Tag: #dystopian

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom — Cory Doctorow

By 5t4n5

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom -- Cory DoctorowPublished a year after Altered Carbon this book takes a lot of the re-sleeving ideas from Richard’s book and instead of placing them into the realm of super warriors, criminals, etc.; Cory puts them into a future Disney Land theme park in an alternative dystopian future.

Having very much enjoyed Altered Carbon, i was left quite disappointed by the sequels, especially Woken Furies, and so it was rather nice to find a story like Cory’s that took some of the best ideas of Altered Carbon and spun them into a new Earth-side future that we can all begin to relate to because we’ve all heard of these real places.

No, this isn’t the blood and gore fest that Altered Carbon was, and neither does it have the amazing future-sex-drugs thing — they’re still smoking crack from crack pipes FFS.

But it does have the murder mystery and the loss of the intervening memories between back up and re-sleeving that Altered Carbon does, all wrapped around who gets to control various Disney Land attractions.

So yeah, if you’ve read any other Cory Doctorow books and enjoyed them then do give this a go, and also, if you enjoyed Altered Carbon, i’d bet a few pennies that you’ll enjoy this also, albeit a very much tamed down version.

There’s also a follow up novella: Truncat.

Cory’s Page

#scifi #cyberpunk #dystopian #corydoctorow

The Monitor — Paul Heingarten

By 5t4n5

The Monitor -- Paul HeingartenIt was free, it wasn’t going to take up much of my time, so i thought i’d give it a read.

I wouldn’t call it bad in any way, but at the same time it doesn’t come across as good either.   It’s just another one of those beige, average sci-fi short stories that you sometimes read to fill in an hour or so — a bit like a sudoku puzzle.   Ergo — 3/5 stars.

Paul’s Page

#dystopian #paulheingarten

Melting Shlemiel — Jason Werbeloff

By 5t4n5

Melting Shlemiel -- Jason WerbeloffAn interesting allegorical novella that has as a good metaphorical dig at those who build walls of exclusion around themselves.

Set in a very pious Jewish area of Jerusalem, during 2054, it’s pretty obvious who the author is pointing at and why.   The Jewish state first build walls to separate and defend their country, then it’s walls to separate and defend each town, then each district, then each house, until each person has their very own impregnable, permanent second skin.

Can also be read as a fun little dystopian/cyberpunk thing if you don’t want to think too much.

Currently only available in the anthology, 2054.

Jason’s Page

#scifi #cyberpunk #dystopian #jasonwerbeloff

Wolf Country — Tunde Farrand

By 5t4n5

Wolf Country -- Tunde FarrandI’m surprised that this book has got so many good reviews, it really doesn’t deserve them.

The whole world is changed overnight into a dystopian caste system that virtually everyone seems to accept without much question simply because they get a free house and a job.   Even though they all know that as soon as they can’t do their job they’re either euthanised or thrown into the walled off lawless slums to be at the mercy of cruel and evil, gangs.

It basically takes a bunch of dystopian themes and throws them together for the sake of a story, but it doesn’t really hold together as a story.   There just seems to be this acceptance that everyone in the whole world just accepted this system and goes along with it because they all clamour to be high spenders.   Like everyone would just give up social care, social security, pensions, etc., just so they can have a free house, be a slave and strive to be a high spender.

The book spends most of its time telling us how horrible and cruel the new system is with our protagonist and her husband not doing very well, only for the last small part of the book to find a bizarre way to allow them and their few friends to live happily ever after — The End!

Basically, it’s just about passable, and it’s just about readable, but not much else can be said.   If you’re looking for a good dystopian story then your time and money will be better spent on something else.

Tunde’s Page

#dystopian #tundefarrand