A Few of My Favorite Things: Dystopian Fiction

I’ve talked about a variety of fiction on here because geeks love their escapism and sometimes reality as we know it isn’t enough. I’ll never be rainbows and kittens in my sugar and sometimes, I have to indulge the darkness. I still need to work on optimism but seeing a world that’s worse than mine sometimes makes the whole thing feel better.

I like seeing what other writers imagine as a worse world. What have they changed? What has accelerated? What force are people trying to fight? In dystopian novels, people unite against a cause or toward a solution. While their world is bleaker, they’re also working to save it.

If I hadn't been doing my experiment in optimism, I don't know if I'd have noticed the other layer to dystopian fiction. I'm sure that reason would have been there whether i knew it or not but would I have noticed it?

Alphabet Challenge Round 14

X is for XVI by Julia Karr, a dystopian teen novel and a bitch of a letter to find. In this world, when girls turn 16 and boys turn 18 they must get tattooed to show that it’s legal for them to have sex. Your social standing and future opportunities is determing by your tier and nonstop advertisements remind you why it’s so coveted. Nina is just a normal girl but shortly before getting her XVI tattoo, her life is turned upside down when it is revealed that everything is not as it seems.

This book has a fantastic premise. I just wish the writer had done more with it. I wanted her to develop the characters a little more, to get a little deeper. Some of the relationships were somewhat abrupt. The end also left a lot of things unresolved. It was also sort of rushed, like Karr needing to make an ending and wanted all things tied up. 

XVI is part of a series so I think it was detrimental to the book not to spread it out a little more. The way all the loose ends had to be rapidly tied up made it feel like a second book wasn’t an option. I just felt like the book needed a bit more. I love the premise but I just like the book.

A

B

C

D - Divergent by Veronica Roth

E - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

F - Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

G - The Great Fables Crossover by Bill Willingham

H - How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown

I

J - Jane Austen Made Me Do It edited by Laurel Ann Nattress

K

L

M - Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

N - Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow

O - One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde

P

Q

R - Reality Bites Back by Jennifer L. Pozner

S

T

U - Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman

V

W - White Girl Problems by Babe Walker

X - XVI by Julia Karr

Y - Yoga Bitch by Suzanne Morrison

Z - Zoo Story by Thomas French

Alphabet Challenge Round 7

D is for Divergent which is a very dangerous word in Veronica Roth’s world.

I really enjoyed this book. I love dystopian fiction. I love well-written YA fiction. When you combine the two you find incredible new voices and ideas. Roth’s idea is that in a future Chicago, people are 1 of 5 factions all known for very different and distinct ways of thought. You must conform to your faction or risk being cast out and factionless which to many is a fate worse than death.

When Beatrice is found to be divergent, she can choose to stay in her current faction or move on to a new community with new rules. This is a decision that will change her life and the lives of others because what she doesn’t know is that something much bigger than faction initiation has been set into motion.

Roth did a good job establishing her characters and looking at the harsh changes they faced while also looking at the dangers of groupthink. Some were more developed than others so I didn't get all my questions answered but that's first person narratives for you. I did not expect the major plot twist near the last third of the novel. It was like the plot was going one way and then jumped a train for a whole new direction.

I didn’t get literary whiplash but I wish Roth had set it up just a bit more. I expected her to spend more time on the different factions, rules, and history before changing direction so sharply. However, if you liked The Hunger Games, I’d give this a shot. Beatrice/Tris is a little bit of Prim and a lot of bit of Katniss. I'm very curios to see what she does next.

A
B
C
D - Divergent by Veronica Roth
E
F
G - The Great Fables Crossover by Bill Willingham
H - How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown
I
J
K
L
M - Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
N - Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow
O - One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde
P
Q
R - Reality Bites Back by Jennifer L. Pozner
S
T
U - Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman
V
W
X
Y
Z

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