5 Interesting Dystopian Novels Staged against Authoritarian State
- Dvarca by Madhav Mathur
Dvarca is an Indian dystopian novel by the author Madhav Mathur. The novel is all about India which has been renamed as Dvarca and the time is around the end of twenty first century. The founders of Dvarca believe that one nation with one religion instilling one way of life is safe and futuristic for the citizens.
Thus, the population is divided into many segments or, say, clans like Nakuls, Sahdevs, Samyuktas, Sanjeevs, Miras, Vidurs and many more. According to these segments, people work, earn and live.
However they are constantly under the vigilance of the state through DD (Distant Directives). So running away from the duties or state is almost impossible. People have no freedom but their lives are tech rich and highly calculated, even their rations.
2. 0w1: Believe by Geoff Hall
0w1: Believe by Geoff Hall is a truly a page tuner. Being a first book in the trilogy of World of Owl. The story is about some teenage friends living in an authoritarian State in Bristol. There Strix, the protagonist, smells the oppressive and terrifying environment. He and others look forward to have some freedom of speech, fun, and movement, but that seems highly impossible, as the state keeps a watch on them.
Secretly the disenfranchised group starts a mission to undermine the state, for that able artists and coders are picked up. They get under the insights of the state through Vision State i.e. a sort of coding. Startling yet funny, the novel races through the story and gives something different experience to readers. Mystery, horror, paranormal activities, drama and action — this is an amazing work by Geoff.
3. Children of Men by P.D. James
In Children of Men, humanity has become infertile and the United Kingdom has descended into an autocratic nation governed by a self-appointed Warden and council. Immigrants are exploited and the elderly are a burden, often forced to commit suicide at the age of 60. The book tells the story of the struggle between the ruling government and a dissent group who are demanding reform. It was adapted into an award-winning film by Alfonso Cuarón that changes elements of the story considerably.
4. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
Battle Royale has a good case to be one of the most influential dystopian novels of modern times, influencing as it has The Hunger Games and by extension one of the most popular video games ever made in Fortnite. Set in a fictional authoritarian Japanese state that arose from an alternative history where Japan was victorious in World War II, Battle Royale sees 50 high-school children kidnapped and sent to an island to fight to the death — where they wear explosive collars to ensure their obedience. Published in Japanese in 1999, it wasn’t translated into English until 2003 — three years after the outstanding film adaptation of the same name.
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
On the face of it, the society described in Brave New World is a utopia — but that illusion soon disintegrates. Huxley predicts genetic modification, and advances in reproduction and psychology that usher in an elite society and a social hierarchy based on intelligence, where citizens are kept placated through the consumption of a drug called soma. But people from outside the cities who still live, give birth and age the old way are viewed as savages — the book follows the clash between these two worlds through the eyes of psychologist Bernard Marx.
