The Fall of Koli

We have reached the third and final volume of Mike Carey’s Rampart Trilogy. It is a long time since I read this book, but it is very memorable.

From my point of view, The Trials of Koli was the key book in the sequence. That was the one in which Ursala and Cup needed to come to an agreement regarding Cup’s medical gender transition, so that was the book where I was providing Mike with a lot of background data. The Fall of Koli was the book when all of that set-up got put into action. I just got to sit back and watch Mike in action.

I don’t know about you folks, but my jaw hit the ground when I found out what was going on aboard the Sword of Albion. There’s a lot of British politics going on in this bit of the story. I hope that readers in other countries got some idea of what Mike was talking about.

Of course there was also Spinner’s character arc to resolve. While the three books are all named after Koli, Spinner’s character arc is in many ways the more interesting and important one. I certainly wouldn’t have predicted that from the first book, but that’s the skill of the author hiding things in plain sight.

I must admit that the scene where Spinner and Cup finally meet each other is one of my favourite parts in the whole series. The bit where Elaine gives Spinner tips on breastfeeding is pretty spectacular too. (Elaine is the uploaded mind of a long-dead woman soldier.)

Of course, as this is the final book, there have to be endings. Some of them are happier than others. Some are more obvious than others. I was pleased that Veso got a resolution as well.

Looking back on the series, my main feeling is that it was an absolute honour to have had a small part in its creation. Watching Mike in action was fascinating, and I should note that he always took my suggestions with respect and interest, even if not all of them were useful.

There’s a blog tour going on at the moment. Most of the reviews I have seen have studiously avoided mentioning the trans elements of the books. That’s OK. What’s important to me is that people have been reading a series of excellent books which happen to feature two young trans people whose stories are about much more than simply being trans. Thank you, Mike, that is a fine thing that you have done there.

Title: The Fall of Koli
By: Mike Carey
Publisher: Orbit
Purchase links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Bookshop.org UK
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