The winner of Channel 4’s ‘How to Get Published’ in 2004, The Olive Readers is Christine Aziz’s debut novel.

A fantastic first novel for Aziz, The Olive Readers is set in a dystopian society in our future. There is currently a large volume of work (Hunger Games and Divergent series to name just a popular few) about dystopian society; which would have current readers considering if this is the way, our world is indeed headed. Aziz uses environmental issues for the reason behind The Olive Readers dystopian future, and those concerned about the environment today would find this an interesting read.

The premise is simple, we ruined our world through exploiting the environment, there was an uprising, now the world is run by different ‘Companies’ who control all commodities, and there are war’s between differing and neighbouring Companies for control. The population now live in a worldwide Diaspora, with none knowing their true histories, heritages, or languages. Step in the Readers, who have collected and hidden the books from the Companies.

The Olive Readers, is told from Jephzat’s point of view, her transformation through the story from an innocent young woman into a leader is a highlight of the book, and would appeal to many young women about to make their mark on the world. Jephzat, living alone after her sister died and her parents removed by the Company, falls in love and is introduced to the library. Through her relationships with the villagers and access to the library, Jephzat soon discovers there are secrets the Companies have suppressed for generations.

The setting up of the story was expressive and engaging; the ending, unfortunately, felt rushed, and disappointingly, I had questions about how everything fitted together in the end. Still, I enjoyed it. The Olive Readers gave me moments to ponder, on where our current exploitation of fossil fuels and the environment will lead us in the future. It was an interesting story, but a little more attention towards the end would have seen The Olive Readers excel. I hope to see more from Christine Aziz in the future. ( )

Did not finish, took too long to get going. ( )

A great book. Don't be put off by the Richard and Judy tag. She starts well, giving us some really eclectic characters and a setting within a future distopian world. Don't think sci-fi however, this is far from that. The plot develops around a central female character who is happy to usurp the authority of the ruling class. I won't go in to details of the plot but the ending seems very rushed and lacks the carefully crafted wordplay of the rest of the book. The narrator also seems to be talking to us in the past to perhaps alert us to the environmantal damage that we are doing. However it is never clear how she knows that we are reading this before she wrote it. Unless I missed something of course!! Overall a fantastic read. ( )

Language often emotional and dramatic, but intriguing idea. Set in the far future, when the world is controlled by big business. The readers use secret libraries to find out about their past. Christine sets up a complicated story to make her final point about the meaning of life. ( )

I bought this novel thinking it was going to be a book about books - which it was - but the book spirals downwards into the most ridiculous ending I have ever come across. The 'sphinx' device left me extremely confused. I have no idea what the author was thinking but it seems to me that she wrote it in a rush. Some of the early parts reminded me of Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. Also, like 1984, it gives us a warning of what we are doing to the world and of what we stand to lose. ( )