Category: dystopian

Book Review: Sea of Rust

June 28, 2024

Title: Sea of Rust
Author: C. Robert Cargill
Genre: Sci-fi; Dystopian
Book Length: 274 Pages (print)
Format Read: eBook
Year Published: September 5, 2017

Date Started: May 18, 2024
Date finished: June 3, 2024

This story follows Brittle, a robot wandering the earth who encounters other AIs. Together they discover the demise of humans and learn how robots share parts to stay intact and functional longer.

This story felt chaotic and messy, plus there wasn’t enough focus on why Brittle wanted to survive or live through this world. Apparently, all humans were extinct, however, I recall Brittle and her companions coming across a human losing his mind, running away from them. There was also a scene where a robot tricked another robot for his parts. I didn’t really understand the purpose of that because, again, I didn’t know what the reason was for them to want to live. I did enjoy how the robot was programmed to deceive the other robot. However, I found the concept of robots being sentient or having emotions a bit odd because it wasn’t explained how this came to be. Additionally, throughout the story, I assumed Brittle was a male robot because the characteristics seemed masculine to me.

I believe this story could have benefited from a different approach. It felt torn between depicting war and chaos and focusing on the robots’ quest for a “human-like” consciousness. This made the story feel disjointed and confusing. While I’m all for sentient-like robots and the journey to achieving sentience, this story failed to offer insights into that process.

Who should read this book: If you enjoy stories with and about robots, you might enjoy this one. I might consider this book leaning toward hard sci-fi, but I wouldn’t classify it all as hard sci-fi because the robots’ emotions and sentient thinking makes it soft sci-fi.

Book Review: 1Q84 (Books 1, 2, and 3)

March 6, 2024

Title: 1Q84 (Books 1, 2, and 3)
Author: Haruki Murakami
Genre: Dystopian
Book Length: Novel
Book Type: eBook
Year Published: October 25, 2011

Date Started: February 11, 2024
Date finished: February24, 2024

I did’t realize it but I had read the trilogy in one book. This review will encompass all three books.

In book one, we are introduced to the two main characters: a woman named Aomame and a man named Tengo. Aomame is an assassin who has a unique way of killing her subjects. She goes undetected but she’s still nervous about getting found out. While on her way to assassinate a man in a hotel, she notices a change in the sky. She asks a policeman if he notices it, but he doesn’t. She goes on her way and gets the job done. Later, she takes a break and finds herself a man to sleep with. She then later finds a woman who’s into BDSM and ends up in a foursome situation in which she can’t remember a thing about. She then meets a woman by the name, Dowager and begins to work for her.

Tengo is a professor at a university. He has a friend who wants him to rewrite a story in a way that could be published. This friend is an editor/publisher, so in a way, he was able to persuade a hesitant Tengo to write it. Along the way, Tengo meets the original writer and the person with the idea behind this story. They spend a lot of time together with Tengo treating her like a friend because she’s a lot younger than he is and he respects her. Tengo though, is sleeping with an older married woman and enjoys her company as much as she enjoys his. The book Tengo was rewriting gets published and creates a strange secret chaos between two groups of people.

In book two, we are introduced to a few new characters. One of them is a private detective named Ushikawa. He appears to be following Tengo, but he’s also curious about Aomame. He works for a group known as Sakigake whose leader’s name is simply, Leader. Aomame is asked to assassin Leader and does so but learns after his death that she is with child. Not his child, but Tengo’s. She doesn’t know how that happened and it remains a mystery. Book two brings Aomame and Tengo closer. They don’t meet but they live within reach of each other. Neither is aware how close the other one is. More people die but not by Aomame’s hands. The Sakigake have started to follow both Aomame and Tengo closer and it seems they plan to either take down one or both of them. Aomame learns this and she’s prepared to die so that Tengo can live even though she hasn’t met him since their childhood.

Book three ties everything together. Ushikawa is taken down by Aomame’s handler because he (her handler) was responsible for her safety. Ushikawa had figured out that Aomame was living in the same apartment he was and that led him to locate Tengo. It was a tight situation, and her handler took the chance because he couldn’t have her dead. The ending was a bit bland. I was hoping for a real strong conclusion and resolution, but it wasn’t there.

This book was interesting because it referenced the book 1984 multiple times. There was also a lot of sexual activities, so I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone younger than 18. Overall, this was an okay read. There was a lot going on—lots of reflecting, but not so much action. There were some thought provoking points that had me dwell on it a bit, but otherwise, it wasn’t what I had expected.

Who should read this book: If you’re into dystopian, deep-thinking stories, you’ll like this. There were some tasteful action scenes, but otherwise be ready to be emersed in backstory and random thoughts.

Book Review: Saha

March 31, 2023

Title: Saha
Author: Cho Nam-Joo
Genre: Sci-fi; Dystopian
Year Published: November 1, 2022

Date Started: November 24, 2022
Date finished: November 26, 2022

This is a story about a future where a caste system truly separates the haves from the have-nots. In an apartment complex known as the Saha Estates, the occupants live quietly, keeping to themselves. Jobs are hard to come by and when there is a job offer, they are usually boring or hard labor and pay very little. The story unfolds when a man from Saha is accused of murder and finds himself hiding from the police. His sister learns of the murder and tries to find him but it’s more difficult than she thought. Eventually, the sister finds out the truth and tries to take down the people who forced this life on her and anyone who suffered under the hands of those in power.

Throughout the story, we are taken through the backstories of a few of the residents at Saha. Their story plays a part in the brother and sister’s story, sometimes indirectly, but provide insights into the rigid world they live in. At first, I wasn’t sure I understood the importance of learning about these characters’ past, but I believe it’s to show us the fear and unfairness these characters had to endure. It created a well-rounded world where everyone was afraid to question their neighbors and authorities.

The translation was done extremely well. I’m sure there were things lost in translation but the overall feel of that world and the characters in it all painted a very visual dystopian society. This story would make for a great movie, and I’d gladly go watch it. If you are a fan of near future or far future bleak sci-fi, you’ll enjoy this.   

Who should read this book: If you love very dark dystopian, murder mystery, and a completely controlled society, this one will hit the spot.

Book Review: Tender Is the Flesh

March 30, 2023

Title: Tender Is the Flesh
Author: Augustina Bazterrica
Genre: Sci-fi; Dystopian; Horror
Year Published: August 4, 2020

Date Started: August 1, 2022
Date finished: August 7, 2022

This book was given to me by my daughter to read because she enjoyed it. The story is about cannibalism in a future world where humans can’t eat other meats because of disease so they resort to eating human meat. Some humans are made specifically for eating. They are treated, let’s just say, how cow-farms are presumed to be treated by humans in the modern world.

The story is about a man who works in one of these human-farming companies. He and his wife are trying to have a baby but are having difficulty. The man doesn’t eat the human meat. There are strict laws on how to treat these humans and the man breaks the law. He was gifted a female human for his consumption. Because this man doesn’t eat human meat, he decides to sleep with her and in doing so impregnates her. The story snowballs into a big mess.

This was an okay story. I liked the idea of a future where meat can’t be eaten, but I didn’t like the execution. I’ve read books on cannibalism before so was curious about this one’s take. The story went on about the man and copulation with the human made for consumption. I have no issues with that, but it was that it didn’t make sense. It sort of just came out of left field. It felt like this was two stories badly sewn together. There was no clue as to why this man did what he did to this female. He could have sold this woman to the black market for a much higher price for an adoption or traded her for a baby. There were so many ways to go about this story to make it more exciting and thought provoking, but it didn’t do that for me. It was all going for the shock, but if you’re an avid reader and read multiple genres, the shock really doesn’t work. I needed more.

I almost didn’t review this book because I didn’t feel that it was worth my time, but I figured someone might enjoy my review and maybe pick up the book and read, because after all, I am all for everyone reading and learning about what’s out there.

Who should read this book: Dystopian lovers of all kinds. Also, if you enjoy speculative sci-fi or oppose eating meat, you’ll probably enjoy this book.

Life Update and Book Review: These Violent Nights

March 13, 2023

The book review is below this life update. You can skip and go directly to the review because it could be a bit depressing.

I’m currently playing catch up on my book reviews from the last year and before. There was a period in there when I was trying really hard to blog but my father had passed away in 2020 and thinking that I could handle it, I tried to keep going like everything was okay. But everything wasn’t okay. I just blocked all my emotions. I knew it was all going to catch up to me, I just didn’t know when and how.

In August 2020, my dad died unexpectedly from a brain hemorrhage. When he was in the ER with my youngest sister and wanted to see me (and one of my other sister–I have 3 sisters–he wanted to see all his 7 children, but at the time, only three of us were available) really badly, we sort of just told him that we’d see him later because they were running tests and stuff on him, but then it turned out, due to COVID, only one family member could be with him for the day. We also didn’t think much of it. Dad had gone to the ER before and it was always something easily taken care of. While driving back to our mom’s house, we chatted with Dad on video message. He was all hooked up but looked happy. He smiled at us and tried to talk. He was very happy to see us on video.

Later the same day, the doctor said they needed to perform an operation on his brain to relieve it from the hemorrhage but they had to send him to a different hospital where they specialized in the procedure. The next day he arrived at the other hospital and they performed the surgery. Our whole family was there including all our spouses and some cousins.

After the surgery, we were told that Dad was not going to wake up and that they’d keep him hooked up until we said our good-byes.

Three years later and I still miss him. I still dream of him (like this morning) and wake up thinking he’s still here. When he was alive, he’d often call me just to ask me how I’m doing, how my kids are doing, and how my husband’s doing. If I had missed his calls, he’d leave a message. I know it’s weird but I’ve kept all his voice mails. I don’t listen to them very often (just once since his passing).

Anyway, I hope I don’t weird anyone out. There was a moment I thought I should delete the messages, but I just can’t find myself to do it. I think just knowing I have a part of him still near me is comforting. I rarely go to the cemetery to visit his grave site. Having his messages on my phone means more. It reminds me of how he cared about my well-being.

For the last couple of years, I blamed myself. I kept telling myself I should have gone and seen him inside the ER. I should have found a way to switch places with my sister to see him. I was angry at the doctors and I was angry at myself. It was only after hearing on the news that another man had died from the same brain hemorrhage that I forgave the doctors and realized they did all they could. I don’t hold grudges so you can see how much weight that was to hold a grudge on them for at least a year.

I’m going to stop there. I just thought I should let this out because sometimes I think people see me as a robot because I don’t tend to share my feelings or emotions very much. And for the most part, I don’t get emotional really. It sometimes makes situations very uncomfortable.

Title: These Violent Nights
Author: Rebecca Crunden
Genre: Fantasy romance; Dark fantasy
Year Published: March 31, 2021

Date Started: September 27, 2021
Date finished: June 1, 2022

This is a dark fantasy that follows two friends through a dystopian world where an alien race, the Suriias, made their way to earth via a portal and destroyed most of humanity. The remaining humans were either turned into slaves or killed. The human world was completely taken over by this race and in order to survive the humans must remain hidden or else their lives would be completely controlled by the Suriias.

The story is split into three parts. The first part focuses on the two human friends, Thorn and Thistle. The second part tells the story of a human named Nik and Lucien (the Suriias in the first part). There is a love story between the two men. Their relationship grows slowly and eventually and ultimately becomes a full-blown relationship. The third part ties both of these stories together.

This was a great story. I really enjoyed it. The magic in this story was excellent. I liked that they had to hide their magic so most of the story was about the relationships between the characters. The world is very gloomy and creates a dangerous place to be. The backstories are done exceptionally well describing the aliens path to earth and the destruction of earth.  

Who should read this book: If you’re into fantasy mixed with dark future worlds or dystopian, this one is excellent.

Book Review: When She Woke

May 24, 2022

Title: When She Woke
Author: Hillary Jordan
Genre: Sci-fi; Dystopian
Year Published: September 18, 2012

Date finished: May 22, 2022

This story is about a future America where religion is a political power and having an abortion is a crime. Hannah Payne, the main character, falls in love with a pastor and gets pregnant. She is then chromed red for her sin. People stare at her and judge her because her red skin speaks for her crime. She refuses to tell anyone who the father is or the doctor who performed the abortion. She escapes the last institution she’s put in and stumbles upon people who were willing to free her from this strict world.

This story started out interesting. I couldn’t put the book down because I love myself a good dystopian story. It’s been a while since I’ve stumbled upon a book I couldn’t put down. The opening really grabbed me and kept me reading. However, midway through, the story slowed down and went a different direction. The ending was just meh. I may have had such high hopes that I was left disappointed. I wanted some sort of victory for Hannah. I also wanted to know what happened to the pastor, her family, and her friend. They all just seemed to disappear. There wasn’t anything said about what happened to them.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad read. It had a lot of potential, but just didn’t hit the right spot for me.

Who should read this book: If you enjoy “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood, you’ll probably like this one.

Book Review: Anthem

April 12, 2022

Title: Anthem
Author: Ayn Rand
Genre: Sci-fi; Dystopian
Year Published: 1938

Date finished: April 2, 2022

This book was recommended to me by my 15-year-old daughter. She knows I enjoy dystopian stories and knew I would like this one, and she was right.

This book was published in 1938 and takes place in a far future after a war that destroyed everything. In this world, everyone is part of the collective doing their part to maintain a steady life, not growth, just life. The story is about a character named Equality 7-2521 who’s brighter than the average person and very curious about the world he was brough up in. His curiosity leads him to find electricity, which he thinks will give him praise when he introduces it to the Leaders and Scholars. That isn’t what happens though. Instead, he’s tortured, and eventually leaves the collective society and finds truth.

This is one amazing book. It’s a very short read but I got so much more out of it than a lot of the extremely long books out there. No time was wasted on info dumps and unnecessary back stories. It’s very straightforward and to-the-point. I loved Equality 7-2521’s determination and excitement. I was heartbroken when he was tortured for simply introducing electricity. Had the leaders told him from the get-go that electricity once existed and that they didn’t want to use it, and explained why, he wouldn’t have been so excited about it. How would he have known that they already knew if they never told him they knew? That’s really not the main point of the book though. That’s one situation that stood out to me. It’s about being a part of the collective and not having the ability to be an individual. This book is written in first person plural (we) and eventually becomes first person singular (I). It was so incredibly well done that you could feel the power of “I” in the last few pages. Who knew a single word, a single letter, could be so powerful?

My favorite line from the book was when the girl said:

“We are one…alone…and only…and we love you who are one…alone…and only.”

Since individualism didn’t exist in that society, there was no way to say “I” or “me,” and that was the only way she was able to say she loved him.

Who should read this book: Anyone into post-apocalyptic, dystopian, and totalitarian sci-fi such as 1984, Brave New World, A Clockwork Orange, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Hunger Games, Divergent, etc.

Book Review: Scythe

August 19, 2021

Title: Scythe
Author: Neal Shusterman
Genre: YA, dystopian
Year Published: 2017

Date finished: August 10, 2021

Scythe by Neal Shusterman is a young adult dystopian novel about two teenagers who were chosen to become scythes. The setting is far future in a world of chaos where rules were put in to control the people. One of the rules was the creation of Scythes whose jobs are to take lives, and thus putting fear into the people to maintain order.

The two main characters are Citra and Rowan. They were both chosen to learn the role of the scythe and thus were trained in the skills required for the job. Along the way, a mysterious death occurred leading to a bit of chaos. Lies and deception rang among the scythes in power creating disagreements between the leaders. The decisions Citra and Rowan made were difficult because they had grown to respect (and liked) each other.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and loved how it ended. I’m curious as to why it ended the way it did with one of the characters. My only gripe is that because it’s young adult, I found the killings a bit too morbid. Don’t get me wrong, I love me a good grimdark with all the things (ASOIAF comes to mind), but this was definitely a young adult leaning more toward the younger end of the age group, so there were moments where I just couldn’t stomach it, because I couldn’t stop thinking about how a young person would deal with it. If this book was adult with a more mature writing style, I’d totally dig it a lot more.

Who should read this book: If you enjoy stories about teenagers put into a challenge with each other in a world where the authoritarian comes from adults who seem a bit clueless and/or who’ve gained power for their own greed, and the teenagers sort of “fix” the problem, then you’ll enjoy this book.

Book Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

July 21, 2020

Title: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Sci-fi, YA, Dystopian
Year Published: 2020

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins is a dystopian sci-fi about a young Coriolanus Snow before he became President Snow. The story takes place many years earlier, before The Hunger Games trilogy, when Coriolanus was seventeen and climbing his way up in the Capitol in Panem.

We follow Coriolanus through the 10th Hunger Games in which he is a mentor to a tribute named Lucy Gray Baird from District 12. It’s tough in the arena and Coriolanus does whatever he can to help Lucy Gray win. Outside of the Games, Coriolanus begins to fall for Lucy Gray and starts showing his attraction for her. She notices and reciprocates.

After the Games, it was revealed to a higher up that Coriolanus assisted Lucy Gray in unethical ways so that she would win. He was forced to become a Peacekeeper but was allowed to choose which district to work in. He chose District 12 to be closer to Lucy Gray.

In District 12, Coriolanus learns that Lucy Gray, along with a few others, including Lucy Gray’s ex-boyfriend, were planning an escape. One of the other members in the plan was Sejanus Plinth. Sejanus was originally from District 2 but moved to the Capitol as a young kid and became good friends with Coriolanus. Sejanus was also a Peacekeeper in District 12. After having seen how poorly the District people were being treated, he vowed to help the small group escape. A crime occurs during the planning in which Coriolanus took part in, thus causing the escape to terminate.

Lucy Gray still wants to run away so Coriolanus agrees to go with her. He was also afraid the crime would catch up to him and didn’t want to be hanged. On the day he was to sneak out to run away with Lucy Gray, he gets a promotion and is required to head to District 2 the next morning. He has to choose between his future and the girl he loves. He chose love, but while they were out of District 12 in an area where the Peacekeepers were not monitoring, he finds the weapon he used during the murder and attempts to discard it. He also learns that Lucy Gray had betrayed him and goes after her to kill her, but he couldn’t find her. He returns to District 12 and leaves for training the next day.

During the flight to District 2, they made a stop at the Capitol. It turns out that the Head Gamemaker, Dr. Gaul, wanted to train Coriolanus at the university because Dr. Gaul found Coriolanus brilliant with his Games ideas.

In The Hunger Games trilogy, Coriolanus is the antagonist and someone we detest because of his cold-heartedness and brutal ruling. In The Ballad, he is the protagonist and someone we are supposed to like and feel sorry for. He does come across as a decent person in Ballad. His love for Lucy Gray was real. He went out of his way to help her win, even doing things he shouldn’t be doing. It felt as though he wanted her alive because she meant so much to him. Even if he never saw her again, at least she’d be able to live her life in the District. However, because he was found out, he got the opportunity to be with her and to really know her. She was all that she said she was: a singer and song writer; a free spirit. She was also very clever. In the Games, her cleverness helped her survive and it also, at one point, helped save his life.

The story goes much deeper than a dystopian story about a young adult falling in love and learning about who he is. I read the QA, which included the idea behind the story, and was completely surprised. I did get the sense of a struggle between an authoritarian world and a romanticism or “freedom” ideal. It wasn’t about which character I liked better or who I should like more than the other. It was more about understanding people’s behavior based not only on their upbringing but also the environment they’re exposed to. It was a very powerful book with so many hidden messages and meanings.

I wasn’t expecting to say this, but I’m totally shocked by how great this book was.