Colours

Earth Incorporated #1

by Adrian J. Walker

People used to live in places called countries. They raised flags and elected governments to rule them. They had a nationality.

But that was a long time ago.

The words ’nation’ and ‘government’ are relics, things of the past. It has been centuries since the last tattered flag was raised.

Now, the world is dominated by corporations and the people that live within their vast, protective shells are the lucky employees. The less fortunate, the consumers, live outside in the Hoards.

Leafen is one such corporation, a technology giant famous for its Fronds - genetic implants that connect users to a vast social network. And for Leafen's 40 million employees, turning sixteen is a very special day. This is the day of their Colours - the personality grading test that will guide their behaviour, and the behaviour of everyone they meet, throughout their busy lives.

Your Colours define you.

Under the guidance of The Market - an omniscient AI system worshipped globally as a deity - and its annual nano-mite sweeps, everything is as it should be. Corporations produce and the Hoards consume.

But when Leafen is suddenly attacked by a huge and ruthless defence corporation, the population is thrown into confusion, and some of its staff are about to find out that life within the protective shell of their home is not what they thought it was.

Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fiction

501 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 19, 2015

About the author

Adrian J Walker was born in the bush suburbs of Sydney, Australia in the mid '70s. After his father found a camper van in a ditch, he moved his family back to the UK, where Adrian was raised.

His second novel, The End of the World Running Club, is a post-apocalyptic running fable about hope, love and endurance. It is being published by Del Rey UK, in May 2016.

His third novel, Colours, is the first part in a dystopian sci-fi trilogy and is available now.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colours is set in a future where corporations have taken the place of governments. People with jobs live inside the Corporations, the masses without jobs are the Hoards, living just outside the giant box, and then, of course, there are the people who refuse to live as part of the Hoards or the Corporations and they are even further away (where the sky is still true blue and the sun true yellow - where the colours are still true - and the weather isn’t controlled by a computer). It’s a great story just to read, but Walker does even better by including philosophical questions about time and location in terms of human understanding. He places real historical events into the context for even better understanding of how the world works and could change in different ways. He explores morality as his characters are put to the test to do what they are told, or what they know is right. Because it is the first in a trilogy, there are many areas that weren't developed, but it is well written and thought out and I'm very excited to continue reading when the next book comes out. (And don't forget to check out his other books -- I started with The End of the World Running Club, which was fantastic and made me follow his work)

[Barbara Barrett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Colours has clearly been written as the first book in an intended series but unfortunately it failed to capture my interest , or inspire me to seek out any sequels that may appear. I simply didn’t care enough about any of the characters or what might happen next. A real pity as I loved “The end of the world Running Club”.

[Karen Turner-Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eagerly awaiting Book 2 !

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started reading this novel. I loved End of the World Running Club and The Last Dog in the World, but the start of Colours is very different and it took me a couple of chapters to really get into it. But I am so glad I kept reading because by chapter 3, I was hooked. I loved it. A very unusual story - reminding me in one or two places of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, and also the quirky and brilliant imaginings of Philip K. Dick. If you have ever spent any time working in the corporate world you will appreciate the satirical tone of Colours and its clever use of the jargon and ubiquitous buzzwords. The Underground people in particular are a delight. And the characters and settings are well-thought out with a plotline that keeps you turning the page. I am so looking forward to the next book in the series as I want to know what happens to everyone in Leafen, and those who are now on the other side of the Fabrik for a whole multitude of plot reasons. Highly recommend if you like original and offbeat stories with a cast of very different, and often flawed, characters, well-written and laced with clever humour and dialogue. Five stars from me.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am so glad that this wasn't my first Adrian J Walker book, because if it had been it would have been my last and I would have missed out on some of my absolute favourite books. I so enjoyed End of the World Running Club, The Last Dog on Earth and Other Lives so this book felt like it had been written by someone else.

I found it difficult to identify with, or like, any of the characters in the story. There were just so many of them and to me it felt disjointed. Perhaps because it's the first book in the series it's setting up the big cast for the next books. I don't know, but I'm honestly not interested in finding out.

I will continue to read this author's books and totally recommend the ones mentioned above. This once just didn't grab me like the others.

[T A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Colourless

For the most part this novel was boring. Every so often something marginally interesting occurs which was just enough to keep me reading. I had little to no investment in any of the characters and it was really only the last 50 pages or so that saved this from 1 star.
Love the author's other works but this was drab

[Barry Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bright and engaging book that is fit to bursting with ideas. It's a future dystopia, with mega Corporations replacing governments and nations. The social structure is based on personality types (the titular colours) and a human resources hierarchy. And of course, all this is threatened and a plucky band of disparate folk have to put it all back together again somehow. None of which sounds half as good as it actually turns out to be on reading. There's a level of satire that runs underneath a lot of this story, that sometimes pops up as outright humour, but usually exists as a dark warning about the morality of capitalism and consumerism. The characters are varied, with their own foibles and agendas. The world is built chapter by chapter, but you're never left confused and flailing despite the big ideas and Capitalised Conceits.
You'll spot a load of touch points from genre fiction as you go, but they don't distract from the narrative drive at all. There look to be more of these on the horizon, and I'll happily pick them up to see what's next for this fascinating setting.

[Aggro Naught · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly, I did receive an advanced copy of this book for the purpose of an honest review.

I had read the End of the World Running Club by Walker, which was a cracking good story so was quite excited to get Colours. Having just finished binge reading all of the Howey's Wool series Adrian Walker had quite a story to keep me entertained with.

He gone and done it with Colours.

Without letting the cat out of the bag and spoiling a compelling story, Colours on the surface is a very simple yarn, but don't let this fool you. The story itself has many layers to it and the characters extremely deep. Walker has found a way, in a few pages, to add so much depth to them with out making them contrived and allowing the reader to make their own opinions of them.

Science Fiction? Yes, alarmingly just around the corner?

Brilliant and honest story telling.

Fantastic to the last page, truly hoping for more.

[Sid Stiles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucky enough to receive an ARC of the new book by Mr. Walker, and I really enjoyed it. I read "End of the World Running Club" last year (5 Stars for that one!), and immediately added Mr. Walker to my favorite authors list. Without giving anything away, this book takes place in a well-realized future world run by corporations rather than governments. I was afraid a book like this might step too far into heavy-handed social commentary for me, but Mr. Walker did not stray into that territory, instead providing a well-told tale that stayed interesting and was peopled with characters that were well-developed and had depth to them. Well done, Mr. Walker - you remain on my list of must-read authors! The book wrapped up with good closure for the ending, but with enough interesting story lines dangling to make good bait to attract readers to a sequel.

[Fraser Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly engaging read! The book takes the idea of large corporations as global powers and takes it all to a conceivable outcome, corporations become nations, 'the Market' becomes religion and corporate culture becomes society. There are highly interesting story threads set up in the first part of this trilogy that I cannot wait to see developed in the coming books. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the next instalment! As an aside, I read recently that In the real world, in recent history the Chinese government allegedly hacked Google. Google turned the information over the the US FBI. However Google have some of the best engineers in the world. What if Google acting on its own had waged a cyber attack back on the Chinese government in retaliation? Corporations waging wars against nation states? It's not inconceivable.

[Glenn Curry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting something out of Max Headroom by the description, which would not have been bad. The author brought it in a direction I did not see coming. Second book I have enjoyed by the author that deals with a possible future without having to deal with diseases or zombies.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good start to the series. I like the premise of a world dominated and run by business and what that would mean for the people living in it. Walker has created some sympathetic characters and set up some intriguing links to make you want to read the next book. Looking forward to it!