Realm of classic dystopia: bridging fiction with reality
Imagine a world where every second of life feels like Deathmatch, a post-apocalyptic civilization where the chronicles of human life are being ‘re-engineered’ by a despotic regime. A mutation in your DNA that gives you special abilities unlike anyone, or being forced to fight in a survival game against weaponry and bio-mutants, all while the aristocrats leach off entertainment from your agony, to what extent would you go to save your life? If you are a devoted fiction reader and want to experience such POVs, then dystopia might just be the perfect genre for you!
When it comes to dystopian fiction, nothing beats the classics- Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games trilogy might top the ranks. A deadly game where twenty-four tributes are chosen to kill each other in a meticulously designed arena. The series depicts the extreme disparities created by a classist society that no longer values human life. Things change when the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, becomes the symbol of revolution. The ending to this series is bound to leave the readers in awe! “I was skeptical, but the hype around the movie brought me to read it, and I was pleasantly left surprised,” a Redditor shared. Prequels of this series, The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping, have also been met with widespread acclaim. The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard is another phenomenal take on dystopia, but with a twist of fantasy that flawlessly tells the story of two conflicting kingdoms with a hierarchical division of “blood” – the silvers, who possess supernatural abilities, rule over the reds, who are treated brutally. But the Reds eventually rise and turn the wheel around, shaking the foundations of the monarchy.
Dystopia is more than just a genre of writing. It compels the readers to connect the lines between a post-apocalyptic fictional world and reality- the oppression of totalitarians or a mass uprising leading to a revolution; a world where people experience far worse atrocities every day, dystopian books can be as close to an awakening for humankind.
