As much as it pains me to write this, but I wasn’t a fan of ”An Absolutely Remarkable Thing“.
I believe Hank Green is one of the wittiest and most intelligent people across the internet and I enjoy his videos a lot. But this book... not so much.

I loved the idea of this book. The whole aliens-arrive-on-earth-will-they-exterminate-humanity-or-not plot sounded so intriguing. Combine that with Green‘s humor and some social commentary on internet fame- this book should’ve been perfect. To me, it wasn’t.
And it irks me that I can’t even put my finger on why exactly I didn’t like this book.
Maybe it was the characters. April May wasn’t an overly pleasant protagonist, and the side characters didn’t have much of a personality.
Maybe the plot was a little too strange for my taste.
Or maybe it was because I couldn’t imagine April May‘s video ever going viral in real life.

Whatever it was, “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing“ left me disappointed, and while I know other people might love this book, it just wasn’t for me.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is probably overall the most interesting take I have ever read on social media fame and it manages to do this while still being a very intriguing sci-fi story and featuring a diverse cast of characters. I did start this book in a little bit of a reading slump, so I had some personal issues with getting into it, but once I did, I finished most of it in two days.

The main character April May is deeply unlikeable at times, but she also has such a real voice throughout the whole story, that I still really wanted to read on and see where everything goes.

I did enjoy the start of the mystery around Carl and April's rise to fame, but around the time the dream mystery started, I got a bit bored with the story. I can't completely say that now of course, since the second book isn't even out yet, but I had the feeling that the story would have been more compelling to me, had this whole dream part been condensed and maybe this not been a series but just a longer book. Still, can't really say that for sure now.

I would still recommend this book especially to people who would like ti get into sci-fi, cause this is a very easy and soft start. I also loved reading about older characters again, this story just works so well with a 23 year old protagonist, a teenager would have made most of this unbelievable. I'm definitely looking forward to continuing this series.

3.5 stars.

This novel was deeply fascinating; it was about aliens and humans, human connections, the bad sides, the good. And at the centre is Carl, a metal figure found by April May in New York, followed by another 63 Carl's all over the world.

The clues surrounding the Carl's are all done very publicly, via various social media platforms and from that perspective its an interesting take on the public private world we live in. However the main problem I had was the main character April May, she's flawed yes but also quite unlikeable. The other characters who spin around her orbit are far more interesting. I also had to stop myself internally screaming at every use of the phrase 'space aliens' (it's used a LOT). Just aliens would have done. But I guess it's another sign of the times when we have to define our aliens.

The ending was very intriguing and I will definitely be picking up the sequel.

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this novel ahead of its paperback release at the end of July.

This was my first real venture into a sc-fi/alien invasion book and it did not disappoint. I didn't really know what I was getting into with this story, I was mostly expecting it to be a fun and quirky read and it is, but it goes so much deeper than that. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, more so than anything else, feels like a really big message (even a warning?) about everything that can come with instant fame; particularly through social media, the addiction of attention, about losing your identity, about what people with extremist views are capable of. What kind of freaked me out a little bit was how easy it is to imagine the events of this book really happening. The seriously creepy ending of the book came as a complete shock to me and I'm so glad there's going to be a sequel because that was one heck of a cliff hanger!

Thank you very much to Orion Publishing Group, Netgalley and Hank Green for a review ebook copy of #AnAbsolutelyRemarkableThing

I found this a hard story to rate, and have been sat on this for quite a while trying to get my head around what I want to say.

I really enjoyed the Sci-Fi part of the story. The mystery of Carls', how to communicate with them and figuring out the dreams sequences were really interesting and creative.

However I really wasn't a fan of April May and the social commentary on internet fame felt too preachy. On top of that, we got a very unsatisfactory ending.

Ultimately it was an interesting idea but the two main aspects of the story weren't quite executed well enough to mesh.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is an absolutely incredible sci-fi novel that I really, really loved. I was nervous going in because I have heard really good things but as i find John’s novels really hit or miss, I was nervous about going into this but, then I realised that wasn’t fair because they’re completely different people!

Anyway, I thought this was so well written, I loved the writing style, I thought there was some amazing, lavish descriptions, exciting characters and just the right amount of intensity. One of my favourite things was that the characters weren’t completely perfect, all of them had some flaws and I loved that because it made all of the characters instantly more relatable.

I don’t know what it’s like to be a Youtuber or anything but I thought that this novel felt so authentic in the representation of what it’s like to be in that situation and as Hank is a Youtuber himself, then I’m guessing he’s feeding from personal experience.

Overall, I loved this novel so much. I hope that Hank continues to write because his writing, characters and plots are fantastic!

This review will be published on 30th July 2019.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing was the first book I've read in a while that I haven't been able to put down.

The first few chapters of this novel gave me massive Sleeping Giants vibes. If you haven't read the novel by Sylvian Neuvel, it follows a very similar plot in that a metal giant appears and causes uproar across the world. The difference though, is the perspective from which it is told. Where Neuvel explores the scientific and governmental aspect, Green considers the public side of such a phenomenon.

I loved this focus of Green's. It allows him to explore other topics, such as the repercussions of modern-day fame. April May begins the novel as an ordinary 23-year-old who simply sees something cool. She records a video with her friend about the sculpture, naming it Carl, which begins her rise to fame. I think Hank Green details this, and its consequences, incredibly well. I particularly liked that April May didn't sugarcoat herself. She was aware of and honest about her bad decisions. She is a flawed character, and as such is realistic.

Another aspect I'd like to draw attention to is that April May is bisexual, and at the beginning of the novel is dating a black woman. Their sexuality isn't the focus of the story, nor is it the cause of conflict. Green brings it up to demonstrate how sexuality is talked about in the media, with a scene where April is on TV and her sexuality is discussed despite being nothing to do with the topic at hand. It is beautifully woven into the story.

The themes in this novel are all talked about incredibly well. It covers a range of topics, and Green approaches each one with care and consideration. He spreads a powerful message, and gives the reader a lot to chew on. It really made me consider how people would react if something like this happened. There's no doubt the author has spent a lot of time pondering the same!

The writing in the novel is beautiful: simple yet elegant. There are lots of powerful lines in this book (sometimes too many to take in) and it is clear Hank Green is trying to say a lot. It is easy to read in the sense of the style -- April is talking directly to the reader, and her conversational tone makes the story flow. 

The characters each have qualities that make them unique, and this really comes through! There were reasons to like but question each of them. I was impressed by how well this came through despite the premise being a book written by April about her life.

I really enjoyed An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, and was thrilled to hear about its sequel, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavour. You can count on a review for that one, too!

4.8 Stars
I truly loved this novel! Whenever I wasn’t reading it I was itching to pick it up again. Whenever I was reading it I was trying to slow myself down so that it wouldn’t end!

The story flows wonderfully easily. I loved the tone and style and the plot was fascinating.

My only issue was a chapter written from another character’s perspective, which I felt lacked differentiation from April’s. It sounded too much like our main character.

I read this book not following the writer's YT channel. And I'm really pleasantly surprised by his talent for writing. It captured my attention and the way he engaged me through the story. He definitely has a talent and I'd look out for more books in the future. Very entertaining read indeed.

Thanks a lot Netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a very poignant commentary on our fame and celebrity-obsessed society. I struggled to get into this book if I'm honest, I feel like I'm going against the grain with my opinion as I really didn't enjoy it. It felt confused between a story and a meta commentary on our culture, I thought the plot became quite repetitive and was dissatisfied with the ending. however, I did enjoy Green's writing style, so I would consider giving this a reread in the future to see if my opinion changes as most of my issues with the book stemmed from it not being to my taste. For now, 2.5/5 stars.

I was intrigued when I saw this on Netgalley. I've read some John Green and enjoyed it, I am aware of Nerdfighters but never watched any of the vlogs, and the blurb was really, really interesting. Turns out, so was the book. This is a rather nicely done story about the social age we live in, smashed up with what I'm going to call 'urban sci-fi'. The combination is like nothing I've ever read before, and it had me completely hooked. The characters, the story, the writing style, all suited me perfectly and as such I could not put this book down. I defiantly read it through a migraine, which was probably a silly thing to do but also testament to how drawn in I was. I find this social-media-obsessed age scary and worrying, and this book both highlighted everything that's wrong with it, while reassuring me that there are some sensible young people still out there. It's somehow both realistic and whimsical at once, as well as uplifting and devastating. It's a twisty, mish-mash of a thing that is kind of wonderful. I see that it is listed as Book 1, and I really hope there are more to come.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group. for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

April May just wants to go home, it’s 3am in New York City and she’s been working all day. When her metro card stops working she realises she’s going to have to make the trek back to work however her journey is taken in another direction and she finds herself stumbling across a giant sculpture. Amazed at its appearance and craftsmanship – to her it looks like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armour – April calls her friend Andy and the two make a video which is then uploaded to YouTube. The next day April wakes to a viral video and a new life that she never imagined.

The sculpture, or Carl as April named him has appeared in dozens of cities around the world with no one having any idea how they got there. April finds herself at the centre of an international media spotlight and April is quick to seize the opportunity that is provided to her.

April not only has to deal with the repercussions of her new found fame but all eyes are on her to figure out just what the Carls are and what they are after.

I was very hesitant going into this book. This is Hank Green’s first novel and I was scared it wouldn’t live up to the high expectations that I had given it. I also wasn’t too sure about the concept of this book but oh my god this is now one of my favourite books of all time.

This book is so different to a lot of the ones I’ve read. The story is told by April who is retelling her experiences and even criticising her former self. For me the main message of this book was that in situations that are so unknown to us its important to come together and work alongside each other and it’s something April discovers in this book.

I also liked the importance of addiction to fame and social media which is a main focus of this book. April becomes so consumed with the idea of fame and what she can achieve with it that her relationships are shoved to the back burner. However she doesn’t even really seem to notice or care because she’s so infatuated with fame.

Overall I really loved this book and honestly I’m still in a state of shock. The characters were developed so brilliantly and I found myself really liking April despite her flaws. I’m so glad there is going to be another book because I need more of this world in my life.

I did not go into this book with any other expectations other than it was going to be well written (John Green's brother dahh) so I was absolutely surprised by how complex, poignant, interesting, diverse and outright enjoyable it was.
I will have to be honest and say that it took me a while to get into the book but what made me continue was the fact that there is no fourth wall and not only that April is telling us the story as if it was a bit of a memoir, with her looking back several years and reflecting on what she did well and what decisions did she regret as well as what she had learnt and advises for the reader, should they find themselves in a similar situation which added most of the humour in the book..
Speaking of the main character, April May, gods that woman put me through the wringer. The April May from the beginning of the story is completely different from the one at the middle and the one at the end and I'm a big fan of every bit of that evolution, the good and especially the bad. I spent the first third of the book either hating or despising her, and that is not to say that I did not like her as a character, I loved her as a character, one of the best I read this year. But as a person, I think that she was awful, or at the very least extremely imperfect, which filled me with anger while reading it but I think it was genius on the author's part because all that imperfection just made her more human. More than that, she is aware of her flaws most of the time and if she does not admit to them outright, then she points it out as her future self narrator. Having such strong feelings for this character, and negative ones most of the time only made me appreciate and like this story more, weirdly enough, because we've all had our fill of perfect, meek, moral little female characters that are made to face a less desirable set of female behaviours like promiscuity, sense of fashion or personality that normally compose a villain or a bad example of femininity. April May is not promiscuous, she is independent and confident in her sex appeal, she has a deep sense of artistry that extends to her sense of fashion but that is never made a big deal of and her personality is not the most palatable but she keeps most of the nasty comments to herself. She is dozens of girls and women we've all met before, share attributes with, maybe even are.
Something else that really surprised me was how much this book addressed what it was to be a woman in our society, not that April went on long monologues about being discriminated against or there was any scene in which she was catcalled or harassed. It was all the tiny comments spread out through the book that made it special: comparing how much makeup she had to put to be on tv in comparison with her male colleague, the online judging of her appearance and the awareness she had over the control she exerted over people over being perceived a beautiful, casual mentions of period, (even more amazing - while talking to a guy in one of those instances and he not blinking, because as we all know it is a normal bodily function).
Another thing that this book reflects very well is the way we see social media and the people that are online creators as well as the normal person would react to be shown a shimmer of what it is to be famous and what they would do to keep being so. April goes a full 180 from refusing to consume mass entertainment and even looking down on her corporate job to creating content and obsessing over the number of followers and public opinion.
Also, shout out for the LGBT presence in this book and their take on bi-erasure. The book also had a brief comment on race and a very kick-ass POC in the person of Maya, April's roommate and girlfriend of sorts and one of the nicest characters in the book. The outright female majority was also something that I liked to see but won't get into here.
After the pace of the story picked up it was a lot easier to get into it and even caught myself not minding April, even liking here for a few seconds here and there, right up until the last chapter. I did like the ending of the story, except for the very last chapter and most especially the way in ended.
That said, I'm dying to read the sequel.

I adore Hank Green so I couldn’t wait to read this and I was not disappointed at all! Hank is always fresh with his ideas and stories, I love how he can make me see things differently and always think wow at the end of reading his books. The characters are so relatable and well written and the story blew me away, I can only hope and pray for more.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, by Hank Green, was not what I expected. I’m an average fan of the Vlog Brothers, preferring Hank to John anyways, so I was interested in reading this.

I actually really enjoyed this! April May was really fun to read, and I enjoyed hearing her thoughts. It was nice to read a bisexual main character, as well as a character who fucks up and understands that she does the wrong thing sometimes.

I also enjoyed the lack of love interests in this book. April and Maya were so refreshing to read about, not just because they were gay, but because it felt realistic. I was worried April and Andy would get together, but thank god they didn’t, I think it would have ruined the book if they had. Non romantic love is so much better than a straight relationship.

The narrative style was patchy, just because I felt like Green skimmed over several important events. I felt like I was being told things were happening, rather than being shown, especially with Miranda’s take over of the app. I wanted more of the events to occur naturally.

This is why the ending of the book worked so well. From the moment that April finds the abandoned warehouse, Green slows down the pace to a crawl, and we experience everything as it happens. The tension is unbearable, especially with April trying to save face in front of a livestream audience. Also April describing her own death was so gory – but delicious for someone who loves horror.

I also think the Carls were underused. I wanted more sci-fi! I wanted the Carls being weird! I wanted more of them protecting/manipulating April! I still think they were so interesting though, especially how beautiful April found them. The fact that they came in peace- that they just wanted to watch humanity was so interesting, especially as the humans didn’t know that.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I can’t wait for the sequel, because I think we’ll get more information about the Carls, and they’ll get further developed. I also can’t wait to see April again – I miss her!
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

One of the best alien invasion books I've ever read, with a fantastic justification behind the main conceit; it's not just a clever idea, it actually makes sense within the story. I loved the characters and how they coped, or didn't, with their increasing levels of fame and public scrutiny. I'm desperate to know what happens next and I'll be looking out for the next book as soon as it's released.

A great read for anyone. I'll be recommending it to anyone who'll stand still for long enough.

What a fantastic read. An alien invasion, maybe, designed to make all of humanity work together. (With a horrible cliffhanger, it has to be said.) The plot was fabulous, keeping just the right level of tension, and April May was the perfect combination of insightful and thick as a brick, depending on the subject. I'm desperate for the next book, I want to know what happened to everyone and where they all are now.

This book also plays really well with current levels of social media. In ten years it'll probably be quaint, but right now it's just right. Really good insight.

A brilliant book over all. And don't worry, sci fi phobes, it's not really about the alien at all.