Book Review | The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey

The Book of Koli is a new science fiction/post-apocalyptic novel from M.R. Carey.

Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable world. A world where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly vines and seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don't get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will.

Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He knows the first rule of survival is that you don't venture beyond the walls.

What he doesn't know is - what happens when you aren't given a choice?

The first in a gripping new trilogy, The Book of Koli charts the journey of one unforgettable young boy struggling to find his place in a chilling post-apocalyptic world. Perfect for readers of Station Eleven and Annihilation.

Why did I read The Book of Koli?

I adored The Girl with All the Gifts. That makes me automatically take a closer look at anything M.R. Carey releases. I loved the sound of this trilogy. It's been a while since I've read a really great dystopian, and a deadly forest sounded perfect!

The Strengths

I immediately fell in love with the language in this. I think some readers may have trouble with the grammar and other nuances, but I really connected with Carey's writing in this one. There was poetry to his voice and his language here, and I just really enjoyed spending time with it.

I also loved the characters. Koli is a bit of a Harry Potter type of character. He's the star of the show, but all of his supporting characters are more powerful and more interesting. Monono reminded me a lot of the operating system in the movie Her. If you liked The Book of Koli or Her, I highly recommend the other!

I loved the world building, but this is also going to appear in the weaknesses for The Book of Koli. I'm a sucker for post-apocalypse and natural forces outweigh political forces for me every time. I can't wait to learn more about this world.

The Weaknesses

The Book of Koli is the first book in the Rampart Trilogy. It helped tremendously seeing the covers for the next two books on the back of my Koli paperback. I was prepared to only receive the first third of a complete story, but I'm never going to be 100% OK with a book not being able to stand on its own.

My expectation going into reading The Book of Koli was the environment was going to play a huge role in this trilogy. Hopefully it still will, but there was a lot less man versus nature than I was expecting. I want to know more and I want to see more! The good news is we are just getting started.

Would I recommend The Book of Koli to others?

Yes! Especially if you have loved other books by M.R. Carey. I'm really excited for the rest of the trilogy, and the next two books are at the top of my most anticipated list.

⭐⭐⭐⭐★
4/5 stars

Review copy provided by publisher

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jen (@bookdenjen) on Apr 28, 2020 at 5:09am PDT

New Favorites | Hollow Kingdom and Of Foster Homes and Flies

Do you ever read a book that you basically just loved and for various reasons you had a hard time reviewing? Below are a couple of books that I fell in love with recently and highly recommend.

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

One pet crow fights to save humanity from an apocalypse in this uniquely hilarious debut from a genre-bending literary author.

S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (those idiots), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos ®.

Then Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, and S.T. starts to feel like something isn't quite right. His most tried-and-true remedies--from beak-delivered beer to the slobbering affection of Big Jim's loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis--fail to cure Big Jim's debilitating malady. S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, where he discovers that the neighbors are devouring each other and the local wildlife is abuzz with rumors of dangerous new predators roaming Seattle. Humanity's extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a foul-mouthed crow whose knowledge of the world around him comes from his TV-watching education.

Hollow Kingdom is a humorous, big-hearted, and boundlessly beautiful romp through the apocalypse and the world that comes after, where even a cowardly crow can become a hero.

Hollow Kingdom is so good! And hilarious.

Hollow Kingdom is a science fiction, fantasy, post-apocalyptic, comedy, zombie book all rolled up into one told through the POV of a crow. What more could you possibly need to know? (Bonus: his companion is a dog.)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

---

Of Foster Homes and Flies by Chad Lutzke

A neglected 12-year-old boy does nothing to report the death of his mother in order to compete in a spelling bee. A tragic coming-of-age tale of horror and drama in the setting of a hot New Orleans summer.

"Coming of age... is this like Catcher in the Rye?" She makes a funny noise--one of disgust. "No way. I'd never pass that trash on to anyone. Trust me. This one's good."

I see why everyone speaks so highly of Chad Lutzke. I loved Of Foster Homes and Flies so much. I should write a longer review, but instead I'm going to spend my time hunting down more Lutzke stories to read.

If you love coming of age horror, you need to pick this one up.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Book Review | Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

Wanderers is an apocalyptic novel by Chuck Wendig.

A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world's last hope. In the tradition of The Stand and Station Eleven comes a gripping saga that weaves an epic tapestry of humanity into an astonishing tale of survival.

Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and are sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them–and an ultraviolent militia threatens to exterminate them–the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart–or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.

My experience with Wanderers was an interesting one. I was absolutely hooked when I started reading it. Chuck Wendig is a great writer!

Wanderers has everything: a large cast, an apocalyptic disease, a broad setting, artificial intelligence... I was here for it! The only problem is it was so epic for so long that I never really connected with anyone. I hit a wall when I got to 80%. Normally this would be something I could overcome, but Wanderers weighs in at 800 pages. I started making excuses: it's summer, I'm reading it on the Kindle, etc. By the time I got to 95%, though, I knew it wasn't me. As epic as Wanderers was, it didn't matter to me the ultimate fate of anyone. I would have felt the exact same way no matter what the outcome was.

I feel like most people won't have the problem that I did. Wanderers is really great on a lot of levels, I just personally never connected with it.

⭐⭐⭐★★

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | The Last by Hanna Jameson

The Last is a mystery novel from Hanna Jameson.

For fans of high-concept thrillers such as Annihilation and The Girl with All the Gifts, this breathtaking dystopian psychological thriller follows an American academic stranded at a Swiss hotel as the world descends into nuclear war—along with twenty other survivors—who becomes obsessed with identifying a murderer in their midst after the body of a young girl is discovered in one of the hotel’s water tanks.

Jon thought he had all the time in the world to respond to his wife’s text message: I miss you so much. I feel bad about how we left it. Love you. But as he’s waiting in the lobby of the L’Hotel Sixieme in Switzerland after an academic conference, still mulling over how to respond to his wife, he receives a string of horrifying push notifications. Washington, DC has been hit with a nuclear bomb, then New York, then London, and finally Berlin. That’s all he knows before news outlets and social media goes black—and before the clouds on the horizon turn orange.

Now, two months later, there are twenty survivors holed up at the hotel, a place already tainted by its strange history of suicides and murders. Those who can’t bear to stay commit suicide or wander off into the woods. Jon and the others try to maintain some semblance of civilization. But when the water pressure disappears, and Jon and a crew of survivors investigate the hotel’s water tanks, they are shocked to discover the body of a young girl.

As supplies dwindle and tensions rise, Jon becomes obsessed with investigating the death of the little girl as a way to cling to his own humanity. Yet the real question remains: can he afford to lose his mind in this hotel, or should he take his chances in the outside world?

I was not expecting such a post-apocalyptic novel!

What intrigued me the most before reading The Last was the "Agatha Christie meets Stephen King" quote. There was just no way I was going to pass that up. First of all, I didn't find Agatha Christie or Stephen King in the pages, but it's a cool quote. The Last is a mishmash of mystery and apocalyptic fiction, though.

I want to be clear - I loved this book. I do feel like it wasn't sure what it wanted to be most of the time. I know what I wanted it to be - a pure post-apocalypse. I loved the world of The Last, and I could have stayed there much, much longer. There were so many aspects that could have been expanded and explored. The framework of the novel was a mystery, though, and the apocalypse was one hell of a setting!

This was my first experience with Hanna Jameson's work, and it definitely won't be my last. She crafted something really great not just with the setting but with the characters as well. More than anything, The Last was about the characters and the relationships they built while the world was ending.

In the end, I'm giving The Last four stars instead of five simply due to the unexplored/unexplained aspects, but I still highly recommend reading this one.

⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Review copy provided by publisher

Review | The Sky Jumpers Series by Peggy Eddleman

Sky Jumpers (Sky Jumpers #1) by Peggy Eddleman

What happens when you can’t do the one thing that matters most?

12-year-old Hope lives in White Rock, a town struggling to recover from the green bombs of World War III. The bombs destroyed almost everything that came before, so the skill that matters most in White Rock—sometimes it feels like the only thing that matters—is the ability to invent so that the world can regain some of what it’s lost.

But Hope is terrible at inventing and would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb’s Breath—the deadly band of air that covers the crater the town lives in—than fail at yet another invention.

When bandits discover that White Rock has invented priceless antibiotics, they invade. The town must choose whether to hand over the medicine and die from disease in the coming months or to die fighting the bandits now. Hope and her friends, Aaren and Brock, might be the only ones who can escape through the Bomb’s Breath and make the dangerous trek over the snow-covered mountain to get help.

For once, inventing isn’t the answer, but the daring and risk-taking that usually gets Hope into trouble might just save them all.

Why did I read Sky Jumpers?

Those badass kids on the cover are cliff diving into a deadly band of air. I needed to find out more.

I've been excited about Sky Jumpers since before it was released, but I've continued to put it aside for other things. I came across the second book in this series on Overdrive, and I decided it was time to catch up.

The Strengths

The kids and the cliff diving completely lived up to the cover and my expectations.

Post-apocalypse. This is a middle grade post-apocalyptic. I have never read a post-apocalyptic book intended for such a young audience. For some reason I thought this would target kids a bit older, but my elementary kids could read this one. That's pretty exciting.

Friendships. Friendships are a big part of why I enjoy reading younger books. Everything doesn't dissolve into a romance. I like these kids.

Entertaining. Sky Jumpers was a fun read.

Stand alone. Sky Jumpers is the first in a series, but it is a full story that can stand on its own.

The Weaknesses

I'm too old to believe the science of Sky Jumpers. That's OK - it's still great fun, but sometimes it's easier to just "go with it" when you are still filled with the childhood magic that I no longer possess.

Would I recommend Sky Jumpers to others?

Absolutely, but more so to the younger readers in my life and adults who already partake in middle grade reads.

8/10: Great Read

Review copy provided by publisher

The Forbidden Flats (Sky Jumpers #2) by Peggy Eddleman

Escape one danger. Jump into another. . . .

Twelve-year-old Hope has always felt a little different from everyone else who lives in White Rock. She tries hard, but she doesn’t always think before she acts. She takes big risks. Sometimes her risks pay off, but sometimes they fail. Sometimes she fails.

Hope knows that the most dangerous thing about living in White Rock is that it’s so close to the deadly Bomb’s Breath—the invisible, fifteen-foot-thick band of compressed air that’s hovered over the earth since the Green Bombs of World War III. The citizens of White Rock live in fear of the Bomb’s Breath. Only Hope has figured out a way to go through it—and lived to tell the tale.

But when a massivetremor rips across the earth, the Bomb’s Breath begins to lower over White Rock. It’s up to Hope and her friends Brock and Aaren to make the dangerous journey far from home across the bandit-ridden Forbidden Flats to the wilds of the Rocky MMountainsobtain the one thing that may be able to stop it—before the Bomb’s Breath sinks too far and destroys them all. This time, Hope can’t fail.

I had a great time reading Sky Jumpers so I went straight into reading The Forbidden Flats.

This was a great followup. The Bomb's Breath - the deadly air that the kids were cliff diving into in Sky Jumpers - is now lowering over their town. The kids have to figure out how to stop it. It's a brilliant premise.

I didn't love The Forbidden Flats as much as Sky Jumpers, but I had a great time with this series.

7/10: Recommended Read

Book Review | Swan Song by Robert McCammon

Swan Song is an epic post-apocalyptic novel by Robert McCammon.

Book Description

In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets; Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station; and Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Missouri town where healing and recovery can begin with Swan's gifts. But the ancient force behind earth's devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits for its relentless army, beginning with Swan herself.

Here's the bottom line: Swan Song is one of my favorite books of all time. It's one of the books I was most looking forward to rereading during my The Great McCammon Read. It stills impacts me every bit as much as the first time I read it.

Swan Song is very dark, and it's scary, but it's also one of the most beautiful and hopeful books I have ever read.

Weighing in at 956 pages, it's a huge story in every sense of the word. There are characters you will hate and fear as well as characters you will fall in love with and care about long after you've finished reading. There is magic, evil, goodness, hope, ruin, and beauty throughout the pages of Swan Song.

If you are a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, Swan Song is an absolute must read. I give it my highest recommendation.

10/10: Awesome

Book Review | Horizon by Sophie Littlefield

Horizon is the third and final installment in Sophie Littlefield's Aftertime series.

Book Description

Cass Dollar is a survivor. She's overcome the meltdown of civilization, humans turned mindless cannibals, and the many evils of man.

But from beneath the devastated California landscape emerges a tendril of hope. A mysterious traveler arrives at New Eden with knowledge of a passageway North—a final escape from the increasingly cunning Beaters. Clutching this dream, Cass and many others decamp and follow him into the unknown.

Journeying down valleys and over barren hills, Cass remains torn between two men. One—her beloved Smoke—is not so innocent as he once was. The other keeps a primal hold on her that feels like Fate itself. And beneath it all, Cass must confront the worst of what's inside her—dark memories from when she was a Beater herself. But she, and all of the other survivors, will fight to the death for the promise of a new horizon….

Horizon is a fitting conclusion for Sophie Littlefield's Aftertime series. I was thrilled to see the zombies make a significant return for the finale.

The only flaw I found with Horizon and the Aftertime series as a whole was a lack of connection to the characters. Cass Dollar was pretty different in each book, and I never managed to like any of the versions of her.

Thankfully I loved the story, and I found unforgettable moments throughout the series. I do recommend you read Aftertime and Rebirth before reading Horizon. There is a novella, Survivors, between the first two that I recommend as well, but it's not necessary.

Littlefield has created such an epic world within the Aftertime series. Even though we are left with a resolved ending and so many answers were given in Horizon, it feels like the series could go on forever. I can close my eyes and picture what's happening in the Aftertime world right now. It makes me sad that the series has ended which is always the mark of a great read.

7/10: Recommended

Review copy provided by publisher