#BLOGTOUR: The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey #RampartTrilogy #TheBookOfKoli #ProvidedForReview #Gifted @tr4cyf3nt0n

I LOVED The Girl with all the gifts by M. R. Carey – I LOVED the book (I listened to the fantastic audible version) but I also LOVED the film. I have since then been buying and reading everything that M. R. Carey has published. He has the knack of creating memorable characters and amazing settings. So I was super excited to be invited onto the #BlogTour for his latest novel – The Book of Koli.

The book blurb (below) and the cover design are fantastic, don’t you think?

Book Blurb:

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.

And I liked it.

But, I didn’t quite love it. I am absolutely willing to accept that it could have just been a case of the right book but the wrong time for me. And this isn’t by any means a negative review – I personally, just wasn’t completely grabbed by Koli’s story.

But as I said, I liked it – it was what I tend to describe as a solid read. It was well written, it was well paced, it had plenty of interesting characters and the setting was unique. It was good. And the trees, were rather threatening and memorable. Koli lives in a world where even the plants are dangerous.

Right from the beginning it is very clear that this is Koli’s story and told from his viewpoint. It was all written in a storytelling sort of prose. But, I struggled a little with the colloquial language used throughout the book – I found it kept dragging me out of the story. Koli was a strong narrator and we see the world through his adolescent eyes and his limited descriptions.

I got a story to tell you. I’ve been meaning to make a start for a long while now, and this is me doing it, but I’m warning you it might be a bumpy road. I never done nothing like this before, so I got no map, as it were, and I can’t figure how much of what happened to me is worth telling.

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I preferred the first half of the book – I enjoyed learning about the world Koli inhabits and although there was a wee bit of info dumping – I like that sort of thing. I almost always enjoy the details in my fiction and they are especially important when the setting is so different. If anything, I could have read more about those TREES and how the world got to the scary place it was. M.R Carey knows how to write disturbing and treacherous settings.

If you like the sound of The Book of Koli then I do recommend you try it for yourself! I am a huge fan of M.R. Carey and even thou this one didn’t quite hit the spot for me. I can still appreciate that it’s going to be a big hit for A LOT of people. And I believe the whole trilogy will be published over one year so no long wait to find out how Koli’s story ends.

It really was an interesting book, with a very unsettling futuristic setting.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher, which was all arranged by the blog tour organiser – Thank you!