The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey (Orbit, 2020)

★★★☆☆

A young boy, living in a post-apocalyptic world where carnivorous trees eat people, is forced to leave the safety of his village.

Another beloved of The Bookstore. I enjoyed the storytelling voice Carey spun: the reflections of present-Koli on the life of past-Koli, and (surprisingly) the Huckleberry Finn-ish vernacular style as well. But I wasn’t especially moved by the story or worldbuilding. Plot-wise, Koli kind of feels like an aged-up version of Beyond the Deepwoods; indeed, it doesn’t seem to be marketed as YA, but it is extremely YA-like.

I do think the characters are interesting. The villagers in Mythen Rood feel fleshed out, and the conflict there compelling. But once we leave the village, all the development from the first half is suspended—even if the messianic antagonist who figures into the second half is another compelling choice. I get that it’s the first installment of a trilogy, so I’m probably invested enough to keep reading, but most of it does feel like setup.