Into each generation of science fiction/fantasydom a master absurdist must fall, and it's quite possible that with All the Birds in the SkY, Charlie Jane Anders has established herself as the one for the Millennials…It's going to be hard for even the most jaded reader not to fall head first into the tale of a boy who builds an artificial intelligence in his bedroom closet, a girl who magically talks to birds, and (among other hilarious characters) their school guidance counselor, who also happens to be an ice-cream-binge-eating assassin…The result is as hopeful as it is hilarious, and highly recommended.

"The very short list of novels that dare to traffic as freely in the uncanny and wondrous as in big ideas—I think of masterpieces like The Lathe of Heaven; Cloud Atlas; Little, Big—has just been extended by one."—Michael Chabon

“What a magnificent novel—a glorious synthesis of magic and technology, joy and sorrow, romance and wisdom. Unmissable.” —Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians

“Into each generation of science fiction/fantasydom a master absurdist must fall, and it’s quite possible that with All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders has established herself as the one for the Millennials...highly recommended.” —N. K. Jemisin, The New York Times Book Review

"Charlie Jane Anders has entwined strands of science and fantasy, both as genres and as ways of experiencing life, into a luminous novel." —John Hodgman

"Has the hallmarks of an instant classic." —Los Angeles Times

“Genius....My fave read this year.” —Margaret Cho

“Do yourself a favor and go pick up All The Birds in the Sky! You will lurve it.” —Amber Benson

“Thoughtful and hip and fantasy and sci-fi all wrapped up. A+.” —Felicia Day

“Everything you could ask for in a debut novel — a fresh look at science fiction’s most cherished memes, ruthlessly shredded and lovingly reassembled.” —Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing

“Read it immediately. Thank me later.” —Laurie Penny

“It’s fantastic when someone who is so important in the scifi world can flat-out write as well as critique and analyze.” —Scott Sigler, New York Times bestselling author of Alive

“The craziest thing about Charlie Jane Anders’ book is how it remains so intimate and accessible despite genre jumping. All the Birds in the Sky moves from a coming of age story to a millennial romance and then a dystopia — and it’s filled with so much of the uncanny. That includes, but is not limited to, a shapeshifting teacher, talking birds and an anti-gravity gun...A truly fun read.” —New York Daily News

“A fairy tale and an adventure rolled into one, All the Birds in the Sky is a captivating novel that shows how science and magic can be two sides of the same coin.” —The Washington Post

“Anyone suffering from midwinter blues should read Charlie Jane Anders’s between-categories fantasy All the Birds in the Sky. The scenario is (almost) Harry Potter, the tone is (quite like) Kurt Vonnegut, the effect is entirely original.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Heartfelt, ambitious, and dynamic. Fantastic stuff.” —Financial Times

“Imagine that Diana Wynne Jones, Douglas Coupland and Neil Gaiman walk into a bar and through some weird fusion of magic and science have a baby. That offspring is Charlie Jane Anders’ lyrical debut novel All the Birds in the Sky.” —Independent

“Highly readable and imaginative, All the Birds in the Sky will sing to Philip Pullman fans.” —Mail on Sunday

“An entertaining and audacious melding of science, magic, and just plain real life that feels perfectly right for our time.” —BuzzFeed, “5 Great Books to Read in February”

“Like the work of other 21st century writers — Kelly Link and Lev Grossman come immediately to mind — All the Birds in the Sky serves as both a celebration of and corrective to the standard tropes of genre fiction. [...] Like William Gibson, Anders weaves a thrilling, seat-of-the-pants narrative with a compelling subtext.” —Elizabeth Hand, Los Angeles Times

“Two crazy kids, one gifted in science, the other in magic, meet as children, part and meet again over many years. Will they find love? Will they save the world? Or will they destroy it and everyone in it? Read Anders lively, wacky, sexy, scary, weird and wonderful book to find the answers.” —Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club

"Impossibly hip fiction with the voice and cultural inflections of the millennials.... Often quirky and amusing but rising to encompass a moral seriousness and poignancy...an engaging book." —The Sydney Morning Herald

★ 2015-12-09
Will science or magic save our world and all the living beings on it? That's the question posed in this science fantasy love story by the editor-in-chief of online geek mecca io9.com (Choir Boy, 2005). Tweens Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead are desperate misfits who find both solace and confusion in each other. Patricia is a nascent witch, waiting for her magic to blossom and destiny to call. Laurence is a brilliant tech whiz building a supercomputer in his bedroom closet. Their parents, teachers, and peers react with hostility to their refusal to conform, but they're egged on by Theodolphus Rose, an assassin masquerading as a guidance counselor. Rose's manipulations separate the two until they rediscover each other at a party in San Francisco years later. Patricia and her fellow witches are attempting to maintain a quiet, unobtrusive balance in a world tipping toward ecological and political disaster but which they feel is still worth saving. Laurence has joined a covert project to open a wormhole to another planet, believing that humanity's only hope is to leave Earth behind. A relationship between these two seems impossible, given their incompatible points of view, until unseen forces help their love along. The author introduces technological and magical marvels in a wonderfully matter-of-fact way. But this lyrical pre-apocalyptic work has an edge, too. Laurence's behavior is often far from noble. His colleagues use violence to defend their inventions, and Patricia's compatriots employ some fairly creative, nasty solutions to people and things they deem problematic. Anders clearly has an intimate understanding of how hard it is to find friends when you're perceived as "different" as well as a sweeping sense of how nice it would be to solve large problems with a single solution (and how infrequently that succeeds). Reminiscent of the best of Jo Walton and Nina Kiriki Hoffman.