THE BOOK OF KOLI / AUTHOR: M.R. CAREY / PUBLISHER: ORBIT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Mike Carey is no stranger to apocalyptic sci-fi. He is best known for his book (and inevitable movie adaptation of) The Girl With all the Gifts. Thankfully for these current times, Carey’s latest novel (the first in a planned trilogy), is not about a horrific viral outbreak. Instead, it’s about the folly of trusting too much in technology that you don’t understand and taking on too much too soon. A classic sci-fi trope, but given the sort of clever twist we’ve come to expect from Carey.
Set in the far future, mankind has adapted following some sort of environmental apocalypse. Most of the biosphere is actively hostile to mankind. Even trees have to be killed repeatedly (mostly by poison) before their timber can be used. At some point in the past, mankind saved the world at the cost their own future. Conflict is still a thing, but there are so few people left that civilisation is divided into villages, people rarely travel and everything on the face of it seems simpler. However, this is not a simple tale of a world gone strange, instead this is a more measured mystery, bundled with a touch of coming of age drama and some world class weird fiction.
Our hero is Koli Woodsmith, a young man who seeks to a better life for himself and the remains of his family. His home of Mythen Rood owns four pieces of ancient technology, each one, if wielded well, could vastly improve their lot in life. The heart of this story are the complications that arise from people trying to interact with things that are frankly beyond them. The book is told from Koli’s perspective and yes that means he speaks in a strange and futuristic patois, which can slow down the storytelling on occasion. Koli is a sympathetic character and knows just enough to know nothing, making him a fine person to tell the tale.
This is a tale in two parts. The first part focuses on letting the reader explore the world through Koli’s eyes and the problems one would have growing up in such a strange world. Just as the reader gets a handle on things, the author cheerfully changes gears and the book moves from casual to utterly gripping.
The Book of Koli is a fine start a fascinating world and we have high hopes for the next two novels.
