A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

June 1, 2020
A circuitous sequel explaining all the weird things that happened in Green's An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (2018). To recap: Spunky April May and her best pal, Andy Skampt, discovered an alien robot she named Carl, the first of many to appear around the globe. They roped in April's ex Maya, a scientist named Miranda, and a few other like-minded folks to investigate the phenomenon while a professional troll named Peter Petrawicki caused trouble for now-famous April, leading to her apparent death by explosion. Unlike its predecessor, this sequel is narrated by a variety of April's crew members until our hero is miraculously and inevitably resurrected, albeit with some very strange upgrades. It's still pretty entertaining, but Green practically bends over backward to reverse-engineer his oddball scenario so it finally makes sense. The Carls created a planet-spanning reverie, one which Peter is trying to re-create from a secret lab on a remote island, soon infiltrated by Miranda. Andy is delivered a MacGuffin in a magic volume called The Book of Good Times that can not only instruct him and his comrades on how to proceed, but also reads his thoughts and responds. His job is to infiltrate "The Thread," a mysterious cabal seeking to manipulate a world forever changed by the Carls. To shorten a Blues Brothers-esque quote without spoiling things, Team April has millions of dollars, a huge online audience, virtually unlimited resources and access to the things they need, a lead with brand new superpowers and...a monkey? A really powerful sentient monkey who turns out to be not an alien but of a Byzantine earthly origin and who also happens to be at war with a doppelg�nger that might just be the end of us all. Green's debut was a better novel with a wildly intriguing setup, so it's not surprising that getting things wrapped up is a bit of a twisty affair. A satisfying sequel with likable characters, playful humor, and a prescient sense of the foolishness of modern life.

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June 12, 2020

This sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, the first book in Green's "Carls" series, continues the story of 23-year-old April May and one of the Carls, a statue from outer space who hovers in major cities around the world, causing mixed feelings of wonder and dread among Earth's billions of residents. After the shockingly public death of April May and Carl's sudden disappearance, the world is more confused than ever. The event ultimately brings friends Andy, Miranda, and Maya back together, with Andy willingly absorbing April May's fame, using it to make personal appearances and join a secret online society, and Miranda, feeling lonely and displaced, taking on a covert scientific assignment. Maya, meanwhile, flounders without purpose until she discovers an anomaly too mysterious to be ignored. What happens next to the group is more powerful than anyone could imagine. VERDICT Throughout this adventurous, witty, and compelling novel, Green delivers sharp social commentary on the power of social media and both the benefits and horrendous consequences that follow when we give too much of ourselves to technology. An essential choice for all sf collections.--Carmen Clark, Elkhart P.L., IN

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 6, 2020
Green’s slow-moving and philosophically dense sequel to the comic sci-fi novel An Absolutely Remarkable Thing brings readers up to speed on the rocky aftermath of the departure of the Carls, giant robotic statues that sprung up overnight in cities around the world. The Carls vanished just as quickly as they appeared, and their discoverer, April May, is missing and presumed dead. A few months later, April’s friends—along with the rest of the world—are still struggling to put together what happened. April’s best friend, Andy, has inherited her misbegotten fame; her ex-girlfriend Maya, unconvinced of April’s death, sets out to find her; and scientist Miranda arrives at an ethical crossroads in her work. When the people who loved April most each receive a mysterious book able to predict the future, they follow its clues to find April alive—but in an entirely new form. Reunited, the friends band together once more in order to save the world from a mounting technological threat. Though the narrator shifts in each chapter, the perspectives of the vast cast are often indistinguishable from each other. Readers will have to hang in until the midpoint before the plot begins to come together, but once it does, it’s thrilling to watch the puzzle pieces fall into place. This is best suited for Green’s diehard fans. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House.

Starred review from July 1, 2020
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (2018) ended with the question of whether protagonist April May was dead or not. The answer is somewhere in-between as Green picks up where that story left off, describing a world that has just been rocked by the appearance and disappearance of the extraterrestrial Carls. April, narrating from an unknown location, explains that her friends Andy, Maya, and Miranda must fill in where she cannot. The narrative then splits into different perspectives as April's friends mourn their loss while trying to move forward. Andy follows the trail of a mysterious book that can seemingly predict the future, Maya searches for answers regarding pervasive internet outages in New Jersey, and Miranda joins a supersecret research project headed up by April's nemesis, Peter Petrawicki. What follows as these disparate threads converge is a raucous, boldly inventive tale of alien technology, social media and influencers, the limits of the human mind, and the lengths humans will go to get what they want. Even after a satisfying ending, readers will have much to think about.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)