Friday Memes and 'Smoke' by Dan Vyleta

It's Friday and I cannot believe, I repeat, CANNOT believe that this week has gone so quickly! There is so much that I had planned to do and none of it happened. My inability to plan my time appropriately aside, I am gutted that Germany has been kicked out of the Euros so undeservedly! We should be in that final!! Ok, maybe let's actually get on with the Friday Memes then before I start crying? Today I'm sharing teasers from Smoke, by Dan Vyleta.

'The laws of Smoke are complex. Not every lie will trigger it. A fleeting thought of evil may pass unseen. Next thing you know its smell is in your nose. There is no more hateful smell in the world than the smell of Smoke . . .'

If sin were visible and you could see people's anger, their lust and cravings, what would the world be like?

Smoke opens in a private boarding school near Oxford, but history has not followed the path known to us. In this other past, sin appears as smoke on the body and soot on the clothes. Children are born carrying the seeds of evil within them. The ruling elite have learned to control their desires and contain their sin. They are spotless. 

It is within the closeted world of this school that the sons of the wealthy and well-connected are trained as future leaders. Among their number are two boys, Thomas and Charlie. On a trip to London, a forbidden city shrouded in smoke and darkness, the boys will witness an event that will make them question everything they have been told about the past. For there is more to the world of smoke, soot and ash than meets the eye and there are those who will stop at nothing to protect it . . .

Book Beginnings and Friday 56 are hosted by Gillion over at Rose City Reader and Freda over at Freda's City. Hop over there to join in on the meme fun!


Book Beginnings:

'SchoolExamination"Thomas, Thomas! Wake up!"

The first thing he does upon waking is to search his nightshirt, his bedding for soiling. He does so quickly, mechanically, still more than half asleep: runs a palm over his skin feeling for the telltale git of Soot.' 1%

Well this has me intrigued! I wonder what the Soot is about although I definitely think that it's related to the Smoke! I'm also wondering why he is searching himself for it,

Friday 56:

'The window is veiled in frost, disclosing nothing, but when he lifts it, carefully, quietly, it opens up over the flat roof of a shed cushioned with a foot of snow. He slides the child out first, dives after her.' 56%

Why is there a child being slid out of a window? That's my first remark. The second is that I love the description of the window and the frost. With this kind of prose reading Smoke will be a lot of fun!


What do you think of Smoke? Are you intrigued by the blurb?

Leave a link to your Friday post in the comments and hop by my Mr. Splitfoot review, if you have the time!