∎ Descargar All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders Books

All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders Books

Download As PDF : All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders Books

All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders Books

I expected to like "All the Birds in the Sky" more than I did. It's a good book, but it's not great.

I found the book uneven, and I couldn't figure out of the author intended it as comedy, allegory or drama. If she had stuck with a tone somewhere in the middle, the book would have worked better, but to me, it seems the book seesaws through scenarios intended to be humorous to ones intended to represent current trends in tech to serious and dramatic events. (I mean, how seriously can you take a book that contains the description "suckable-looking nipples" and a character who proclaims, "History is just the flow of time writ large, man"?) Don't get me wrong--I laughed occasionally at the funny stuff and stuck with it to the (ambiguous, sequel-supporting) end, but I never connected with the story and the characters as much as I have other recent books I've enjoyed.

I also felt characters were inconsistent to fit whatever situation they happen to be in. One character is reintroduced as an adult, and he's on the cover of every tech magazine and rappelling out of an airship in an Armani suit to present a giant check to a startup in front of an audience of VCs. Okay, so he's a wealthy, tech superstar--got it. Only after that, we find he's crashing in the in-law apartment in a friend's place. So which is it--famous and wealthy wunderkind or struggling startup drone? The answer to that depends on what the author needs the character to be in one context or another.

It doesn't help that the plot relies on one big McGuffin and a giant Deus ex Machina to advance the plot, plus features a lengthy section of I think unintended dramatic irony . The McGuffin is the reappearance of a character who powerful people assumed they'd killed and promptly do kill him, but not before the incredibly random meeting sets the plot in motion. The unintended dramatic irony is another character who disappears early in the book and then reappears in what I felt was an obvious fashion but the main characters somehow fail to notice it for 150 pages. (When it is finally revealed, the character comments on how he couldn't believe they had not figured it out, and I audibly said "duh.") And the ex Machina moment comes when a powerful character pops up to heal one character and instantaneously stop a tense moment by incapacitating another. (At how many other points would that powerful magic have come in handy? All. Of. Them.)

Lastly, I felt the middle of this story meanders far too long. Not a lot happens in flabby middle section other than some romantic entanglements that ultimately don't add much the plot. Plus, the writer clearly wanted to name-check all the hipster San Francisco spots. Mission, Potrero, Kite Hill, SOMA, Hayes Valley, Pacifica and other places are mentioned for no other reason than to give the novel the techie cred it seeks.

This book has some intriguing premises, but it added up to much less than I expected.


Tags : Amazon.com: All the Birds in the Sky (9780765379948): Charlie Jane Anders: Books,Charlie Jane Anders,All the Birds in the Sky,Tor Books,0765379945,Science Fiction - General,End of the world,FICTION Fantasy General,FICTION Fantasy General.,Fantasy fiction,Fantasy fiction.,Friendship,Magic,Science fiction.,110301 Tor Trade-Tor Hardcover,FICTION Fantasy Contemporary,FICTION Science Fiction General,Fantasy,Fantasy - Contemporary,Fiction,Fiction - Fantasy,Fiction-Fantasy,GENERAL,General Adult,SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY,Science Fiction General,Science fiction,United States,fantasy books for adults; fantasy books; books fantasy; best fantasy books; fantasy fiction; science fiction fantasy; best fantasy novels; modern fantasy; fantasy novels; metaphysical literature; metaphysical genre fiction; contemporary fiction; metaphysical fantasy; metaphysical science fiction; visionary fantasy; visionary science fiction; literary fantasy; dystopian fantasy; quantum sorcery; cyberpunk fantasy; technomancer; literary science fiction; magical bookstore; contemporary science fiction; science fiction magic; artificial intelligence science fiction; nebula awards; nebula award winners

All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders Books Reviews

The premise of this delightful fantasy is that at some point, science and magic have to come together to make sense. Not just to make sense of the world, but to save it. Laurence is the techie, an engineering nerd, who at the start of his teens invents a watch that serves as a two-second time machine twist the dial and you're moved, instanter, two seconds forward in time. It's not the most useful invention in the world but if a bully is about to punch you in the nose, it has its moments. Patricia picks up a wounded bird in the street and it starts to talk to her. Next, she's talking to a cat. (The cat wants to eat the bird. She scares it away.) And next, she's by a huge spreading tree, its branches loaded with birds. It's Question Time, and if she can answer the question asked by the congregated birds, the little bird she found, whose name is Dirrp, and if not, the bird will die. The questions she's asked is a favorite of the birds. It's the Unending Question, supposedly so because you never can figure out the answer. "Is a tree red?" Try as she can, Patricia can't find the answer. Somehow, the scene blacks out. She's back home, can't talk to any animal again, no magic. At least for a while.

Laurence's and Patricia's relationship in high school is troubled they're drawn together, kind of, but mainly because both are seen by their peers as losers, natural born outsiders. Which they both are. Laurence grows up, becomes involved in a Save the World (It needs it!) project that involves antigravity and worm holes and the quest to move at least some humans off earth to a not yet used up and beaten down new planet. Patricia gains back her magical powers. She's a Trickster, which means a Trader, not a Healer, or so she thinks. She does magic in response to gifts given her by the recipients of her magical favors, which includes tricks like dropping the virus level in a terminal AIDS patient so he never quite dies. The magicians think the world is doomed too but have a different solution to it than the techies. The two groups' projects are in head on collision with each other. Something's got to give and when it does, it's because Laurence and Patricia finally find a way around their differences.
Sci fi and fantasy aren't every reader's cup(s) of teas but All the Birds is so well written, the characters so appealing, and the action fast and furious that anyone who likes a lively engaging book should find it a pleasure to read.

This isn't a science fiction book. Or a fantasy book either. It's just a *book* book and a good one.
This is a writer who has served time in one of the genre’s best known “madhouses”, the blog io9, (actually being its chief warden) and has probably consumed most science fiction and fantasy in her life than an O2 Arena full of SF fans. So, her work “All the birds in the sky” (second novel out of eleven Hugo nominations in the last two years, where a human discusses with cats in… Cat language), has to be reviewed at least fairly, deserving more than the 5-star “you rock” or the 1-star “you suck” Twitter mentality.

So, does Charlie Jane Anders deliver? Yes, yes and no this reviewer thinks. This is not the masterpiece Little, Big where magic is felt rather than shown, but it is not Harry Dresden’s wizardry on steroids either. The two protagonists are likable enough, with a lot of thought from the writer going into their backgrounds and especially their tender years.

The story is also satisfying with no unnecessary fat and proceeds at a decent pace. Actually, it really takes off towards the end, at the point where, usually, most science fiction tales (and their poor readers) fall flat on their faces. So, taking into account this is a debut novel too, yes the writer does deliver.

However, there are some gray areas, most importantly “geolocation”. This reviewer believes that a work of literature and especially a science fiction/fantasy work should somehow levitate far above the ephemeral, the local and the trivial, whereas, several parts of “All the Birds in the Sky” read like a San Francisco blog. Also, the weird Two Second Time Machine in the beginning of the novel could have been edited out, it just feels out of context.

Having said all these, I recommend this novel. A debut to remember.
I expected to like "All the Birds in the Sky" more than I did. It's a good book, but it's not great.

I found the book uneven, and I couldn't figure out of the author intended it as comedy, allegory or drama. If she had stuck with a tone somewhere in the middle, the book would have worked better, but to me, it seems the book seesaws through scenarios intended to be humorous to ones intended to represent current trends in tech to serious and dramatic events. (I mean, how seriously can you take a book that contains the description "suckable-looking nipples" and a character who proclaims, "History is just the flow of time writ large, man"?) Don't get me wrong--I laughed occasionally at the funny stuff and stuck with it to the (ambiguous, sequel-supporting) end, but I never connected with the story and the characters as much as I have other recent books I've enjoyed.

I also felt characters were inconsistent to fit whatever situation they happen to be in. One character is reintroduced as an adult, and he's on the cover of every tech magazine and rappelling out of an airship in an Armani suit to present a giant check to a startup in front of an audience of VCs. Okay, so he's a wealthy, tech superstar--got it. Only after that, we find he's crashing in the in-law apartment in a friend's place. So which is it--famous and wealthy wunderkind or struggling startup drone? The answer to that depends on what the author needs the character to be in one context or another.

It doesn't help that the plot relies on one big McGuffin and a giant Deus ex Machina to advance the plot, plus features a lengthy section of I think unintended dramatic irony . The McGuffin is the reappearance of a character who powerful people assumed they'd killed and promptly do kill him, but not before the incredibly random meeting sets the plot in motion. The unintended dramatic irony is another character who disappears early in the book and then reappears in what I felt was an obvious fashion but the main characters somehow fail to notice it for 150 pages. (When it is finally revealed, the character comments on how he couldn't believe they had not figured it out, and I audibly said "duh.") And the ex Machina moment comes when a powerful character pops up to heal one character and instantaneously stop a tense moment by incapacitating another. (At how many other points would that powerful magic have come in handy? All. Of. Them.)

Lastly, I felt the middle of this story meanders far too long. Not a lot happens in flabby middle section other than some romantic entanglements that ultimately don't add much the plot. Plus, the writer clearly wanted to name-check all the hipster San Francisco spots. Mission, Potrero, Kite Hill, SOMA, Hayes Valley, Pacifica and other places are mentioned for no other reason than to give the novel the techie cred it seeks.

This book has some intriguing premises, but it added up to much less than I expected.