The Book of Koli took me awhile to get into. I'll admit I almost gave up a few times. The language of the narrator, Koli, was hard for me to wrap my head around and made me think of reading Shakespeare. I really loved the other two books I have read by M. R. Carey, so I stuck with it. I am so glad I did. Once I got into the flow of story, I couldn't stop reading it. It was riddled with amazing quotes. "I seen now that dying wasn't just one single thing that happens one single time. A little of it comes with every ending, collecting in the heart of you like rainwater in a barrel." I would have highlighted more, but then most of the book would have been. Thank you Netgalley for the early access to the book. I can't wait for the next one in the series.

Set in a small village, Mythen Rood, in an apocalyptic England, nature has taken back the planet and humans find themselves endangered. A young man, Koli Woodsmith, is determined to change his destiny but in doing so he may just change the fate of the world.

The Book of Koli is the exciting first novel in the new Rampart trilogy by M.R. Carey. I am a big fan of M. R. Carey and I was so excited to get a change to read and review this new series. This book begins with Koli retelling his adventures beginning with his childhood in the village of Mythen Rood. Outside of the safety of the village walls lurk dangers in the form of mutated animals, killer plants, and cannibalistic humans. The Ramparts, a family who has the ability to "awaken" and use a variety of technological weapons, protect the villagers and keep them safe. Koli longs to change his status and become a Rampart but the discovery of a secret changes how he views his world and places him in danger.
I don't want to give away too much as this first novel is really about character introduction, world building, and sets up Koli's adventures beyond the wall. The writing style uses an almost regressed form of English so it took a little while for me to get used to it but it becomes clearer as the book continues. I loved several of the characters including Koli, Spinner (his childhood love interest), and Ursula (the traveling medic). This novel explores some interesting concepts in social circumstance as the ability to use technology determines your social status and ability to survive. This was such an interesting and exciting introduction into the series and I can't wait to read the next two books.

Firstly, I think it's only fair to say that M.R. Carey is probably my favorite contemporary author so I might already be a little bit biased when it comes to this title. I was so excited to hear that this was coming out, that it would be part of a series, and that I would be able to read it before it was widely distributed (thanks to Netgalley and Orbit). That being said, I had only read Carey's stand-alone novels before, and reading the first book of a series by him was a new experience.

Disclaimers aside, let's get to the story. If you are a fan of Margret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake," or any kind of speculative, post-apocalyptic fiction this book is 100% for you. It takes contemporary concerns about issues like genetic modification, but instead of focusing on humans or animals it spotlights plant life. After the world was wrecked by climate change and humans are unable to grow anything they genetically modify plants, specifically trees to get their nutrients in other ways and to grow at ridiculous rates. Then the trees start moving... Things get kind of wild after that.

"The Book of Koli" is set after these events. The world before the "fall" is still more futuristic than our own, and tech plays a big role in the plot. In this world there is a "Divergent"-style test where the young people of Koli's village see if the tech of old will "wake" for them. Those who control the tech control the village, and those in power will usually go to great lengths to maintain it.

I feel like "The Book of Koli" hit all of my favorite tropes of the kind of genre: reconstructed mythology of the way things used to be, fanatical cults, and changing language and syntax as the result in a mass wipe-out of most of humanity. Since the story is told to us by Koli himself, it is in the current dialect of the world. This kind of writing might not be fore everyone (think of "Cloud Atlas" or "Paper Girls"), but it seems only logical that the way people speak would change dramatically after mass communication died out.

Oh! How could I forget, there are not one but TWO trans characters in this novel, their identities are mostly respected (aside from some futuristic religious fanatics), and NEITHER of them is killed as a plot point. Better yet, it looks like one of them is being set up to be a main character.

All in all, I am very excited to see where this trilogy goes, and just so happy to read more of M. R. Carey's work!

Hmmmmm.

Welcome to yet another post-apocalypse, where trees try to eat you, drones try to blow you up, 200 people constitute an astonishingly large settlement, and whoever can successfully use the few remaining pieces of old tech are raised up as honored leaders of the community. Koli lives a peaceful life in his home at Mythen Rood, until a traveling healer accidentally reveals his entire life has been built on a lie.

The post-apocalypse is well-trodden ground at this point, including in M. R. Carey’s own past work. I ended up reading a lot of post-apocalypse fiction last year, so I’m a little tired of the genre. Still, Carey’s managed to create a pretty cool, lived-in world that’s suitably inventive and interesting.

Koli’s narrative voice goes a long way to making that world seem real. The narrative voice is so unique in this book, and it immediately creates a setting of its own. There were times in the middle of the book, when the story was dragging (more on that later), that Koli’s narration got kind of grating and excessive. But for the most part, the narration contributes greatly to the worldbuilding and overall tone of the book.

My big issue with The Book of Koli is that the plot doesn’t start until about halfway through the book. The first half is entirely setup and worldbuilding. Koli walks us through his world, home, and customs at a painfully slow pace. At first, I enjoyed the worldbuilding for its own sake. But then I had to sit through a detailed recounting of Koli’s daily life and all his interpersonal family relationships (none of which are relevant later on), and then there were pages and pages about the complex coming of age ceremony in Mythen Rood, and it just goes on and on and on.

It should not take 150 pages for the plot to start. If I hadn’t received this book as an ARC that I was obligated to make a good faith effort to finish, I probably would have given up.

I’m glad I didn’t, because the second half really takes off like a speeding train. Once Koli finally leaves Mythen Rood (spoiler, I guess, but Koli makes a lot of veiled comments about traveling far beyond Mythen Rood early on, so not really), things become infinitely more interesting. There’s still a lot of worldbuilding, but because that worldbuilding is buried in amongst the plot, it doesn’t drag or slow things down. And the fact of the matter is, Koli’s Mythen Rood is a small, tired village. The world beyond is so much more interesting.

I’m curious to see where Koli’s story goes next, and I’ll definitely grab a copy of the sequel from the library. But I desperately wish the first half of The Book of Koli had been condensed and tightened up.

I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

NOTE: This review will not be published publicly until one month prior to book publication date.

This is a book that mixes nature and technology, the past and the future together. This was my first book by this author, and I have to say I'm a fan. The writing style was a small learning curve, but after a chapter it felt like an old friend. I loved that about the world-building -- there were little minor things that added up to this dystopic future. The evolution of language and of faith were excellently shown. I especially liked the idea that the trees were enemies, not protectors. If anything, though, The Book of Koli's true talent is in its ability to juxtapose quiet moments with action. We follow Koli through a formative moment of his life. And part of that moment includes some intense action. He isn't the smartest, but he's got wits for days. If I had any criticism, it would be that some of the more minor characters, especially the Ramparts, felt very throwaway and forgettable. Ursula was fantastic, though. And the friendship between Monono and Koli is what I aspire towards. All in all, a fantastic story that I hope gets even better in the sequels.

First, thank you to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had a hard time settling on a rating for this book, because my personal hangup with it is probably easily overlooked by someone else. To get the good out of the way first, the premise is extremely interesting. Here you have Koli, this country village bumpkin living within his little bubble of what he knows in what is soon revealed to be a dystopian, post-apocalyptic England. His life gets upended at some point (maybe a little further along than I would have liked) through a well-meaning but ultimately misguided attempt to acquire some "tech", and he finds himself on quite a little adventure. The plot is fun, intense in places, and a little thought-provoking in others.

To touch on the bad, first and foremost, the book is written from the viewpoint of this uneducated country boy, with all the narrating baggage that implies. Descriptions are sometimes hard to follow because Koli doesn't always have the words to describe what he's seeing. Intentionally bad grammar abounds, because the book takes the form of him relating his adventures to you as a story. Things were also told a bit out of order in the beginning because Koli would start to relate something to you, or insinuate something, and then backtrack from it with lines akin to "but I need to tell you this first before I tell you that". It was mildly annoying to read, at times. I also feel like some of the thought-provoking parts about civilization gone astray were heavy handed in places. Finally, the beginning sort of drags. It takes about half the book before Koli finally gets his call to action and the plot starts picking up.

So, summarizing, I ended up giving this a 3.5/5, because I had a hard time getting through the writing style to the meat underneath (maybe I'm a shallow person), and because the beginning felt like it dragged on a bit long.

First off, thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this beautifully written story about a boy, a piece of ancient tech and the lengths you go for those you love.
The world that Koli lives in is in the future after the planet has been overgrown with genetically modified trees that now kill humans for food and plants that are the enemy to anything that lives. There are very few people left in the world and in the village that Koli lives in the people who are in charge are the ones that the ancient tech will "awaken" for. When Koli finds out that everything he believed about the people who used the tech was false he starts an event that will take him far from home and teach him about what really is happening in the world.
The story is told as if Koli is speaking directly to you and it is written in his dialect and accent that can take some getting used to but I quickly acclimated with no issues. I thought that the story was very engaging, unique and original. I definitely cannot wait for the rest of the trilogy.

This was a hard book to get into, the writing style took awhile to used to and could be quite distracting. Once it got going it was a pretty good read. I am not sure I liked the way it was told it wasn't just the choice of wording but often the narrator would start to tell you something, then stop and it was a little frustrating.

I’ve not read anything from this author before this. So many great reviews from his series, The Girl With All The Gifts, and now I wanna get a hold of that series. Ok so The Book of Koli is a science fiction story of how anything tech/ weapon is something to be controlled. However not everyone can control it. I’ll stop there.

This is a pretty good tale of how the world looks like after so much has happened. It’s almost like having to start over. Koli is the protagonist in the story. He is the one who uncovers the truth about the tech. It was a pretty good read in my opinion. It has action, friendship, and some scenes makes you feel sorry for him. Moderate pace for me. Hmm come to think of it, I pretty much imagined this as a show lol. Maybe it could be 🤔 This the the first book of the series and I hope everyone will enjoy it.  I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. Maybe I’ll talk about it some more once it’s out.

Great worldbuilding with an interesting cast of characters. Can’t wait to find out what happens next!

This has a slow start, but really works once it gets going. Interesting tech and premise, and well executed overall. I have another of the author's books on my list and this will motivate me to read it quickly. Not sure what else to say other than I recommend it.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been enjoying M.R. Cary for quite some time now and I jumped on the chance to review his new series through Netgalley.

So was it everything I might have hoped? Yes! And maybe.

At first, I realized, belatedly, that this had all the hallmarks of a YA novel. He's done some good YA in the past, so I settled into life in a dystopian future with ancient advanced tech, trees that like to hunt us, and provincial life that takes a major turn for the worse.

Standard fare, mostly, with some really fun and cool aspects that just BEG to be explored. And we do explore them. In fact, I had the best time when we got to *spoiler spoiler ipod-not-ipod spoiler*. From then on, I just chortled and had a great time. Of course, I had to get there first. Nothing too onerous. And I have to say I had a lot more time with this one than I've had with MOST of a long line of YA SF novels, so kudos!

Can't wait to read the next!

Interesting, not what you would expect but in a good way. I'll be thinking of this one for awhile... That ending is going to make the wait for book two unbearable. More to come closer to publication.

Just finished the Book of Koli and I am upset. Upset because it's over. The world is painted so well - subtle enough to feel real, but without leaving you wondering where you are. Koli is a character so finely developed I wondered if the author became Koli to write this. I loved the Girl with All the Gifts, and I haven't read any of his other books, worrying (probably in a silly way) that they wouldn't be as good. Well, this put my mind to ease. I am even more of a fan of Carey after this, and while I wait for the story to continue I'll be dusting off the other ones I have by him to keep myself occupied.

Excellent plot, realistically done, with some action, well developed main character, and a great world. Overall a winner.

Annihilation meets Black Mirror with Ashley O

*SPOILERS*

5 star read. This book was a little hard to get into at first bc it is written in Koli's pov and he is telling the story so the grammar is somewhat bad because he is uneducated, and lives in a world where they dont use words we use.

This book is set hundreds of years after the world ends thanks to climate change and drones, bombs. The worlds population is small, there are small villages with leaders and where Koli lives, there are many secrets.

Koli finds out about tech, how it works and how its set up for only certain people to use the tech, he never had a chance. He then makes it his business to steal some tech and try to make it work. One ends up waking to him which is not a weapon but some sort of iPod but better with a AI named Monono. He sends her on a "quest" to update and when she comes back she knows way more than she should about the world and what happened. Koli finds himself banished after showing everyone the tech and how it works when he calls to it.

There is seriously mote that im not saying but he ends up being reunited with Monono and Ursala a doctor of sorts who had told him secrets he wasnt supposed to know. They end up caught in some crazy cult and find a way to escape.

With the worlds small population becoming smaller bc people aren't able to make more babies, Ursula, Koli and monono set off to London to find more tech, see if there are any survivors. There are many dangers ahead and this was an amazing book to a series I cant wait to finish.

M.R Carey is such a great story teller. Once I got used to Kolis language and the world. I couldn't put it down. Thank you Netgalley and orbit for this earc. I loved it and look forward to the rest of the series.

I love M.R. Carey’s previous work – he is a truly exceptional post-apocalyptic fiction writer – and The Book of Koli was just as unique as I’ve come to expect from him, but unfortunately, I just couldn’t get on board with the writing style he chose for this book. It’s written in first person perspective, in the protagonist’s own words, poor grammar and limited vocabulary included. I can appreciate the stylistic choice, but it was not my cup of tea at all. I read books to immerse myself in beautiful language, revel in unexpected turns of phrase. The writing style took me right out of the story and made it impossible for me to immerse myself. I’m very disappointed I wasn’t able to enjoy this one, but I guess they can’t all be winners.

MR Carey, aka Mike Carey, has been one of my favorite writers for years. His <i>Lucifer</i> spinoff from Gaiman’s <i>Sandman</i> is incredible. His time writing <i>Hellblazer</i> was great. I consider the Felix Castor urban fantasy series to be every bit as good as Dresden, and <i>The Girl with all the Gifts</i> deserves all the praise it gets. Getting an ARC of Carey’s forthcoming book is without doubt the highlight of my book reviewing career. So a huge thank-you to Orbit for this book.

So, does this book live up to my expectations? Yes it does.

This is a post-apocalyptic book. Climate change and other environmental disasters have pretty much wrecked the human population, with the added fun that poorly conceived genetic experiments run amok have made trees carnivorous and in general turned nature hyperaggressive. “<i>The Fifth Season</i>, but with biology trying to kill everyone instead of geology” isn’t a bad description. Koli is from one small, primitive, isolated village (which describes how most of humanity is living), on the edge between childhood and adulthood. The time before everything fell apart is shrouded in myth and legend. Surviving functional technology is both priceless and completely-not-understood, and the leadership of the village is chosen due to their ability to use the tech the village depends on to survive.

The fact that the only people who can use the village’s technology come from one family is probably just a coincidence.

I don’t think it’s really a spoiler to say that Koli eventually manages to get his hands on a working piece of tech, and things don’t turn out the way he hopes. Normally I wouldn’t mention that (even though it’s really obvious where the story is going) but there was no way to avoid mentioning that without mentioning the greatest part of the book: the device’s user interface is modeled on that of a manufactured, hyper-peppy Japanese pop idol. Koli has no idea what to make of this girl (and as far as he’s aware, it’s not a UI, it’s some kind of a magical spirit girl living inside the old tech that keeps asking him what his favorite songs are). And it is awesome.

As far as critiques go, my only serious one is that the opening is slow. I enjoyed it, because Carey is a good writer, but the pacing is kind of sedate for the first half of the book or so (the second half makes up for it). And there were some parts (particularly involving the wise sage character, a.k.a. the only person in the book who actually knows anything real about the old world) where I thought Koli got answers far too easily.

But those (minor) complaints aside, this was a super interesting book, and a super fun one. I’m very much looking forward to the sequel.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

The book of Koli is the first book I've ever read by M. R. Carey, but I will definitely read more! The story is absolutely fantastic and the writing and the characters blew me away. Koli is an amazing, complex and well written main character and the story is full of plot twists and it made the reader think and reflect.

This was a drastic departure from this author’s usual style/genre. I’m not sure I would have chosen this, if not for enjoying the previous work. While not my usual thing, the story grew on me, and I will undoubtedly look for the next installment .

WOW, WOW, WOW! Firstly, I was not aware this was the same author as Girl with gifts, etc with I really like.
This blew me away, I don't know how I'll manage the wait until book 2!