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The Carls Series

This series delves into the sudden global phenomenon of mysterious beings known as the Carls, appearing worldwide. It follows a young woman who unexpectedly becomes the center of media attention after filming the first encounter with one of these entities. The narrative explores the impact of social media on fame, identity, and international relations. It's a compelling journey that tackles themes of fear, uncertainty, and the ease with which people can be vilified or adored.

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Recommended Reading Order

  1. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

    • 352 pages
    • 13 hours of reading

    If you came across an absolutely remarkable thing at 3 a.m. in New York City, would you walk away . . . or do the one thing that would change your life forever? The Carls just appeared. Coming home from work at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship - like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armour - April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world, and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the centre of an intense international media spotlight. Now April has to deal with the pressure on her relationships, her identity and her safety that this new position brings, all while being on the front lines of the quest to find out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us. Compulsively entertaining and powerfully relevant, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing grapples with big themes, including how the social internet is changing fame, how our culture deals with fear, and how vilification and adoration follows a life in the public eye.

    An Absolutely Remarkable Thing1
    3.9

  2. A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

    A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor is the bold and brilliant follow-up to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. It is both social commentary on the way we live our lives online, and the myriad of terrifying ways our brains are constantly changing to adapt to new technology, as well as a fast-paced adventure story. The emergence of the Carls, and overnight fame for April May, led to a series of confusing events and destruction including the death of April May and the disappearance of the Carls, who left just as abruptly as they came. Months later, the world is as confused as ever. Andy has picked up April's mantle of fame, speaking at conferences and campuses about the post-Carl world; 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 her comprehension. As the characters each get further down their own paths, a series of clues arrive--mysterious books that appear which predict the future and control the action over their readers, internet outtages, and more--which suggest April May may be very much alive. And in the midst of the gang's possible reunion is a growing force, one that wants to harness our consciousness, and reality, as we know it.

    A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor2
    4.3