Two Local Authors...Two Dystopian Worlds

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This month I read two books by two local authors, local authors who, because of their incredible talent, appear to be doing well. They both know how to tell a good, engaging story. They both have created believable worlds, and the stories I read are not limited to one book. Luckily for me (and everyone else...), there's more to read from both.

And both authors wrote about dystopian realities. Dystopian genres fascinate me! I've started a few stories where the future of humanity has bought the farm and survivors struggle to survive. There are similarities between the two stories. Climates have changed, governments have broken down, and the remaining humans have devised methods to get through their days alive.

Dan Wells's book, Fragments is the second in a trilogy and James Dashner's The Maze Runner is the first of his series so there are differences between the two. Wells set up his world in his first book Partials so his world is continuing. Dashner sets us in the middle of a world as foreign as possible where we know as much of what's going on as the main character. Having your memory swiped can do that to a person.

I enjoyed both books. Wells's first book in his series is more involved than Dashner's, but to be fair, Partials takes place on the eastern seaboard of the United States and involves several different communities, where The Maze Runner is contained almost exclusively in a huge, mysterious maze. Later this year you'll be able to see The Maze Runner on the big screen. I LOVE to see any author succeed, but it's even sweeter when they're local.

We have a lot of local authors and in the past few years I've gotten to know many of them personally. These are not "downer" people. In fact, most are downright cheery. I guess, for some, happiness (and success...) can be found at the expense of fictional characters.

* Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6186357-the-maze-runner?ac=1

ø Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13170596-fragments?from_search=true

Dystopian Stories...I'm Sensing A Theme

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Last week I finished reading The Giver. It's one of those books you see on posters in libraries. That Newberry Medal indicates it's a book I should read. My wife read it. The kids have read it and when I saw the audiobook version available from the local library, I downloaded it and read it, too.

It was not what I had expected. Let's just say I did judge this particular book by its cover. I thought it was a story about WWI or WWII and the giver was an old man who helps people...you know, by giving.

No, this book belongs in the same category as Brave New World, 1984, and even the Hunger Games trilogy to some extent. (I hope I didn't spoil it for anyone...). It's a short read and it made me think about dystopian stories. They all have something in common: forced compliance to bring about the greater good.

There's a quote in one of my favorite movies, Serenity. Mal explains why the plan he's proposing is worth risking all their lives. 

          You all got on this boat for
          different reasons, but you all
          come to the same place. So now
          I'm asking more of you than I have
          before. Maybe all. 'Cause as
          sure as I know anything I know
          this: They will try again. Maybe
          on another world, maybe on this
          very ground, swept clean. A year
          from now, ten, they'll swing back
          to the belief that they can make
          people... better.§

I liked The Giver. It took situations not so far removed from our own and told a story of what might happen with enough time, resources and lack of free will. Why do these stories keep showing up every few years? Are they warnings? prophecies? A promise of things to come? I believe if we continue to ignore history, they will be.

 

* Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/3636.The_Giver

§ Quote used without permission from: http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Serenity.html