2020: WHOOOF there's so much that happens in this book, and I didn't love all of it.

Green takes the world that he created in An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, and spends this whole novel trying to ~explain it~. Now, I'm not talking about the ridiculous cliffhanger that he ends the first book on. I'm talking about The Dream, and rather than leaving it as the mystery it was, Green tries to explain exactly how this could happen in real life.

There was not enough exposition in this sequel, and even though it's only been a little under five months since I read AART, I really struggled to find my footing in this book. Ultimately, I think having each of the characters take a turn narrating was a good choice - it allowed for more flexibility in the settings for each chapter for sure.

However, the second that CARL became one of the narrators, this book lost me for good. The power of AART was its ability to convince you that this could be happening in the United States in the 2017-19 era. Green slips in enough pop culture references (shoutout to "If U Seek Amy") to keep you entertained, and reminded that this is meant to be taking place in the present day USA. I appreciated the nicknames attributed to Kurt; "Kurt 'Probably Has Some Red Hats' Butler" made me literally laugh out loud.

It felt like Green had recently reread Ready Player One (or, more likely, had just gotten his hands on Ready Player Two) and was trying to emulate Cline in this novel. That being said, I do need to give a major kudos to Green for his inclusive language. I think this was the first time I had read a book where one of the characters uses they/them pronouns (it would be nice if that character was a human, but it's a step). I also enjoyed lines like this: "Jesus, guys are screwed up, aren't we. There's no space between being emotional and making out. How have any of us survived? We're so bad at this." But also, this reminds me, what the fuck happened to Robin in this book??

I have no interest in reading another story based in this world (our world?) I felt that this book was a little bit of a waste of my time. I'm glad I read it this year to be able to connect back to the prequel, but my time spent in the Carl Universe is over. Maybe if Green had actually explained whether they saved the lives of any of the slaves in Val Verde, I'd be more into it (are you feeling that this sentence is a random, disconnected line from the rest of my review? Yes, that's exactly how I felt after stumbling upon the slaves in this book).

A hate to end this review this way, but I'd have to say that this book felt very much like a beautifully foolish endeavor...