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Bridge to Bat City
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ernest Cline comes a mostly true tall tale about an unexpected friendship between a young girl and a music-loving colony of bats.
After losing her mother, thirteen-year-old Opal moves in with her uncle Roscoe on the family farm. There, Opal bonds with Uncle Roscoe over music and befriends a group of orphaned, music-loving bats. But just as the farm is starting to feel like home, the bats’ cave is destroyed by a big mining company with its sights set on the farmland next.
If Opal and the bats can fit in anywhere, it’s the nearby city of Austin, home to their favorite music and a host of wonderfully eccentric characters. But with people afraid of the bats and determined to get rid of them, it’ll take a whole lot of courage to prove that this is where the bats—and Opal—belong.
After losing her mother, thirteen-year-old Opal moves in with her uncle Roscoe on the family farm. There, Opal bonds with Uncle Roscoe over music and befriends a group of orphaned, music-loving bats. But just as the farm is starting to feel like home, the bats’ cave is destroyed by a big mining company with its sights set on the farmland next.
If Opal and the bats can fit in anywhere, it’s the nearby city of Austin, home to their favorite music and a host of wonderfully eccentric characters. But with people afraid of the bats and determined to get rid of them, it’ll take a whole lot of courage to prove that this is where the bats—and Opal—belong.
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First published April 9, 2024
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About the author
Ernest Cline
15 books28.1k followersERNEST CLINE is a novelist, screenwriter, father, and full-time geek. His first novel, Ready Player One, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, appeared on numerous “best of the year” lists, and is set to be adapted into a motion picture by Warner Bros. and director Steven Spielberg. His second novel, ARMADA, debuted at #4 on the NYT Bestseller list and is being made into a film by Universal Pictures. Ernie lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, a time-traveling DeLorean, and a large collection of classic video games.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
June 3, 2024
“Wow, this book seems really bad”, I told myself more than once. “But I’m going to keep reading, because it’s Cline after all. As in Ready Player 1 Cline. You know, “that” Cline. So it’s got to be good, right? …. I’ll keep reading just a little more. I’m sure the ending will redeem it as a great novel. I bet there’s a hidden twist, something spectacular to make it worth the slog.”
Spoiler alert: There’s not.
I loved RP1, liked RP2, and enjoyed Armada. So imagine my surprise when I discover how genuinely bad this book is.
Ok, maybe this book is for a different audience. Let’s see if we can analyze who?
Well, it won’t be interesting for kids, who have never heard of ZZ Top or RunDMC. But it IS written as a child’s book with child’s pros. So it’s not really for adults either.
I think the target audience is for a total of six adults. Specifically those who have a deep love of bats, who grew up in the 80s, are intimately familiar with the city of Austin, love 70s and 80s rock and roll, and who read at a 2nd grade level.
If you associate with all of those categories, you might just like this. Otherwise, I suggest you skip this one and wait for Cline’s next release.
Spoiler alert: There’s not.
I loved RP1, liked RP2, and enjoyed Armada. So imagine my surprise when I discover how genuinely bad this book is.
Ok, maybe this book is for a different audience. Let’s see if we can analyze who?
Well, it won’t be interesting for kids, who have never heard of ZZ Top or RunDMC. But it IS written as a child’s book with child’s pros. So it’s not really for adults either.
I think the target audience is for a total of six adults. Specifically those who have a deep love of bats, who grew up in the 80s, are intimately familiar with the city of Austin, love 70s and 80s rock and roll, and who read at a 2nd grade level.
If you associate with all of those categories, you might just like this. Otherwise, I suggest you skip this one and wait for Cline’s next release.
August 12, 2024
Dedicated to Austinites, even ‘winged ones’ lol. ‘Never yuck anyone else’s yum.’
The main character Opal is adorable. ‘Cosmic cowboys’ - wonder if that was a nod to his other sci fi books 😂 It hits all the Austin highlights. The ‘Scratchbook’ interludes are cute. The bat names being streets of Austin is a nice touch.
Now that weird doesn’t work what about: ‘Keep Austin Grooved’? Zines! Love it! The bats helped elect Anne Richard’s bahahaha! Willie and Johnny Cash - it’s sort of like Forrest Gump with bats! It was great! Listen to the authors note at and also especially if your curious how much was completely made up but as a person who’s been in Austin 24 years this one hit so many right buttons.
The main character Opal is adorable. ‘Cosmic cowboys’ - wonder if that was a nod to his other sci fi books 😂 It hits all the Austin highlights. The ‘Scratchbook’ interludes are cute. The bat names being streets of Austin is a nice touch.
Now that weird doesn’t work what about: ‘Keep Austin Grooved’? Zines! Love it! The bats helped elect Anne Richard’s bahahaha! Willie and Johnny Cash - it’s sort of like Forrest Gump with bats! It was great! Listen to the authors note at and also especially if your curious how much was completely made up but as a person who’s been in Austin 24 years this one hit so many right buttons.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2024
The literary equivalent to the “how are you doing fellow kids” meme. But hey…at least the bats are cute. So that’s something.
April 19, 2024
This book was shit.
June 1, 2024
Cute, but soft-pedals too much. Full review to come.
***
This is a middle grade-level book about a 13-year-old girl named Opal who loses her mother and moves with her uncle to Austin, Texas. Accompanying them to their new city are a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats who have lost their home to industrialization. There's public furor when the bats decide to roost on the underside of the Congress Bridge.
The book begins and ends with a vaguely fairy- or tall-tale cadence, and the time frame is a nebulous 1980s. A lot of attention is paid to various famous and not-so-famous local celebrities such as Anne Richards and Willie Nelson who Opal meets along the way, as she desperately tries to drum up positive publicity for the bats.
A love of Austin and its quirky personalities is evident throughout, unfortunately at the expense of a real plot, character development, or emotion. Once Opal and Roscoe show up in Austin, I knew exactly what was going to happen, and the supposedly mysterious narrator of the story was obvious from the first page or two as well. Opal and Roscoe are an agglomeration of clothing, entertainment choices, and interests, and there isn't much else to them. Painful events--such as Opal's mother's death--are glossed over, sentimentalized, or all but forgotten.
Maybe our author heard of the Rule of Three somewhere along the way, and asked: why just three? Why not six, or seven? Well, because seeing that many iterations of very similar situations gets boring, that's why! This excess happens at least three times in the latter half of the book as pairs of named bats attend various live concerts in Austin, as Opal meets local personalities on its streets, and as some of the same personalities make speeches in city hall in favor of the bats .
Bridge to Bat City has its charms, but should have focused on making the original characters interesting, rather than endlessly parading famous Austinites in front of the reader. It repeats the fact that bats eat bugs to an obnoxious degree. That's surely not all that can be said for them! There's an opportunity for engaging children's curiosity about these unusual creatures that is largely squandered. Instead we get sidebars about Shawn Colvin, Buddy Holly, and many others who I have my doubts its intended audience would have any interest in.
***
This is a middle grade-level book about a 13-year-old girl named Opal who loses her mother and moves with her uncle to Austin, Texas. Accompanying them to their new city are a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats who have lost their home to industrialization. There's public furor when the bats decide to roost on the underside of the Congress Bridge.
The book begins and ends with a vaguely fairy- or tall-tale cadence, and the time frame is a nebulous 1980s. A lot of attention is paid to various famous and not-so-famous local celebrities such as Anne Richards and Willie Nelson who Opal meets along the way, as she desperately tries to drum up positive publicity for the bats.
A love of Austin and its quirky personalities is evident throughout, unfortunately at the expense of a real plot, character development, or emotion. Once Opal and Roscoe show up in Austin, I knew exactly what was going to happen, and the supposedly mysterious narrator of the story was obvious from the first page or two as well. Opal and Roscoe are an agglomeration of clothing, entertainment choices, and interests, and there isn't much else to them. Painful events--such as Opal's mother's death--are glossed over, sentimentalized, or all but forgotten.
Maybe our author heard of the Rule of Three somewhere along the way, and asked: why just three? Why not six, or seven? Well, because seeing that many iterations of very similar situations gets boring, that's why! This excess happens at least three times in the latter half of the book as pairs of named bats attend various live concerts in Austin, as Opal meets local personalities on its streets, and as some of the same personalities make speeches in city hall in favor of the bats .
Bridge to Bat City has its charms, but should have focused on making the original characters interesting, rather than endlessly parading famous Austinites in front of the reader. It repeats the fact that bats eat bugs to an obnoxious degree. That's surely not all that can be said for them! There's an opportunity for engaging children's curiosity about these unusual creatures that is largely squandered. Instead we get sidebars about Shawn Colvin, Buddy Holly, and many others who I have my doubts its intended audience would have any interest in.
June 13, 2023
This is a weird and wonderful “mostly true tall tale” about how a recently orphaned girl named Opal B Flats helped a family of displaced bats find a new home under the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas. This is an enchanting tale that weaves together fact and fiction set against the incredible backdrop of 1980s Austin, filled with a vibrant cast of characters, rich music history, activism and environmentalism, and bats!
Bridge to Bat City is the type of book I loved to read as a child; it’s a book about being an outsider—a weirdo, even!—but finding a place where you belong. Yes, I was the editor of this book and perhaps biased, but I truly love this book and hope you love it as much as I do!
Bridge to Bat City is the type of book I loved to read as a child; it’s a book about being an outsider—a weirdo, even!—but finding a place where you belong. Yes, I was the editor of this book and perhaps biased, but I truly love this book and hope you love it as much as I do!
October 5, 2024
I absolutely adored this book! Its setting is the Great State of Texas, so for a home -grown Texan like myself, it was a must-read!
The story of Opal, and a colony of displaced bats that she tries to save, is told in the form of a “tall tale.” There are scenes that will make the reader giggle out loud, and others that will bring a lump to the throat.
I think middle-grade readers would latch on to this novel, relating to Opal and her “misfit” status, and rooting for the bat colony’s survival. It could be a great teaching tool in a literature unit on tall tales!
The story of Opal, and a colony of displaced bats that she tries to save, is told in the form of a “tall tale.” There are scenes that will make the reader giggle out loud, and others that will bring a lump to the throat.
I think middle-grade readers would latch on to this novel, relating to Opal and her “misfit” status, and rooting for the bat colony’s survival. It could be a great teaching tool in a literature unit on tall tales!
December 31, 2024
A girl talks to bats. Bats eat mosquitoes. Texans love bats.
June 5, 2024
Save yourself the torture of suffering through Cline’s terrible writing and simply read the Wikipedia list of notable people from Austin.
July 13, 2024
I get that he was attempting a tall tale about how the bats came to live under the Austin Bridge, Frankly, a non-fiction picture book on the topic would have been so much more palatable. The ‘folksy-cutesy’ tone was mind-numbing, the characters and situations flimsy.
52 Book Club24: #38 - Published by Hachette
52 Book Club24: #38 - Published by Hachette
June 16, 2024
Worst book I have read in a very long time. I can’t believe this is by the author of Ready Player One/Two and Armada.
June 22, 2024
No. Just no.
July 16, 2024
I probably would have genuinely enjoyed this if I were 30 years younger. Cline's best book since Ready Player One, for what that's worth.
April 27, 2024
I was listening to the audio version of this book. I had to stop about halfway through. I’m not sure it would hold the attention of middle readers.
May 8, 2024
I read this book because it takes place in Austin and I recently moved to Austin and I was looking for a feel good local story. The characters and plot were uninspired and uninteresting. It feels like Cline's books progressively get worse. I don't think I'm going to bother reading any of his future works.
This book is supposedly meant for middle schoolers, but having read other children's books this booked barely held my interest I can't image it would hold a middle schooler's interest.
It's a short book, but don't waste your time.
This book is supposedly meant for middle schoolers, but having read other children's books this booked barely held my interest I can't image it would hold a middle schooler's interest.
It's a short book, but don't waste your time.
May 21, 2025
No, lo siento pero no. Esto no hay por dónde cogerlo. No soy capaz de decir algo positivo, así que mejor no entro en detalles.
En general, sólo decir que quiere ser un libro infantil/juvenil y que se queda en medio de ninguna parte. Cero interés.
En general, sólo decir que quiere ser un libro infantil/juvenil y que se queda en medio de ninguna parte. Cero interés.
June 2, 2024
Not a fan of Cline, but even so: I know this might be seen as nit-picky, but is it helpful to teach kids that "bats spread rabies" is a myth? Because it IS a myth that "all bats have rabies" but not that bats are involved in many if not most spreads of rabies to humans. Austin has plenty of signs warning about not handling them or where they stay for a reason.
May 9, 2024
Read this for the podcast 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back. There are some sweet moments to this book, but it felt like it was constantly talking down to the reader, and at about the three quarters mark it basically becomes Forest Gump except localized just to Austin with the protagonist running into people like Molly Ivins and Ann Richards. The conflict is sparse, and I'm really not sure who this was written for. I don't think it would appeal to most YA or Middle Grade readers because its references are so specific to Austin in the 80s. I find it difficult to believe most readers in the target age range would care. It's like the book elbows you in the ribs and says, "Hey, Molly Ivins. Isn't that so cool?"
There's just nothing here beyond nostalgia. It's the same issue with all of Cline's books, it relies far too much on reflected glory, and in this case, I think the glory it tries to capitalize on is just too niche.
There's just nothing here beyond nostalgia. It's the same issue with all of Cline's books, it relies far too much on reflected glory, and in this case, I think the glory it tries to capitalize on is just too niche.
May 7, 2024
Frustratingly bad. Loose threads galore and a fake-out at the final chapter that sees Cline admitting that he wrote the entire book in the 3rd person to increase the suspense without a payoff.
I don't know who this book was written for, but Cline doesn't seem to think very much of them.
I don't know who this book was written for, but Cline doesn't seem to think very much of them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2024
Note overly sure who this book is for. Middle schoolers that love the 1980s music scene in Austen and don’t care about writing quality?
Edit: after rereading this book I am wondering even more who this is really for. Because the “facts” tend to either be a bit wrong or just surface level. Sure a kid who wants to read every book about bats (such as super nerdy me in middle school) will pick it up. But after reading it they will likely just go “well it was a book I guess”
Two stars due to mistakes of “facts”, not knowing who the audience would be, but also not offensive like some other books out there as far as I recall.
Edit: after rereading this book I am wondering even more who this is really for. Because the “facts” tend to either be a bit wrong or just surface level. Sure a kid who wants to read every book about bats (such as super nerdy me in middle school) will pick it up. But after reading it they will likely just go “well it was a book I guess”
Two stars due to mistakes of “facts”, not knowing who the audience would be, but also not offensive like some other books out there as far as I recall.
June 1, 2024
Read along with 372 pgs and man....this was...not good.
July 16, 2024
UFO?? Mojo??
I love reading to my child, but we agreed to stop after the painful chapter about the bats attending concerts in Austin. All that mojo!!
I love reading to my child, but we agreed to stop after the painful chapter about the bats attending concerts in Austin. All that mojo!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2024
DNF. I tried listening to the audiobook for class, but the strong southern accent made this feel a bit too young for 6th grade. The main character is 13, which really doesn’t seem to fit the story. There is an audience for this, but I didn’t love the story and found myself falling in and out of listening.
January 5, 2025
This was a kids book but it was really cute and the Austin stories were so fun.
April 16, 2024
A bedtime story for children who have a grandfather who has always wanted to be asked "grandpa...who's ZZ Top?"
I honestly stopped reading halfway through, but I could see this being fun for a tween or a 65 year old man.
I honestly stopped reading halfway through, but I could see this being fun for a tween or a 65 year old man.
April 29, 2024
This was such a sweet, fun story. Full of love of music, Texas, kindness, and finding where you belong.
June 9, 2024
The hyper specific name dropping of all things Austin was exhausting.
January 12, 2025
The only reason I read this book was because of the fact that it was written by Ernest Cline, and oh boy, he has failed me again.
The first time I trusted him was right after I read Ready Player One, and believed that I was in for a treat when reading Armada. However, it completely missed my expectations, being just a jumbled mixture of 1960s info and random people saving the world in a messy plot line.
However, I decided to give this book a try, curious about what Ernest Cline would write like while writing a non sci-fi book. Although the name did not appeal to me, I hoped that Ernest Cline would have filled the book with the same quality of writing as in ready player one.
And oh, was I wrong. This was basically a budget fairytale told with 1960s information mixed up into it. It was horrible. This was the first fiction book ever which I have started and then gave up after half of it.
The first time I trusted him was right after I read Ready Player One, and believed that I was in for a treat when reading Armada. However, it completely missed my expectations, being just a jumbled mixture of 1960s info and random people saving the world in a messy plot line.
However, I decided to give this book a try, curious about what Ernest Cline would write like while writing a non sci-fi book. Although the name did not appeal to me, I hoped that Ernest Cline would have filled the book with the same quality of writing as in ready player one.
And oh, was I wrong. This was basically a budget fairytale told with 1960s information mixed up into it. It was horrible. This was the first fiction book ever which I have started and then gave up after half of it.
May 7, 2024
Kifejezetten jó "mese" kicsiknek és nagyoknak is simán, a néhány tragikus rész ellenére is pozitív és vidám tudott maradni végig. Szerencsére Cline egy adag (könnyen fogyasztható!) popkulturális áradatot is rakott bele, így maradt ez a mű is igazi Ernest Cline mű. Ernie, ha ezt olvasod, így már megbocsátok a RP2-ért 😄
Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews