Monochrome

by Jamie Costello

16-year-old Grace awakes one morning to find the sky leaden, the sun huge ball of ash, the clouds like threatening rubble, and reports of unexplained accidents occurring on roads and rail. These are the hallmarks of an apocalyptic movie, but it quickly becomes apparent that everything, to the rest of her family, seems normal; Grace is one of only a handful of people in the country who are seeing the world in shades of grey.

Soon, however, the whole of society is in the grip of the Monochrome Effect, or 'greyout', which eliminates the ability of humans and animals to see colour. The greyout moves from person to person, but it isn't a transmissible disease: the effect on the optic nerve can be traced from microplastics in the ocean, the result of unchecked pollution, now in all water systems.

When Grace starts to experience intermittent 'colour episodes', she is asked to join a government-run study with other teens who have seen flashes of colour since the Monochrome Effect began. She is told that she will be helping find a cure; be part of something that could save the world. But the reality is much more sinister, complex and dangerous than she could ever have imagined - colour vision is now currency, and to those in power, worth the ultimate price...

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 6, 2022

Reviews

[bookishcharli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one to be a really great read that made me question a LOT of things in life. I hadn’t come across another book like this in my travels and just knew I needed to pick it up. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what living life without colour might look like before I read this book and now I feel like I pay a lot more attention to colour in my every day life than I ever did before. The pacing was perfect for me and I enjoyed it all being from one POV of Grace rather than multiples.

A thought provoking book that should be on everyone’s TBR if they enjoy a good dystopian read.


Thank you so much to Beth at Little Brown for sending me a copy.

[Lauren | Wordsbetweenlines · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️

I am not usually into dystopian reads but I enjoyed this! The concept of existing without seeing colour was something new to me and thought provoking. I wouldn’t have minded a bit more backstory into how everyone lost the sight of colour, that felt a bit rushed and like here it is. But once we passed that point I was into it.


The story was fast paced and had both intrigue and sinister elements that kept you going. Grace is only doing what she believes is her moral obligation to help science bring colour back to everyone. But when does science cross that line? How far do you go to change the world?

How far would you go to get sight of colour back?

[Louis Ilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Admit I was skeptical at first, after randomly getting this book out of a small library during vacation, without ever hearing of it or its author, but this is a really good read if you're looking for a dystopian story.

It kind of felt like a blend between ideas from Blindness by J. Saramago and The Institute by S.K.
Definitely deserves more than 3.55 ⭐️

[Francesca]

Finally finished another book!!! I liked how this book covered lots of important issues, like micro plastics, climate change and wealth inequality. It went darker than I was expecting at points, like damn. Good characters, good plot - a good book all round.

[Lauren | Wordsbetweenlines · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️


I am not usually into dystopian reads but I enjoyed this! The concept of existing without seeing colour was something new to me and thought provoking. I wouldn’t have minded a bit more backstory into how everyone lost the sight of colour, that felt a bit rushed and like here it is. But once we passed that point I was into it.


The story was fast paced and had both intrigue and sinister elements that kept you going. Grace is only doing what she believes is her moral obligation to help science bring colour back to everyone. But when does science cross that line? How far do you go to change the world?

How far would you go to get sight of colour back?

Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was extremely impressed by Jamie Costello’s debut Monochrome, set in a version of our world (initially London) where colour gradually disappears from the world’s population and everybody only sees in black and white or monochrome. The novel has a strong environmental twang to it and is reminiscent of Green Rising by Lauren James which also involves big business and government conspiracies with teens fighting back against ‘the man’ to save the planet. The world Costello paints was very convincing, how might things be if there were no colour? Many animals die, there are car crashes everywhere and the speed limits are reduced, depression is rampant, eating disorders increase as food becomes strangely unappetising and slowly but surely public services begin to grind to a halt. Monochrome was a thoughtful book which was cleverly restrained and does not go full out into the stereotypes popular in teen dystopian fiction. The main character, sixteen-year-old Grace, is a million miles away from Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games and is all the better for it. Strangely, this great book made me thing of the seventies Charlton Heston film The Omega Man, but I doubt any genuine teen readers will have seen it.

Monochrome starts with Grace waking up to seeing the world in black and white and after heading to the hospital her family realise this is happening all over the world and soon nobody can see in colour. The manner in which the shades of grey were described and the impact upon moods was vividly portrayed as the Greyout’ or the ‘Monochrome Effect’ continued to spread. Loss of colour vision is traced to polluted water systems; microplastics covered in harmful bacteria have been poured into the ocean for years. With failing harvests and stay-at-home orders in a world on the brink of a major ecological disaster, there appears to be no cure - until one day Grace sees a single flash of red. This leads us to the main part of the novel, teens who see flashes of colour become lab rats because of these ‘colour episodes’ and they realise the scientists are up to no good. Adult readers will realise where the plot is heading, which has a great message without ever getting patronising or worthy. Let the fightback begin! This was a great blend of science fiction, dystopia and political intrigue, there was virtually no swearing or sex so any strong reader might enjoy it. AGE RANGE 12/13+

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really interesting concept! Personally, I felt the execution was a little bit rushed, but there's a lot to enjoy here and a lot that will stay with you afterwards.

The idea itself is really clever and not one I've seen anywhere before. I hadn't thought about how losing colour vision would affect other things like taste, but it really made me think. I have caught myself looking at coloured things a bit more than I used to, which I'm not at all sorry about! If that's the lingering effect this book has, it'll be a great one.

However, I did feel like the story moved very quickly. That's not always a bad thing, but being in one person's POV means we didn't know a lot of what was going on elsewhere. I would have loved to know how the world was dealing, or even a few more details on the apparent collapse of society that was going on outside the estate walls. Plus, of course, the romance went from 'what a horrible boy' to 'love of my life' in about three days, which always strikes me as weird.

Overall I did enjoy this. The ending leaves an opening for more books and I would definitely want to know what happens next. Worth the read.

[KAlday · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an exciting concept, and very fun to explore. The moral was on the nose, and the ending was rushed and underdeveloped. With so many characters, there was also a general lack of character development. It would've been nice to have more vivid descriptions of when the characters experienced colour vision to make it more exciting and real. Overall, it was predictable and a lot more telling than showing.

A generous three stars.

[Layla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh this was fine I guess an interesting premises but I found the love love interest INFURIATING like mate you are one of the only people who can save peoples vision and your bitching about politics get over yourself no one care about your sad backstory. Just because you think your better than everyone else doesn't mean you are. Also I bet you have a crap hair cut.

[Stevie O · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept for the world but a slapdash structure of story telling. Really disappointed to see flat characters and unreasonable reactions from characters along the way. If felt like a free story from Amazon. Just pedestrian and not fully immersing itself into anything with confidence.

I’d avoid for the cringy romance too between two really average characters.

[Cassidy Thibodeau · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really cool concept with some unique world-building, especially in how it weaves in political elements like microplastics and an environmentally dystopian future. Since it’s a YA novel, the writing did feel a bit childish and predictable at times. The climax was also a little rushed, but overall, it was a short, enjoyable read that gave me some nostalgic maze runner-esque vibes.

[Miko Huang · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a reasonably good read but it did not really engage me as much as I thought it would. It was interesting to see how a world without colours will be and the repercussions. But the novel felt lacking, i am not sure why. Maybe it was the lack of engagement outside the main characters.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This dystopian style novel was an amazing book to read, I would definitely recommend. Most of the book was exciting and interesting, although towards the end, some things just didn't quite make sense to me because everything was happening so quickly, but I will be re-reading it soon.

[Nikki N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it was a bit hard to follow

It's like a realistic dystopian?
Partly because the situation is not super unrealistic, and more importantly: it starts out the same as our world.
This is an important book that says a lot about society and the danger it can be to itself.

[Jae · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept of this book is interesting but the author needed to limit some elements. There are way too many characters!

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really well written and well paced. Loved the characters as well as their development. Amazing!!

[Hermione pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good i liked it
A bit young for me but still nice

[Amelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

Pretty solid book with an extremely interesting concept. I felt some parts were a little too quickly paced but otherwise a great book !!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the premise of this book and really enjoyed its execution. It just lost me a little bit in the last third. 4 stars.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sounds like it could happen😰

[Steph Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable read, if a little far fetched in places. I liked the references to the covid pandemic, and the mirroring of how the economy evolved throughout it (although thankfully it never got as bad in real life as it does in the book!).

Very interesting statement on climate change, framing it in a way that affects humans, and animals, which would perhaps make people take it more seriously.

Well written, and I liked that the characters were fleshed out in believable ways (we all have our faults, of course). Definitely a thought-provoking read.

[Sparrow2Finch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept but a little underwhelming. Felt unfinished 3/5