The dystopian story is tremendously popular in fiction and film. These tales are usually set in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by a merciless totalitarian regime.
But the term dystopia encompasses far more. Actual historic events are sometimes the setting for some of the most intriguing dystopian stories ever written.
The City of Thieves (2008) by David Benioff is a thrilling, coming-of-age tale set in the terrible siege of Leningrad in the Second World War, a siege that lasted nearly three years and killed more than a million people.
Lev Beniov, a small, smart, insecure Jewish boy too young to serve in the army, spends his nights working as a volunteer firefighter with friends from his building. When a German paratrooper lands in his street, he is caught looting the body and hauled off to jail.
He shares his cell with Kolya, a young charismatic army deserter. But instead of the standard bullet in the back of the head, the two miscreants are given a chance to save their lives if they can comply with an outrageous demand – find two dozen eggs for a powerful colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. And in a starving city cut off from all supplies, the boys embark on an extraordinary hunt in the enemy-occupied countryside to find the impossible.
Stormdancer: The Lotus War (2012) by Jay Kristoff is the first volume in a series, which introduces an unforgettable new heroine and a remarkably original dystopian steam-punk world with the flavour of feudal Japan.
The Shima Imperium is a menacingly evil empire on the brink of environmental collapse. Blood lotus seeds produce the fuel that powers sky ships. But the plants’ roots render the soil barren and the fuel’s noxious fumes poison those too poor to afford breathing masks.
The hunters of Shima’s imperial court are charged with an impossible request to capture a thunder tiger – a legendary creature, half-eagle, half tiger. Yukiko, the heroine, and her father are sent to the hinterlands to capture the mythical beast. But Yukiko is stranded in the country’s last wilderness with Buruu, a furious griffin maimed by Yukiko’s father, and the two band together to survive and ultimately face the might of the empire itself.
The Dead Lands (2015) by Benjamin Percy is a visionary thriller set in a post-apocalyptic America that re-imagines the Lewis and Clark saga.
A super flu and a nuclear fallout have turned the world we know into a husk. The few human survivors strive to carry on and live in outposts such as the Santuary, a shielded community in the remains of St. Louis that owes its survival to its militant defense and demagogue leaders.
One day a rider appears from the wastelands beyond the walls of the community and reports on the outside world. West of the Cascades, rains falls, crops grow and civilization thrives. But dangers exists with the rising power of an army that pillages and enslaves any community they come across. Against the wishes of the Santuary, a small group of citizens, including museum curator Lewis Meriwether and city guard Mina Clark, break out and head up the Missouri river to find this land of Oregon.
These three titles and many more are available at your Okanagan Regional Library, www.orl.bc.ca.
– Peter Critchley is a reference librarian at the Vernon branch of the Okanagan Regional Library.
