I don't feel quite up to summarizing this, the second book in a duology, as I don't want to give any spoilers. So, straight into the review: I enjoyed this about as much as the first book, meaning that I found it a pleasant but not mind-blowing read. It had many of the same positives, and some of the same flaws. It did wrap up a few of the questions I had after reading the first book, and provided a satisfactory resolution of the story arc. It reminded me strongly in several ways of Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline, which is interesting since that book and this one came out within a few months of each other -- perhaps a sign that the greater culture was grappling with these issues at that point in time. All in all, if you liked the first book, you'll probably want to read this one as well. ( )

AART was one of my favorite books last year, so I was really looking forwards to this sequel. On the whole I mostly enjoyed ABFE and found parts of it thought-provoking, funny, or just downright entertaining. The main characters go through a LOT of development and I found each of their arcs fairly well-written, and I love them all as in team working together; I feel like that's when they're all at their best. Maya in particular I felt invested in: she's a really interesting character and I'm so glad she got more spotlight this time around! The cycle of POVs felt right for this book, too- it was nice to be able to be inside multiple heads.

The main downside was for me was that, in some fairly significant ways, the novel felt kinda sloppy? I can't fully figure out my words for this, but the first half felt seemed like it was going in one direction and setting certain things up (the Fish app, Maya's rocks, the strange occurrences, the books) that were later either dropped or given, in my opinion, weak answers. Along this same line, it felt like Green was just yanking around the plot/characters when it was convenient without actually giving them reason to be how they were. One example is Robin, who just kinda stops being mentioned around the 70% mark after essentially just being a minor plot device (this is a SHAME and I so badly want a standalone Robin book, or even a novella!) The explanation behind The Thread also felt too easy, almost gimmicky. Actually, one of the only things in the book that shocked me was the big reveal with Miranda later in the story. I just would have liked more genuine surprise or delight like what was in AART. Basically: questions were given weak answers or Green seemed to throw stuff in that didn't really stick or make an impact.

There's also the fact that this book is just much more "preachy" and info-dumpy than its predecessor. I'm putting "preachy" in quotes because it's just the best word I can find right now that describes how I felt. There is a lot of talk in the book about the distribution of power and wealth, the use of power and wealth, capitalism, the economy, how people succumb to other forces, politics, the question of could VS should...the list goes on. It's just a very HEAVY book in some ways, and that's not inherently a bad thing- these are important topics! Green brought up some good questions and I stopped reading at times to consider what he was asking. It felt like a pretty big shift in tone from AART and I wasn't really expecting it, and it just made for a more tedious read.
The info-dump side of this is the bad part; there are certain chapters or moments (like Carl's) that just seem to DRAGGGGGG as the reader get lengthy explanations for things that I'm not convinced we needed to know. Literally every time Andy started talking about money or investments or shares my eyes would glaze over and I'd struggle to understand what was happening. Not gonna lie, the fact that Andy's arc was so finance/money heavy and had him talk so much about it made him hate him just a little bit. Oops.

This all makes it seem like there was a lot I didn't like, but I did like it - at least, PARTS of it. It was fresh and pretty fun at times, and I was hyped to get more Carl weirdness. I love the way Green writes his characters, and I think the way he imagines plots and concepts is fascinating. I just think this sequel needed another couple rounds of editing and some rewritten plot points here and there. However, ABFE is definitely weaker than the first book; when I reread Carlverse stuff in the future I will only be reading the first one and lowkey pretending I don't know about this one... Personally I'm hoping the next Hank Green novel will be something outside of the Carlverse, because as much as I like it, I think it's best the stays as a duology and isn't dragged out. ( )

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first book. It felt long and I didn't like the multiple narrators as much as the single narration by April May in the first book. But, beyond the angst of these likable young adults, the author is exploring some genuinely interesting ideas about technology/startups/global finance and how it could affect our world. ( )

This book was far blunter in stating political opinion than its predecessor. It was very obvious when the plot just functions as a backdrop to talk about political ideas.
While I think most of the first book's arguments were very hard to dispute as they, for the most part, just pointed out observable social dynamics in an engaging way, this book sticks its neck out way further in its political discussion and makes a few controversial assumptions.

Beyond its extended social discussion, this book felt very much like a repetition of the first book but with classically raised stakes. This is something I loved about the first book. While there were a lot of ominous global events going on, the plot itself didn't have concrete stakes beyond individual people's well-being. This book felt a lot more formulaic in comparison.
Andy's struggle very much felt like a repetition of the pitfalls of having power and influence but in a far less nuanced way than April had in the first book.
The entire book was very blunt about its messages and left little to be discovered by the reader.
It also had far less moral ambiguity. The entire plot became a rather black and white affair very quickly.

While a lot of the tools the author used in his first book were quite novel and worked very well, a lot of them were overused in this book. Too much of a good thing and all that. One that was particularly noticeable was the unreliable narrator. Despite it not being used for an actual twist this time, the constant back and forth got old fast. "Now I am going to tell you everything, just kidding, I left this out but now I am going to be entirely honest, got you, I'll amend this other thing now, entirely out of order, etc." ( )

I can still remember how I felt after reading this, and not wanting to write a review because I didn't love it nearly as much as the first one. Still, I am not the target audience and anyway, I love Hank Green and want him to be my brother instead of John's. Or well, actually I want them both to be my brothers. If Hank writes book three I am totally reading it.

July 2021 ( )