5 Stars
I’ll just go ahead and say that now. This was so much better than I expected. Finding a rating for this was difficult. Once it was over it had to marinate in my head. It only took a few minutes thinking back on all the events that happened in the book to realize how much I loved it. Especially the last half. It took me a few chapters to really get excited to pick it up again and not be able to put it down.
To give you a short non-spoiler summary if you don’t know anything about this book I’ll give it to you in 10 words. That’s a thing I want to do now: 10 word summaries. Here goes: Girl finds giant alien statue and global fame/dreams ensue.
Now a little more detailed description. April May finds a giant alien statue in New York City that she makes a video of with her friend and it goes viral. She named it Carl on a whim. Fame comes quickly to them and she becomes an alien ambassador/symbol. A dream begins to plague the world, being spread person to person starting from April. Puzzles in said lucid dreams must be solved by working together. Weird things happen with Carl. Ending is a disaster and a cliffhanger. The end. I think that sums everything up quickly and vaguely?
First of all…what kind of name is April May? Her parents must have been idiots or mean. They are described as incredibly nice and supportive, but that name is just bad. Coming from the girl who imagine that was her name as a kid. I know how that it isn’t good.
I know a lot of people don’t like April. She is a self-centered impulsive brat. However, she’s also sarcastically funny and determined. She’s addicted to mass attention so she makes a lot of mistakes with her friends. It’s human.
April has a few monologues at the beginning of a few chapters. The story is more of a commentary of April looking back on events and explaining her side of things. I didn’t agree with some of her points, like the “tiers of fame” was kind of silly.
This is a science-fiction young adult book. It has aliens, sort of. There are alien statues that are ten feet tall. 64 all over the world exactly alike. When something happens to one it happens to them all. I would have loved a little bit more happen with Carl. He was neat. There was the shared dreams thought to be caused by Carl. The dream world was very interesting and it was the exact same for everyone. Except April. It had puzzles to be solved working together to get a string of passcodes. What were the codes for? I still don’t know. Neither does April, I think. (That’s what a sequel is for. I hope.)
All in all it was a pretty good book. It also features pop culture, a female president, diversity, humor, science, action, friendship, humanity, a bad annoying guy you just want to punch. I had to immediately begin the sequel. I don’t want to give away too much more. I think you should read it for yourself.
Rachels Books 