Name: Ben Myers's review of A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green
Item: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
Rating: 4
Author: Ben Myers

Hank Green

"The Carls disappeared the same way they appeared, in an instant. While they were on Earth, they caused confusion and destruction without ever lifting a finger. Well, that's not exactly true. Part of their maelstrom was the sudden viral fame and untimely death of April May: a young woman who stumbled into Carl's path, giving them their name, becoming their advocate, and putting herself in the middle of an avalanche of conspiracy theories. Months later, the world is as confused as ever. Andy has picked up April's mantle of fame, speaking at conferences and online about the world post-Carl; Maya, ravaged by grief, begins to follow a string of mysteries that she is convinced will lead her to April; and Miranda infiltrates a new scientific operation . . . one that might have repercussions beyond anyone's comprehension. As they each get further down their own paths, a series of clues arrive-mysterious books that seem to predict the future and control the actions of their readers; unexplained internet outages; and more-which seem to suggest April may be very much alive. In the midst of the gang's possible reunion is a growing force, something that wants to capture our consciousness and even control our reality. A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor is the bold and brilliant follow-up to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. It's a fast-paced adventure that is also a biting social commentary, asking hard, urgent questions. How will we live online? What powers over our lives are we giving away for free? Who has the right to change the world forever? And how do we find comfort in an increasingly isolated world?"--

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

Iris van der zanden

Somehow she made me feel human, and that is, I've learned, one of the very best things to be.

Maria

Ben Myers

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Who has the right to change the world forever? How will we live online? How do we find comfort in an increasingly isolated world? The Carls disappeared the same way they appeared, in an instant. While the robots were on Earth, they caused confusion and destruction with only their presence. Part of their maelstrom was the sudden viral fame and untimely death of April May: a young woman who stumbled into Carl's path, giving them their name, becoming their advocate, and putting herself in the middle of an avalanche of conspiracy theories. Months later, April's friends are trying to find their footing in a post-Carl world. Andy has picked up April's mantle of fame, speaking at conferences and online; Maya, ravaged by grief, begins to follow a string of mysteries that she is convinced will lead her to April; and Miranda is contemplating defying her friends' advice and pursuing a new scientific operation...one that might have repercussions beyond anyone's comprehension. Just as it is starting to seem like the gang may never learn the real story behind the events that changed their lives forever, a series of clues arrive--mysterious books that seem to predict the future and control the actions of their readers--all of which seems to suggest that April could be very much alive. In the midst of the search for the truth and the search for April is a growing force, something that wants to capture our consciousness and even control our reality. A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor is the bold and brilliant follow-up to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. It is a fast-paced adventure that is also a biting social commentary, asking hard, urgent questions about the way we live, our freedoms, our future, and how we handle the unknown.

A Novel

" Our reality isn't about what's real, it's about what we pay attention to"

First of all, I'm biased as heck when it comes to this book, specifically the author. Hank Green is probably my favorite person on the planet so this review was never gonna be impartial. That being said, this story was a masterful mix of sci-fi, comedy, and philosophy. There was definitely some slow bits in the middle, but the climax was satisfying and the characters were wonderfully complex. I wouldn't recommend this to get you out of a reading slump (450 pages is a bit of an uphill battle) but if you're feeling a bit lost in the world right now, I'd suggest you go find a copy at your local library. 

Kate B-L

" Our reality isn't about what's real, it's about what we pay attention to"

First of all, I'm biased as heck when it comes to this book, specifically the author. Hank Green is probably my favorite person on the planet so this review was never gonna be impartial. That being said, this story was a masterful mix of sci-fi, comedy, and philosophy. There was definitely some slow bits in the middle, but the climax was satisfying and the characters were wonderfully complex. I wouldn't recommend this to get you out of a reading slump (450 pages is a bit of an uphill battle) but if you're feeling a bit lost in the world right now, I'd suggest you go find a copy at your local library. 

Jun Angelo Cabuguas

stayed up reading the whole thing, truly a fantastic sequel. thanks hank.

Lara Engle

I hate to admit that I was a little disappointed by this book. I loved An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and even reread it before I read this one. One of the things I loved about it was April's voice. Yes, she was annoying and self-centered sometimes (or maybe most of the time), but she was genuine and she was learning. I loved her growth throughout the book. By necessity, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor rotates between character points-of-view. That's a device I generally don't mind. It's employed well in One of Us is Lying and masterfully in the classic (and one of my favorite books) As I Lay Dying. But in this case, the characters didn't have enough differentiation between their voices. Plus, some of them are boring. The book ended the way it needed to, and I don't know that I can criticize the action, but I was left feeling "meh" about the whole thing.

Loved this book! I enjoyed it more than An Absolutely Remarkable Thing — in part because this one was narrated by several people. The multiple perspectives did a wonderful job recontextualizing characters and moments from the first book.

Whereas the first book dealt with themes of social media and outrage in direct, literal ways, I felt like this one dealt with its themes of the alienating forces of capitalism, the growing rift between human connections, and the control that algorithms have over how we experience the world both more abstractly and more deftly.

This book is also remarkable — absolutely remarkable, even? — in how solutions to the problem it presents involves working within and subverting the systems our main characters are fighting against.

Loved this book! I enjoyed it more than An Absolutely Remarkable Thing — in part because this one was narrated by several people. The multiple perspectives did a wonderful job recontextualizing characters and moments from the first book.

Whereas the first book dealt with themes of social media and outrage in direct, literal ways, I felt like this one dealt with its themes of the alienating forces of capitalism, the growing rift between human connections, and the control that algorithms have over how we experience the world both more abstractly and more deftly.

This book is also remarkable — absolutely remarkable, even? — in how solutions to the problem it presents involves working within and subverting the systems our main characters are fighting against.

Let's give it up for duologies! 2 books. Get in, get out

Plausibly raises the stakes and expands the perspective. Genuinely inventive and satisfying conclusion

Boothby

Let's give it up for duologies! 2 books. Get in, get out

Plausibly raises the stakes and expands the perspective. Genuinely inventive and satisfying conclusion

Love the narrative takedown of tech bros

April May and the Carls are back in the much-anticipated sequel to Hank Green's #1 New York Times bestselling debut novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. The Carls disappeared the same way they appeared, in an instant. While they were on Earth, they caused confusion and destruction without ever lifting a finger. Well, that's not exactly true. Part of their maelstrom was the sudden viral fame and untimely death of April May: a young woman who stumbled into Carl's path, giving them their name, becoming their advocate, and putting herself in the middle of an avalanche of conspiracy theories. Months later, the world is as confused as ever. Andy has picked up April's mantle of fame, speaking at conferences and online about the world post-Carl; Maya, ravaged by grief, begins to follow a string of mysteries that she is convinced will lead her to April; and Miranda infiltrates a new scientific operation . . . one that might have repercussions beyond anyone's comprehension. As they each get further down their own paths, a series of clues arrive--mysterious books that seem to predict the future and control the actions of their readers; unexplained internet outages; and more--which seem to suggest April may be very much alive. In the midst of the gang's possible reunion is a growing force, something that wants to capture our consciousness and even control our reality. A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor is the bold and brilliant follow-up to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. It's a fast-paced adventure that is also a biting social commentary, asking hard, urgent questions. How will we live online? What powers over our lives are we giving away for free? Who has the right to change the world forever? And how do we find comfort in an increasingly isolated world?

Lynn

I definitely read this book at the wrong time. Or maybe I read it at the exact right time. Either way this book closes the series off in the only way I can imagine. Terrifying, hopeful, peaceful and at war all at the same time. I have highlighted more passages in this book than in any other. If you know how to spot them, this book has many lessons. Carl has something to teach all of us, and we better listen.

A very compelling sequel that really built off the action of the first novel.  I thought Green handled the multiple first person narration very well as each character had their own distinct voice, and the plot was paced in a way that prevented subplots from getting lost before they all came together.  It did lean a bit too far into science fiction for the average reader, who may have been expecting more of a social commentary based off the first book. Furthermore, I felt the finale was a bit too far fetched as the antagonist Anti-Carl super conscious was described as so powerful that I had to really suspend my disbelief when April's team was able to beat it with the power of friendship.  Still, had a lot of fun reading and was happy for the closure.

Lily Elizabeth Labella

Caroll-Ann

I could try to give you a summary of this book but honestly it isn’t just about the story itself, it what it represents and that is our society kind of. I fell in love with Hank’s writing with the first book of this series and this one just contiuned my love for it. 


He has such a unique style of telling a story and I can honestly say that I never read anything like it. It’s a SCI-FI book and normally I would never gravitate towards that genre but this book is so good. It touches on the human nature, economy, governments, power hungry people and so much more.

Sophie

the first 30-40% of this book were too slow paced for my liking but in the end it all paid off. the finale is so good. I also highlighted so many things cause I love the (more or less) subtle positivity in this book.

Isabela H 

Hank Green's beautiful message carried through clearly in his sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. 
I absolutely love how the storytelling evolved from April May trying to keep everything on her shoulders and tell the whole story herself to allowing her friends to both take more agency over the description of their actions and to participate more in the action. I really appreciated getting to know the other characters, especially because they were all dealing with their own problems.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for reaffirmation in the inherent goodness of humanity. Also, people who appreciate good sarcastic humor.

Mikaela Iturregui

This was an amazing sequel. And the series as a whole (I read them both back to back) was a wonderful exploration of fame and social media and identity and culture. I loved that Hank managed to integrate science and philosophy so well, because often books about one forget about the other. I live that it was an overwhelming interesting narrative with compelling characters, action and narrative while also being an insightful and thoughtful look at the mordent technologically endowed world.

As someone doing research correctly into variability and complexity, it kind of blew my mind to be able to read a book for fun that dealt with and very thoroughly explained some parts of these concepts through the lens of Carl and One (there is no other suitable name given to this character in the book and this has the added bonus of being meaningful if you’ve gotten to that point of the story without spoiling much if you haven’t).

Hank did an astonishing job of tapping into so many experiences of community and connection. Between the dream of AART feeling overwhelming like a call back to the Tuitaria scavenger hunts, references to NaNoWriMo, what I saw as a nod to ready player one, the SOM, social media excerpts, the nerdfighter census and even a nod to p4a... I think it would be impossible to read the book and not find touch stones for your own experiences. I know I found more than a few, but I am also a pretty nerdy person who is fairly entrenched in nerdfighteria and associated communities.

I listened to these both as audiobooks, and I really enjoyed them. I think I might like a physical copy for the sake of having a physical copy. I even already own a signed tip in page of AART, and was embarrassed to find that I did not in fact own a copy of the actual book when I went to find it. I wanted to buy a signed copy during p4a, but they were not offered. Oh well.

I realize this is more of a review of both books together, but I’m not sorry. Hank did a great job. I think this story will appeal to a lot of different readers, and have different meanings to each of them. I am impressed by how much is packed into such a compelling story.

James Eaton

These books were so good!! 

Do you want to read something that is sci-fi but also feels like it could happen tomorrow? Then these books are the perfect read. Easy to get into and the plot just moves along at a great pace and doesn’t really get stuck at any point. 

I found myself satisfied at the ending while wanting more, and I think that is hard to accomplish for many authors.

Alfredo santos

Let me start by saying that I read this in One setting. 

So it IS entertaining enough to keep turning the page as you munch your way around finishing it. 

First, I read this because I really liked the premise of the first book:

 Aliens and Millennials. 

hip and entertaining, right?

The first one was. From the snappy millennial hipster pop culture dialogue to a real mystery. The plot was Good. 

The second one didn't deliver that punch. Don't get me wrong, it IS STILL very millennial (always talking about their feelings and not wanting to offend anyone). But the story changed SO much. 

I really don't want to spoil anything here but for me it was like: Let's take all the characters from the first book, and now "create something that can be converted into a movie / series to sell netflix". Some important parts of the previous book such as villains and aliens, changed SO much, that it just feels so already told. I loved the first book because of how many things were fairly new in the genre, which to be honest is Hard to do. 

So in general, I wouldn't recommend it unless you really loved the first one and want more of Hank Green's witty millennial banter. The story continues to be interesting enough. But it's not new, or just doesn't feel that fresh. And a lot of stuff kinda takes a not enjoyable twist. Also I wouldn't have minded if it was 50 pages shorter. 

But overall I had a good time, catched up on some old friends and learned new gringo millennial expressions. Overall it was worth it. And that's what books are all about. 

A good comparison would be "like a Vin Diesel movie". Watchable, enjoyable, totally forgettable, and will not win any Oscars (or Cannes Lions)...But you did have a good time.. ... right?.

Nicole Dykeman

This was perhaps THE most anticipated book on my TBR this year, and it did not disappoint. It certainly builds on the themes from the first book, but it’s also a departure in that this sequel delves much deeper into science, commentary, and criticisms about the social internet and our society in general. 

I didn’t love it as much as book one, but I still significantly enjoyed it, and all around, Hank Green has some good and important things to say. It just felt a bit heavy-handed and dense during some chapters, and I missed the more playful puzzle-solving plot of the previous book.

Miranda Mendoza

Sequels are tricky and oftentimes pale in comparison to the first book, but this one was not the case. I loved this book even more than the first! More character development, trauma, just so many interesting topics!

Jenny Walsh

Even better than the first! Loved this. Tore through it faster than I normally do.

Latitude Tamarind

HANK GREEN PLEASE STOP TELLING ME ABOUT STOCKS THE INTERNET HAS BEEN VERY BAD RECENTLY

Mariane Ferrantino 

This was a real joyride. I don’t want to spoil too much! If you liked the first book in this duology, I hope you will find this to be similarly enjoyable with beautiful writing and commentary on our society, but with maybe a bit more action.

I really wanted this to be better. In theory, Hank set himself up for success but ultimately he fell back on the same issues as the first book in a format that made them even more apparent.

In my review of the first book, I explained my peeve with the one dimensionality of the characters and my dislike of the "heroine." Here in the sequel it appeared that Hank sought to remedy these critiques but fell a little short. The format of each chapter being in the perspective of a different character really highlighted that each one was far too similar. I expected this format to breed individualized voices and more depth to the characters from the first book, but I only found more of Hank's voice. The characters' chapters blended into each other and I often lost track of who was actually narrating the story at any given time. Hank did a great job at keeping the storyline seamless but I wanted more as I moved into new shoes.

There were moments where I felt more of Hank's voice and experience than I wanted to. It distracted from moments where I became invested and pulled me out of the book's reality. Tangents about camera equipment, content creation, and other personal endeavors from Hank didnt' add anything to the characters or events and seemed like an obvious stream of consciousness straight from the author's brain. It, once again, reminded me more of Hank's reality than of the novel's and his voice often drown out the story he was trying to tell.

I have mostly the same other critiques as the first book. I still find the main character unlikeable, but now see the others in a similar light. The audience seems to skew younger than I am and it was a quick read as the first book was. I found some parts of the sequel slow and unnecessary which I wouldn't had minded if the depth was there. I would still recommend this book as a completion to the series to a younger audience. As a series, though, Im not sure I would recommend for the older, more sophisticated reader.

TLDR: Echoes the same issues as the first book, new format leaves me wanting so much more, quick read and simple story.

Jen Kukucka

Old [writing] habits die hard.

I really wanted this to be better. In theory, Hank set himself up for success but ultimately he fell back on the same issues as the first book in a format that made them even more apparent.

In my review of the first book, I explained my peeve with the one dimensionality of the characters and my dislike of the "heroine." Here in the sequel it appeared that Hank sought to remedy these critiques but fell a little short. The format of each chapter being in the perspective of a different character really highlighted that each one was far too similar. I expected this format to breed individualized voices and more depth to the characters from the first book, but I only found more of Hank's voice. The characters' chapters blended into each other and I often lost track of who was actually narrating the story at any given time. Hank did a great job at keeping the storyline seamless but I wanted more as I moved into new shoes.

There were moments where I felt more of Hank's voice and experience than I wanted to. It distracted from moments where I became invested and pulled me out of the book's reality. Tangents about camera equipment, content creation, and other personal endeavors from Hank didnt' add anything to the characters or events and seemed like an obvious stream of consciousness straight from the author's brain. It, once again, reminded me more of Hank's reality than of the novel's and his voice often drown out the story he was trying to tell.

I have mostly the same other critiques as the first book. I still find the main character unlikeable, but now see the others in a similar light. The audience seems to skew younger than I am and it was a quick read as the first book was. I found some parts of the sequel slow and unnecessary which I wouldn't had minded if the depth was there. I would still recommend this book as a completion to the series to a younger audience. As a series, though, Im not sure I would recommend for the older, more sophisticated reader.

TLDR: Echoes the same issues as the first book, new format leaves me wanting so much more, quick read and simple story.

Noah Warner

** spoiler alert **
           3.8 stars but I rounded up

While underwhelming in the mystery section, this sequel was able to still hold onto most of the appeal of the characters from the first book. I really liked the shifting perspectives, the book couldn’t have flowed as well without them. The very scientific answers to Carl and the dream and such were honesty in my opinion just boring. Now knowing hank from YouTube I can understand his approach to this, and I respect it, but the Carl perspectives were just a turn off the entire book. Overall, I enjoyed the sequel, but it lacked a decent amount of the charm and mystery of the first book, and even with the book of good times and the Altus space, I knew what those were and where they came from, unlike the dream and Carl. Still worth the read if you liked the first book enough.

Ellie Cloe

I didn't really like this one as much. It was a lot of dialogue and math-sciencey things I didn't understand.

Cindy Lieberman

This MUST be read after the first book. If you liked that one, you’ll probably like this continued adventure. The excellent audiobook recording has a special interview with Cory Doctorow at the end.

The hugely anticipated sequel to Hank Green's #1 New York Times bestselling debut novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing The statutes disappeared the same way they appeared, in an instant. While they were on Earth, they caused confusion and destruction without ever lifting a finger. Well, that's not exactly true. Part of their impact was the untimely death of April May: a young woman who stumbled into their path and named them the Carls, gaining viral fame and putting herself in the middle of an avalanche of conspiracy theories. Now, the world is as confused as ever. Andy has picked up April's mantle of fame, speaking at conferences and online about the world post-Carls; Maya, ravaged by grief, begins to follow a string of mysteries that she is convinced will lead her to April; and Miranda infiltrates a new scientific operation . . . one that might have repercussions beyond anyone's comprehension. As they each get further down their own paths, a series of clues arrive - mysterious books that seem to predict the future and control the actions of their readers - which seem to suggest April may be very much alive . . . But there's a new threat. A growing force that wants to control our reality. Did the Carls ever really leave us, and what happens if they're here to stay? A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor is a bold and brilliant conclusion that asks whether anyone has the right to change the world forever.

Flavia Louise

I really ended up enjoying this conclusion. The audiobook was great and I really enjoyed consuming the majority of this book in that format.
There's a good chance this would have gotten 5 stars if I'd read it faster.

jam 🍯

I will say that if you are not a fan of science fiction and managed the first book, the second book is more plot and sci-fi heavy. Fans of Hank Green the internet personality may find this less enjoyable.

Ben Myers &
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green

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