A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
Jul. 30th, 2020 10:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearA Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green is the sequel to his debut novel, which I really enjoyed, though I was annoyed by the cliffhanger ending and was glad that this one brought the story to a proper conclusion.
I listened to the audio version again, and it was better than the first one because it was split between several different (and all very good) narrators for the different main characters. The format of the first book was that it was being written by the main character, April, as an an actual book within the story that she was publishing. This time, it's the same, but different chapters are written by different characters, to build up a complete picture of events.
I liked all the characters, and it was great to get the diversity, as April was actually my least favourite so I enjoyed spending time with the others as well. The only downside to this format is that the fact that, as a reader, you know they wrote their sections after the fact rather reduces the tension a bit in places.
It also felt like it took a while to get going properly, as there was a lot at the start of situating them each in time and space and providing context to what they were each doing before things started getting crazy. But once it all started to gather speed and connect together, I was completely invested and excited to find out what would happen.
My favourite aspect of the novel was the various inter-relationships and how the characters' views of each other and themselves changed over time. For a fast-paced, sci-fi adventure, the characters were all very well rounded, flawed but likeable, and had interesting personal arcs. I also liked that each of the characters got an aftermath chapter to show what they were doing after the climax as well - I always love a good bit of aftermath!
So, fun, interesting, thought-provoking, and enjoyable - a good conclusion to a good story.
I listened to the audio version again, and it was better than the first one because it was split between several different (and all very good) narrators for the different main characters. The format of the first book was that it was being written by the main character, April, as an an actual book within the story that she was publishing. This time, it's the same, but different chapters are written by different characters, to build up a complete picture of events.
I liked all the characters, and it was great to get the diversity, as April was actually my least favourite so I enjoyed spending time with the others as well. The only downside to this format is that the fact that, as a reader, you know they wrote their sections after the fact rather reduces the tension a bit in places.
It also felt like it took a while to get going properly, as there was a lot at the start of situating them each in time and space and providing context to what they were each doing before things started getting crazy. But once it all started to gather speed and connect together, I was completely invested and excited to find out what would happen.
My favourite aspect of the novel was the various inter-relationships and how the characters' views of each other and themselves changed over time. For a fast-paced, sci-fi adventure, the characters were all very well rounded, flawed but likeable, and had interesting personal arcs. I also liked that each of the characters got an aftermath chapter to show what they were doing after the climax as well - I always love a good bit of aftermath!
So, fun, interesting, thought-provoking, and enjoyable - a good conclusion to a good story.
