A beautifully crafted dystopian world of conformity and corruption, Wool follows the journey of Juliette on her way from mechanic to sheriff within a post-apocalyptic underground silo.

Wool began as a series of novellas independently published online and went on to became a major success scoring Howey a six figure book deal. Howey still retains the exclusive online rights and recently sold the film rights to 20th Century Fox.

With a refreshing plot that strays away from traditional conventions as each layer is revealed, Wool is a thrilling read full of twists and turns and a triumph of self publishing.


- Toby

Pat Grant brings us a beautifully illustrated tale centred around localism and xenophobia. Set in the small beach side town of Bolton, Blue follows three kids who wag school to go surfing and check out a dead body. They're not a particularly nice gang of kids but Pat Grant gives just enough insight into their lives for the reader to see part of themselves. As the story develops we learn of the arrival of blue skinned aliens and their struggle to assimilate against the will of the unwelcoming locals.

The illustrations are bold, filled with fluid lines and visual metaphors.
Inspired partly by the Cronulla riots Pat Grant explores Australian nationalism and immigration while weaving an adventurous story of adolescence.
Blue is a playful comic with a very serious core. Recommended reading and viewing!

- Toby

Embark on the adventures and failures of Yunior, once again, in Diaz' latest collection of short stories. Beautifully written with sprinkles of Spanglish and Latino culture, these tales focus on the breaking points of various relationships surrounding Yunior and his family.

Since first reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao I've been a huge fan of Diaz' unique voice and this latest collection doesn't disappoint

Packing an enormous hit to the heart strings, This is How You Lose Her traverses a sea of loss, heartache, regret and hope with complex characters bursting from it's pages while maintaining a humorous edge throughout. Definitely in my top 5 for 2012

- Toby

A phenomenal dystopian series set in a world where human colonists have settled on a distant planet, Chaos Walking follows Todd's journey as his world starts to collapse and he learns everything he thought was true was a lie. Viola, his counterpart, is a newly arrived settler who discovers the atrocities first hand and must adjust to this incredibly harsh environment while navigating her relationship with Todd and the people of this world. Along their path Todd and Viola are faced with increasingly difficult choices and their decision will often come back to haunt them.

This is a wonderful set of books that deal with many philosophical questions of race, slavery, oppression and at its heart, good and evil. Ness deals with good and evil in a very mature way making it as confusing in the books as in real life. Often the heroes and villains will show traits of both while committing heinous atrocities or acts of compassion and this humanises each character in a remarkable way. As the story unfolds you begin to see how hatred and desire for power has warped each characters perception and how much the settlers have strayed from their original goals.

Chaos Walking is a powerful series that creates an overwhelming desire to page turn into the wee hours. If you haven't picked this up yet, do yourself a favour and buy all three at once!

- Toby