An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

IF YOU CAME ACROSS AN ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE THING

AT 3 A.M. IN NEW YORK CITY . . .

WOULD YOU KEEP WALKING?

OR DO THE ONE THING THAT WOULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER?

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The Carls just appeared . . .

While roaming the streets of New York City at 3 a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture she calls Carl. Delighted by its appearance - 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.

There are Carls in dozens of cities around the world - everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires - and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the centre of an 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 how the social internet is changing fame and radicalisation; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration can follow a life in the public eye.

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'A fun, contemporary adventure that cares about who we are as humans, especially when faced with remarkable events' Kirkus (starred review)

'Hank Green hasn't just written a great mystery adventure (though he has), and he hasn't just written the most interesting meditation on the internet and fame I've ever seen (but he did that too), Hank has written a book [that] expands your mind while taking you on a hell of a ride' Joseph Fink, author of Welcome to Night Vale

'An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is pure book joy' Lev Grossman, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Magicians Trilogy

'Fun and full of truth. To be honest, I'm a little irritated at how good the book is. I don't need this kind of competition' Patrick Rothfuss, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Kingkiller Chronicles


Genre: Science Fiction

"Hank Green hasn't just written a great mystery adventure (though he has), and he hasn't just written the most interesting meditation on the internet and fame I've ever seen (but he did that too), Hank has written a book in which the page-turning story and the fascinating ideas inform and support each other. This book expands your mind while taking you on a hell of a ride." - Joseph Fink

"You're about to meet somebody named April May who you're immediately going to want to be best friends with. And bonus, she spends all her time having incredible adventures with giant robots and dream puzzles and accidental Internet fame. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is pure book-joy." - Lev Grossman

"Fun and full of truth. To be honest, I'm a little irritated at how good the book is. I don't need this kind of competition." - Patrick Rothfuss

"Funny, thrilling, and an absolute blast to read. I knew Hank would be good at this, but I didn't know he would be this good on the first try." - John Scalzi

"By turns joyful, devastating, personal, zeitgeisty, modern, classic, fast-paced, and thoughtful, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing blew me away with its fresh take on first contact in this fragile, ever-connected world we live in. Quick but never shallow, it will stand as a snapshot of an era as well as just a darn good read." - Catherynne M Valente