All the Birds in the Sky

Beautiful.

Of course there is much more that can be said about All the Birds in the Sky, but if you wanted to put it in a nutshell: simply "beautiful" describes it best. I had such a wonderful time with this book and when I finished it, it left me with a deep sigh of satisfaction.

It is a science fiction fantasy about love and life - sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes upsetting, sometimes soothing, but certainly never boring. In fact it is probably one of the most "distilled to its essence" books I have ever read - as close to "fat free" as you can get, leaving out anything that is unnecessary. I guess some might find this structure disruptive, while I found it most refreshing and welcome!

Without spoiling anything: There is one revelation in book 4 that I saw coming from miles away, so it was a bit of a surprise to me that one of the main characters did not discover it sooner. Then again, another character seemed to agree with me on that so you could presume that this was maybe even intentional. It certainly did not diminish my enjoyment of the story in any way and luckily knowing this one thing in advance did not spoil the ending at all.

It has been said by others, but it is true nonetheless, so I will mention it too: This is a most enchanting intertwining of the science fiction and fantasy genres, and for me as a fan of both, the result was something truly amazing.

P.S.: I definitely should thank Brad for reviewing this book, because that's what made me aware of its existence!


All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
My goodreads-rating: 5 of 5 stars