Book Review: The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey
Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 1 of The Rampart Trilogy
Publisher: Orbit (April 14, 2020)
Length: 416 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Oh, hype raises its ugly head once again. As you know, I’m big a fan of M.R. Carey and I was very excited to read The Book of Koli, the first volume of his new dystopian series called The Rampart Trilogy. From its description though, I already knew it was going to be quite different from his previous work that I’ve enjoyed. And that’s the kicker, isn’t it? Different can mean good or bad things; you never know what you might get.
The Book of Koli transports readers into the far-flung future, where our young protagonist Koli Woodsmith lives in a village called Mythen Rood. It is a bleak setting, filled with hardship and hidden dangers, most of them caused by the hostile fauna and flora. The plant life here has evolved to consume flesh, for example, and for Koli and his family, who are sawmill workers, this means they must be extra careful to only harvest and build with wood that is completely dead.
As the story opens, Koli has just turned fifteen, the age when all children must partake in a rite of passage that tests for their ability to awaken the treasured pieces of technology kept by the people of Mythen Rood. If they pass, they become leaders called Ramparts that are granted the responsibility to use tech to protect their village. It’s an honor Koli desperately wants, not only because he hopes for more out of life, but also because there’s a girl he’s seriously crushing on, and being a Rampart would definitely help him catch her attention.
But of course, nothing ends up going the way Koli wanted. After failing his test, our distraught protagonist sets off on his own, but not before swiping a mysterious piece of tech that turns out to be so much more than he realized, opening his eyes to a whole new world of knowledge.
So first, let’s talk about my mixed feelings for this book. It wasn’t bad by any means, and yet I was still disappointed, not having enjoyed it as much I’d hoped. The Book of Koli was my fifth novel by Carey, and it’s my least favorite by far, for a couple of reasons. I mentioned how it feels different from the author’s books, and certainly the strange dystopian setting along with the jarring narrative voice had a role to play in this. However, these are just surface level examples of “different,” most of which I did not mind at all. No, in truth, what let me down had more to do with the banality of the story’s overall structure and its uneven pacing, neither of which were issues I expected to encounter from the creative mind who brought us such brilliantly imaginative and suspenseful works such as The Girl With All The Gifts.
The characters, for example. I liked them…for the most part. Ironically, Koli was probably one of the least interesting, despite being the star of the show. His story arc begins like any number of YA dystopians do—an idealistic teenager with ambitions bigger than himself or his village, who must pass a ritualistic test in order to realize all of his life’s dreams. But of course, after the inevitable failure comes, instead of succumbing to defeat, our hero stumbles upon an earth-shattering secret, one that will have major consequences for the future of the world unless he undertakes this all-important journey. Sorry, but YAWN. Is it any wonder the book got leaps and bound better once other characters like Ursala and Monono were introduced? I’ll let you discover why for yourself, but I was just glad we had more compelling personalities along for this ride, because Koli and I were really not making a connection.
I also liked the world-building. In fact, that might be the one aspect with which I could find little fault, because I love the idea of killer trees and hostile wildlife. Yes, I know it’s become a popular trope in recent years, but I’ve always been a sucker for clever ways of incorporating biological concepts into SFF, which isn’t new for the author. The magic and the tech element was also very cool, and it’s a shame I can’t go into the reasons why because that would spoil too much. I do wish we’d gotten the opportunity to learn more though, because there were only a few places that touched upon the history and lore of the world. I feel like it could have added a special quality of a bit of uniqueness to an otherwise run-of-the-mill bleak dystopian setting.
Was I expecting too much? Probably. I was surprised to find the plot so formulaic, the themes and ideas so recycled and clichéd, but I do have to wonder: would I have been so critical if this had been by another author, someone whose work I was not as familiar with or whose previous books I didn’t hold in such high esteem? Regardless, I’ve decided to give this series another chance to win me over; I’ll most likely pick up the second book and continue Koli’s adventure. After all, there are clear signs that many of the issues I had with this one may improve, such as pacing and character development. But one thing I know for sure, I’ll definitely keep my hype in check next time.
The BiblioSanctum 
I have serious trouble keeping my hype in check 😅
LikeLike
This was actually on my TBR for a while, but I axed it when looking through the description for some reason. The plot seems rather cliché, and I think this was probably best skipped. All the same, I wish you’d’ve enjoyed it more!
LikeLike
Me too, but as others have mentioned already, it’s the first of a series so I have hope it will get better as the plot and characters are developed 😀
LikeLike
Reading your review and learning the reasons for your disappointment made me think about one intriguing fact: so far this author wrote self-contained books and therefore concentrated all the necessary narrative elements into one volume. This is however the first part of a trilogy, so it’s understandable if he’s kept a few aces up his proverbial sleeve 😉 and that might be the reason a portion of readers were not able to connect fully with the main character and his journey.
It’s very possible that the next volume will be the deal maker or breaker for you, so I hope you will find there all the elements you missed here…
Thanks for sharing!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You know, I never thought about it that way but you are correct! Every book I’ve read by him so far were standalones. In contrast, this book is just the beginning of a three-part series and doesn’t feel as developed, and neither is it supposed to be, I suppose, since he still has two more books to really build up the story and the world. That could be one of the reasons for my dissatisfaction here, and I’m glad I’ve decided to continue with the trilogy to see if I’m right!
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s difficult when you expect a lot from an author you love. I still need to try the books of this author.
LikeLike
Yeah, and in some ways I know it’s not fair, but I think we tend to expect more from our favorite authors 🙂
LikeLike
It is indeed disappointing to read a not-so-good book from an author who has churned out great books. Hopefully, the sequels are better.
LikeLike
Me too! And even though I didn’t like this one as much, I suppose it’s still says quite a lot about my high regard for the author, because I know what he’s capable of 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry you didn’t enjoy this much😬 I do think Monono and Ursala make this story so good, and I feel like he’s just barely given us a glimpse into the world. I’m looking forward to the next book!
LikeLike
So true, I am still going to pick up the next one and give the series a second chance to hook me.
LikeLike
Yeah, I certainly didn’t dislike this but the last half felt very familiar and, like you, I think I was suffering from a massive case of over hyping this myself. You make a really good point about whether or not this would have felt different if it wasn’t an author you already really liked.
Lynn 😀
LikeLike
Yeah, we’re definitely on the same page with this one, and in fact, talking with you about it helped solidify a lot of my thoughts and I was able to identify why I wasn’t quite as satisfied with this book. I just think that he’s written better, and he can write better, you know? 😀
LikeLike
Yep 😀
LikeLike
Some lovely fauna there 0_0
LikeLike
Killer trees and wildlife, woohoo!
LikeLike
I loved The Girl with All the Gifts, but I didn’t love The Boy on the Bridge. I think my expectations were pretty even. That being said, I really loved The Book of Koli. My only complaint is it was obviously only the first third of something bigger. But I loved the language and the writing. I’m really keeping my fingers crossed that things get much more exciting or the world building more in depth in the next two…
LikeLike
I agree, and I think that’s where a lot of my dissatisfaction with this one came from. A comment was made about how most of his other books are standalones while this one is the start of a trilogy, and that’s a good point, I have to give it some leeway for being the first part of something bigger, so that’s why I’ll be picking up the next book, because I realize the need to give it some time to develop 🙂
LikeLike
I haven’t read an y book by Carey but oddly, this book is the one that intrigues me the most! I have a thing about killer trees I guess haha.
LikeLike
I’m glad it intrigues you! It is very different from his other books, so I’m not surprised that maybe there was something separate about it that called to you 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Huh, I enjoyed The Girl with All the Gifts, but wasn’t overly hyped by the descriptions of The Book of Koli, until Maddalena did her magic and convinced me to try it out 😉 I’ll have a more measured approach now, thanks! 😀
LikeLike
Who knows, you might have a much better time with this than me – I mean, a lot of others did, haha! I hope you’ll get to try it soon, and I’ll be looking forward to your thoughts 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Bookshelf Roundup 04/25/20: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads | The BiblioSanctum
Interesting. I wonder if some of it was expectations as I’ve seen a few other people talking about how much they loved this one, but also as much as I love Carey and The Girl with All the Gifts, even that one had an issue in that the characters were more archtypes than actual characters (with a couple of exceptions). Still, I do want to check this one out at some point but will go in with caution. Thanks for the review!
LikeLike