All the Birds in the Sky

By: Charlie Jane Anders

Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan

Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Nebula Award winner, Novel, 2016.

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 ever-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.

©2016 Charlie Jane Anders (P)2016 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Narrator Alyssa Bresnahan is so good that it's possible just to enjoy her voice and forget everything else. Luckily, this geeky, spiritual love story is strong enough to keep listeners riveted, and Bresnahan's performance is the icing on a very tasty cake." (AudioFile)

Too twee for me.

Too twee for me. While there is some good writing in here Anders spends so much of the time trying to be cute and whimsical that it distracts from the story she's trying to tell. The whole thing has the feel of an lengthy io9 article which she wrote for. Not my bag, but if you like cute this may be for you.

Read it. If your brain could take a shower-

Where does All the Birds in the Sky rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Safety can say, but only cause I have rankings listed in multiple categories.. it in the #1 slot in about 3of them,#2 in another 2, and male the top ten at least, in all the rest of my stacks

What did you like best about this story?

The words.

What about Alyssa Bresnahan’s performance did you like?

Really really good, I can't "read" in the quiet literal way, I have to get my. Books on tape, or audio, as per what the organization for the blind and dyslexic- all thought school and read all the time even now as leisurely fulfilling, that is, to me 'listening to, and the act of reading anything " is not something I can have the option in distinguishing between the two..

Basically talking into action I'm one of the most "well listened" (ie "well read" of persons that I've met, she high up there in the above average, enjoyable and well performed " narration I've read

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yep! Straight through and wanted more after 22 or what ever so hours long the book is. I listen to whole thing in one sitting

Any additional comments?

WOAH! ... ok so, I don't know what to put down that conveys properly just how no one can go wrong here, I can even summarize it cause people should all just read/listen to this AWESOMELY insane, and depth, silly, funny, perfectly imperfect with milk and cookies- stir... that's one way to describe it.
Afterwards, it's kind of... well- if our minds took a shower - that's what it feels like.. ha.
JUST READ IT!... praise or a description trying too persuade anyone that need to read it, doesn't do it justice..

Best Book I've Read in the Last Year

What made the experience of listening to All the Birds in the Sky the most enjoyable?

The writing was excellent, it had a clarity and simplicity that felt more like reading a Zen Master than a science fiction novel.

What was one of the most memorable moments of All the Birds in the Sky?

All the direct interactions between Patricia and Laurence were intensely compelling.

Any additional comments?

In addition to the wonderful human story, the book dealt realistically with many topics of current technology and society. Much food for thought here.

Not bad, not great

I liked the idea of pitting magic against science, but there were a number of sections and passages that felt forced, contrived, or rushed. Overall, it was entertaining, but I had a hard time suspending disbelief.

Magic and science clash

Charlie Jane Anders' All the Birds in the Sky is a mixture of low resolution science fiction with a pastoral bit of magic that appear to clash while working towards a common goal, set as the backdrop to a love story. Two misfit kids, one a scientific genius and another a latent magician become lifelong friends and eventually lovers due to their grade school bonding. They manage to find solace in each other, while their parents seem stereotypes from central casting.

The sci-fi is a bit light: a two second time machine and some vague gravitic, transdimensional portal system. This is meant to "save" the world which appears to just be falling apart for unclear reasons. The magic side is a bizarre bunch that take care of the little things all the while avoiding "aggrandizement" which is their most grievous mortal sin. This results in lowering an AIDS patient's HIV load, but not curing them. Their focus is on fixing the small things for people to just get by. The rest of the world is fairly oblivious of impending doom. Eventual resolution is modest.

The narration is quite good with a decent range of character distinction with adequate pacing.

New creative plot

this was a pretty good story. a mix of fantasy and sci-fi, the author did a good job of interweaving the two genres. it was a bit light on depth, but entertaining never the less.

Magic vs. Science

If I ever get to meet Charlie Jane Anders, I am going to ask her how much did she know about the end of her story when she first started writing it. What begins, seemingly, as a pretty straightforward YA premise of two young misfits - one a witch discovering her powers, one a science nerd adept at near-future tech - who form an unlikely bond spirals out into an epic drama spanning almost twenty years and turns into a battle for the very soul of humanity, bringing the world to the edge of dystopia and apocalypse. It's charming, and heartbreaking, and a bit terrifying. I can't wait to read her next book.

Not for everyone

The concept was good. I was somewhat uncomfotrable with the whole cult concept. Older man luring young girls with the promise of feeling free, only to be used and manipulated. Good read, just not a book for me.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

Any additional comments?

can't understand some of the negative reviews, especially the one calling the first chapters juvenile. They ARE! Delightfully. Some people just can't handle satire.

I'll try to explain without spoiling. The first chapter is a parody of Grimm's Brothers Tales, down to the quest and beast to fight and riddle to solve, all that, and told in the pithy style of classic fairy tales, without all the flowery prose of modern fantasy. I fell head over heels in love with the book from that first chapter, recognizing the sophisticated styles game that went over the heads of other reviewers who described that part as childish. Well.. Duh.

The two very different books I would compare this too are Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, and Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda. The style is a bit satiric like Pratchett or Vonnegut, but more like Vonnegut. Many of the plot elements are delightfully ridiculous, enough to leave me laughing out loud. For instance (not a spoiler because it's right there in the blurb), one of the two main characters, as a grade school student, creates a two- second time machine out of old junk like microwave ovens. The two-second time machine only goes forward, and only forward two seconds in time, which is just long enough to avoid cafeteria food thrown at his head, but otherwise kind of useless. Obviously.

As the characters grow up, the style changes to reflect it. The scifi elements are still too fantastic to take seriously, but not as Jimmy Neutronish. The relationships become more real and mature. I wanted to cry for Laurence during his difficulties near the end.

As much as I might like a sequel to know what happened to Patricia and Laurence, I recognize it would probably be a blasphemy, ruining a beautiful near perfect gem.

The performer's tone was perfect throughout.

I intend to recommend this book tomorrow in my regular book community at Dailykos

wlkngcrcls

A good book to listen to, but the large jumps in time had me confounded at times. It felt as if I had to reconnect to the characters. The science part of the book was intriguing but I wished they would have gone into the use of science with magic more thoroughly. While I may not have focused as best I could the ending seemed a bit scattered and slightly unresolved. Did they really stop it? Was the Quickening (or whatever term was used) happening globally, or was it just a vision imposed. In the end was a little to simplistic and left haphazard, without much telling of the world to come. It really needed a prophecy of the future something powerful to end on. This book came in like a passive lion and out like lamb. Even so I think it is very well written book and was enjoyable. which is why I gave it high marks. I like it very much. It did keep me wondering how it would all work out. I'd like to se a second version set further into the future. Results of what had passes., more of an epic at that point.