I’m pleased to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for The Book of Koli, first book in a new post-apocalyptic trilogy by M.R. Carey. Thank you to Tracy Fenton and Orbit Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this gripping book. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next!
About the book:
The Book of Koli begins a breathtakingly original new trilogy set in a strange and deadly world of our own making.
Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognisable landscape. A place where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don’t get you, the Shunned men will.
Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He believes the first rule of survival is that you don’t venture too far beyond the walls.
He’s wrong.
About the author:
M. R. Carey has been making up stories for most of his life. His novel The Girl With All the Gifts was a word-of-mouth bestseller and is now a major motion picture based on his own screenplay. Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs on Lucifer, Hellblazer and X-Men. His creator-owned series The Unwritten appeared regularly in the New York Times graphic fiction bestseller list. He also has several previous novels, games, radio plays, and TV and movie screenplays to his credit.
My Review:
The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey tells the story of Koli, a teenager who has lived all his life in Mythen Rood. It’s written in the style of a memoir, with the story being shown through the eyes of Koli himself. Beyond the walls of Mythen Rood is a post-apocalyptic world where plant life has thrived and acquired the taste for blood, leaving humans in fear for their lives.
The first part of The Book of Koli teaches us about the world Koli lives in. A world where everyone has a job to do, with the most important one being the job of Rampart, the people who can operate what little technology is left. Rampart is vital to the village’s survival, so the people who carry out this job rule over the community with an iron fist. Fifteen year old Koli lives his life in fear, terrified of the world outside the walls of Mythen Rood.
More than anything Koli longs to become one of the inner circle of Rampart, but this desire to access the old technology leads him in a direction he never expected, forcing him to confront the world outside. There he must try to avoid the deadly plant life and murderous Shunned men, fighting for survival as he learns to adapt to the new world he finds himself in.
M.R. Carey is a master world builder, bringing this dystopian landscape so vividly to life you almost feel as though you are there. It’s so beautifully written I was captivated by the gorgeous imagery from the opening page, with the autobiographical style of the story (complete with bad grammar!) instantly transporting me into Koli’s world as seen through his eyes.
I loved this opening chapter to Koli’s tale and can’t wait to see where M.R. Carey takes his story from here. And luckily we won’t have to wait too long as The Trials of Koli and The Fall of Koli are both due to be released over the next year. I can’t wait to read them!
Highly recommended.
The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey is available to buy now: Amazon UK
Check out what these other lovely bloggers have to say about this book:
Cal Turner Reviews 