All the Birds in the Sky

Published:: January 26, 2016
Author:: Anders, Charlie Jane
Genre:: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Magical Realism, Urban Fantasy, Magic, Romance
Rating:: 5
date finished:: 2018-05-27
dates reread::

Description

Childhood friends Patricia Delfine, a witch, and Laurence Armstead, a mad scientist, parted ways under mysterious circumstances during middle school. But as adults they both wind up in near-future San Francisco, where Laurence is an engineering genius and Patricia works with a small band of other magicians to secretly repair the world’s ever growing ailments. But something is determined to bring them back together—to either save the world, or end it.

Review

Superb debut from Charlie Jane Anders

All the Birds in the Sky is an utterly charming tale of a world on the edge of destruction, told through the eyes of two people, Patricia and Laurence.

Patricia has a talent for magic, while Laurence is a science and technology whiz.

The heart of this story is the conflict between magic and technology, and the struggle to find a balance between the two before it's too late.

Superbly written, this book had me screaming at the characters multiple times for not seeing what was right in front of them. Highly recommend.

Highlights

When Laurence was old enough to do what he liked, he would be old enough to understand he couldn’t do what he liked. — location: [433]^ref-13139

“You know… no matter what you do, people are going to expect you to be someone you’re not. But if you’re clever and lucky and work your butt off, then you get to be surrounded by people who expect you to be the person you wish you were. — location: [2145]^ref-58493

we feel things less than we did when we were kids, because we’ve grown so much scar tissue, or our senses have dulled. — location: [2889]^ref-39236

“I think that the most basic thing of ethics is being aware of how your actions affect others, and having an awareness of what they want and how they feel. — location: [3307]^ref-716

Planted: Tuesday 27 May 2025
Last tended: Sunday 13 July 2025