Review: "The Carls" duology

4 & 3 /5 stars

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, by Hank Green (2018 & 2020)

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - 4/5 stars

Walking home from work in the wee hours in NYC, April May stumbles upon what initially appears to be an art installation - a ten-foot tall, metallic, robot/transformer-like statue in Samurai armor. Impressed with the piece, she calls her best friend Andy to come meet her there and record a video with the statue, which she names Carl, and post it to YouTube. The following day they learn that NYC Carl is far from the only one. In fact, 64 Carls appeared at the exact same moment overnight all over the world, with absolutely no evidence of how they came to be there. April, however, is the very first to document and post about it, and finds herself at the center of the Carl-craze.

I can't say too much more about what Carl is or where the statues came from without spoiling some things, but the truth is that while this book is in the sci-fi genre, the majority is very character-driven. April's relationships with her friends, girlfriend, and family all come into play as she navigates her rise to fame via social media. Already a bit of a mess with relationships, April sabotages them even more as she becomes addicted to being the first to break any Carl-related news. The book is really a commentary on social media culture, what it means to start measuring your own self-worth based on the attention you receive, and what fame and power do to a person.

It also faces radicalization head-on, with clearly right-wing and left-wing approaches to these mysterious creatures. Are they here to bring the human race together? Or do they pose a threat that can only be met with strong military action?

Mild spoilers after this point , if you haven't read the first book yet!

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A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor - 3/5 stars

The second book was ok... I mean, even though I know we're talking about alien life forms, there was still a lot of stuff that felt ridiculous and implausible. The characters, who are so fleshed out and fun in the first book, all kind of fall flat and end up weird, boring, really idiotic, &/or pretty unlikable. And the metaphorical political commentary is very heavy-handed.

The first half was interesting and seemed to be going in an interesting direction. There are mysterious books that show up that seem to be able to tell the future, for example, and there's an ominous online game called Fish that seems to be getting out of control. But then these things (and more) just seem like they're forgotten in favor of a lot of preachy chapters about capitalism.

I didn't hate it. I was glad to read this in order to get to the conclusion of The Carls saga. I just didn't love it.

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UP NEXT: A Sunny Place for Shady People, by Mariana Enriquez