Hank Green’s second novel in The Carls series, “A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor,” was the perfect follow-up to his suspenseful, inventive and mysterious debut, “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing.” The whole gang returns grief-stricken by the loss of their ex-lover, best friend, mentor, and inspiration, April May, who was the first person to discover an extraterrestrial robot that seems to be immovable and uncommunicative. The second novel in the series delves more into the “why” of the alien’s existence and it’s visit to earth.

We learn so much in this follow-up as Green expounds more on the character of these world changers and how they are learning to live in the new world they find themselves in. I think this was a strong part of the book that helped readers to connect with it.

The themes that Green explores in this novel are the effect of social media in our world and a re-imagining of how an alien organize might organize itself on earth without detection by mankind. I loved Green’s brand of science fiction in that despite some “odd” parts about the story nothing was ever so far out there that the story seemed absurd.

I don’t know if Green has teased a third book in the series, but if he does I will be one of the first ones to read it.

Get a copy of “A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor” by Hank Green from Amazon here.