination gives it a sense of shallowness rather than depth. While some might not appreciate quite so much current commentary with their contemporary fantasy, I ultimately found the balance workable and quite enjoyed the characters and the almost-familiar worlds they inhabit. In short, I liked it in the end, but I definitely balked a few times on my way through. Perhaps not a perfect read, but definitely a good one.
    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed the first section of the book the best. As the story moved into a more futurist/dystopian tale, I lost some focus and was less enamored of the characters.Overall, this was a decent, but not exceptional dystopian story.
    • 5/5
      Great characters and wonderful story. I enjoyed the magical and super science angles
    • 4/5
      Technology is magic when you don't understand how it works. When you do, it is still magic because of all the amazing things you can do with it!
    • 5/5
      Slow start but grabbed me pretty quick and held me to the end
      That poor girl Patricia’s parents deserved a slow painful death horrible child abuse made me mad and want to cry Laurences weren’t malicious but deserved a thump up side the head for cluelessly allowing him to be abused by others
    • 1/5
      Look, if you like your speculative fiction to be literary fiction in disguise, you will love this book.

      I, on the other hand, really don't want to spend my reading time on literary fiction. Been there, done that, not interested. Also, the majority of the first half of the book is people being horrible to each other and more specifically, to the child protagonists. I'm sure this will at some point become a meaningful motivation to the events later in the book, but it hasn't happened yet, and I'm so done.

      It is in every way, not a bad book and also not at all something that I would choose to read.
    • 4/5
      That was... odd. Bogged down a bit in the middle, but overall, I enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      I'm somewhat conflicted about this book. On the one hand, there are lots of interesting set pieces, the odd bit of fascinating world-building, and some light-hearted farce. On the other, there is an underlying nastiness, starting with bullying in school and poor parenting choices, continuing through to the groups that the two protagonists grow up to work with, who are boundary pushing and micro-controlling. The writing is good, the characterisation is fascinating, the world-building (as already mentioned) is lovely. But the plot? Far too Litracha for me. I didn't feel that there was a coherent narrative, and I wasn't always sure how things fitted together. Plus, the personal interactions and inter-personal relationships always felt off. Worth reading once.
    • 3/5
      This was an enjoyable read, good but it had the possibility to be great I'm not 100% sure what was wrong. I liked the start but the story jerked away when it felt like it might get really interesting as Patricia was whisked off to magic school and Laurence headed off to science HS, in a world where 2 second time machines existed.


      After the time jump I just wasn't as invested in the characters as I was before.
    • 3/5
      Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead were close friends in childhood, but a series of incidents in high school led them to part ways. For Patricia, the development of magical powers was not expected, but it opened a whole new realm of possibilities. And Laurence's tinkering led to a breakthrough--if you consider a time machine a breakthrough, and you probably should consider a time machine a breakthrough--that was similarly unanticipated. So when the two cross paths again years later, it should be no surprise that Patricia has graduated from a magical academy and is putting her powers to use to protect the world from catastrophe while Laurence is working with a group of genius engineers to develop similarly world-altering technology. Of course, it should also be no surprise that there are forces at play that neither of them expected that they will need to confront together if they are to avert the biggest catastrophe of them all...

      I hesitate to praise this as "wildly original" (as I have seen elsewhere) because this is by far not the first time we have seen magical realism and it certainly not the last time we will ever see it. But there is something about the way the writer has developed the characters that certainly made me feel like I was being plunged into a world that is fresh and new. It's an engaging and entertaining story, which I think many will find difficult to put down. There's a hint of fantasy, a hint of science fiction, a dash of dystopia, and even a bit of real science all wrapped up here with a tattered bow.
    • 5/5
      Well this was a bit of a delight. Coming-of-age story morphing into magic vs science love story, and full of wisecracks. Satisfyingly tied up with no promise of a sequel.
    • 5/5
      Oh man, I had so much fun listening to this book...it's all I wanted to do all week. It was wacky, silly, sad, sweet...in ways that maybe shouldn't work together, but I was all there for it. I loved the Roald Dahl-esque childhoods, the imperfection of the characters, the balance of fantasy and sci-fi. Once all the destruction got rolling by the end, I wasn't entirely convinced this was necessarily fiction--superstorms, politicians that refuse to come together even if it means saving humanity, etc. It gets almost a bit too bonkers by the end with the warring magic vs. science worlds, but I like how Anders tied it all together. I just feel all warm and fuzzy now and am looking forward to reading more.
    • 3/5
      To be fair, I do not think that 2020 was the best timing on my part to decide to pick up this book. The writing is well done and there are some bits that remind me of Good Omens, which is one of my favorite books. But yeah, definitely not the best timing on my part and maybe if I revisit the reading in a few years, I may have a different rating to give.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed it enough to finish, and parts were certainly interesting. But a bit of a deus ex machina ending, and it just never felt like the stakes were high enough for an end-of-the-world story.
    • 3/5
      2.5 stars to be honest.

      So, this book has some great basic ideas, and a very interesting first half. Its the second part that totally loses the plot.

      Lawrence is a child prodigy, a scientist of unbelievable talent - think Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory, he invents a time machine watch for crying out loud! Patricia is a witch who is trying to figure out her powers.

      The first part of the book follows them as children as they try to deal with bullies. My only objection to this part is that it sometimes feels like the author is trying too hard. The parents are too neglectful/idiotic, the bullies are too hostile and there is a random assassin. But overall the segment is quite enjoyable though it ends on a very random note.

      The second part is strange. They are both adults, living in San Fransisco, both trying to deal with a gradually collapsing world. Here is where the author messes up. First, neither of the characters really read like adults, but more like older teenagers. Secondly, the worldbuilding slips a bit and the explanation for the wider magical society is not really adequate. Thirdly the author inexplicably totally messes up a very promising science thread from the first part causing it to underperform hilariously. Fourthly, there are random flashbacks which felt very awkwardly inserted into the text.

      And the ending felt even more random, with stuff just happening.

      This book had a lot of potential it did not live upto.
    • 5/5
      It's funny to read this after hearing the author's incomparable introductions at Writers with Drinks. Like she's simply narrating alternate realities as they reveal themselves in real time. This book struck deep for me. It certainly showed me that I could never be a Trickster magician, gaah. I was explaining things to the characters out loud at some length but did they listen? Oh no. I didn't want it to end yet I more than half hope that we never return to this world, let it stand. Maybe brief visits.
    • 4/5
      Four years late getting around to finally reading this first novel from Charlie Jane Anders, but better late than never. A lot of reviews discuss the confusion of genres trying to sort out whether it is fantasy or science fiction; there are certainly dystopian elements and messaging about our future, but those things were not what I was focused on reading this. What struck me immediately were the wonderful Spielbergian themes and atmosphere in the crafting of Laurence (not Larry!) and Patricia's otherness and alienation as children. When you start out following them through their lives building a two-second time machine and encountering a strange tree offering up a riddle to a six-year-old girl lost in the woods, you know you should probably put aside your preconceptions.The axis of this story is the relationship between Laurence and Patricia as they go through their difficult young lives. They try to navigate our messy world and their relationship to each other, often stumbling through confusion and miscommunication like we all do from time to time. Everything else is window dressing to that relationship. Becoming a witch and world-class scientist are not at all easy to manage as we build our all-important connections to each other in a chaotic world. We have to find our own paths -- even if that means our misty recollections of childhood may just be figments of our imagination or the very things that help us and the world around us change forever.And let's not forget the dear assassin Theodolphus Rose who only wants some ice cream. Someone please get him some. Ice cream makes everything better, at least for a little while.
    • 4/5
      All the Birds in the Sky tells the story of Lawrence, a tech genius, and Patricia, a talented witch, as they try to forestall the end of the world. The story begins with their incredibly depressing childhoods, explaining their relationships with each other and how they fell into their respective adult organizations. Faced with a slow-moving climate apocalypse complicated by an increasingly divided humanity, Lawrence's tech cabal wants to create a wormhole that will allow some of humanity to escape to another planet but might destroy the earth, while Patricia's witch coven plans to save the world by turning all of humanity into paleolithic zombies. Naturally, these organizations try to stop one another while Lawrence and Patricia fall in love, Romeo and Juliet style. While I did enjoy this, I found it a bit difficult to relate to the characters, and the whole end-of-the-world thing was a bit depressing because of its realism.
    • 5/5
      Super fun, cute read, with lots of giggles out loud
    • 3/5
      Started out great but got muddled for me somewhere in the middle. Still an enjoyable read.
    • 3/5
      The rating reflects not that this is a mediocre book, but that it's not really to my taste. That feeling of impending doom hanging over the whole book isn't something I enjoy. In addition, I never connected to the characters, so instead of sympathizing with their poor choices, I was irritated with them. The ending redeemed it somewhat emotionally, but only if I don't think too much about how it's basically an unearned deus ex machina.
    • 3/5
      Reads as if written in one long rambling session

      I was encouraged by the beginning of the story, with its distinctive voice and off kilter characterization, and it stayed readable. However I began to feel as if I was reading someone's speed-fueled one-day NaNoWriMo novel. Don't get me wrong, I highlighted plenty of pithy passages but they were one-liners thrown in along with random characters, apocalyptic backstory, and events that seem unconnected to the overall story. All the main threads came together at the end, but this is a book that could have used a couple more revision passes.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this. It was hilarious and heartbreaking. A magical, high-tech love story.
    • 4/5
      One central message of this book was: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” There were parts I really did enjoy, and plenty that I did not enjoy. The parts I enjoyed were definitely 5-star book worthy. The stuff I didn’t like... well, I guess I kept reading, so they weren’t that bad.

      Mostly, I think, it boils down to not liking when characters are depicted making terrible decisions.

      The ending was very nice, but I didn’t feel like much was tied up. That’s an unusual juxtaposition for me to enjoy, but I did.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book - the character development was great, both of the protagonists really well fleshed out and the world around them well rendered. The concept of a distributed consciousness was especially interesting.
    • 3/5
      Fascinating world building, intriguing characters. It feels like three Novelas in the three settings. Tragically the most interesting setting is the last and shortest.
    • 4/5
      Cute. Reminds me of Young Wizards.