**Read to the end for a chance to win one of the books I talk about here today and a $5 Amazon gift card.
I have always loved reading dystopian fiction. I was on the bandwagon when The Hunger Games got hot and then had movies made. I was team Peeta all the way. I liked the Divergent series, but as is always the case, the books were better than the movies. I am an avid The Walking Dead fan, and I know so many of my friends don’t understand why. It started for me with one of the first book series I ever read, The Boxcar Children. They didn’t live in a dystopian world, but they did live in a world where they were orphans who believed their grandfather was mean, and they went out and tried to make it on their own. At least until their not-so-mean wealthy grandfather found them. But until then I wanted to jump on board that boxcar and live with them.
So, it’s not hard to see why dystopian worlds appeal to me. The struggle for survival. Will morals survive or will the characters revert to their more primitive instincts. It’s fascinating to my creative mind. And I’ve read so many good dystopian series in the past couple of years all while Covid rampaged across the globe. It felt apropos to read these books. Here’s a list of the ones I’ve enjoyed and don’t get enough love in my mind.
Beyond the Gates by Erin R Howard
I am currently reading this lovely and am really enjoying the struggles and the sweet romance that’s building in it.
Seventeen-year-old Renna’s curiosity takes her outside her village gates one day. She didn’t make it back inside like she was supposed to because a boy stopped her, and now she’s outside the gates where there’s danger and death. Renna follows the boy who tries to evade her, but when she’s hurt, he has to stop and help. That’s the start of their love/hate relationship. I adore the main characters and the secondary characters who are inside the gates trying to survive without Renna to be their special announcer. Starvation is a very real possibility for them. But they won’t give up without a fight. This book is a clean read with a sweet romance.
I’m not done yet, but I give this book five stars for keeping me reading long after I should be asleep.
The second series is Kyla Stone’s The Edge of Collapse series.
In the dead of winter there’s an EMP attack which destroys the US power grid. There aren’t any phones or cars (because computer chips) and there’s no way to communicate with anyone to see what happened or to get help. The government is interested in the government first and the rest of the country is left to fend for themselves. This series contains many, wonderful characters that in themselves could easily be the main characters. However, the main character is Hannah Sheridan. When the EMP happened, it was the best day of her miserable life. She’d been held captive for years and could finally make her way back home to her husband and her son. That is if the evil man who held her captive doesn’t find her first. It’s a wintry chase across a barren landscape without much food or water. And Hanna is pregnant, thanks to her captor.
But help comes in the strangest forms, the dog who was to be Hanna’s watchdog for her captor becomes Hanna’s savior instead as does an unwilling ex-soldier Liam–a man no one would want to come up against unless you always wanted to challenge a Rambo character. There are seven books in this series which feature a local despot who tries to seize control of the Hanna’s hometown, and is willing to do anything to keep it. I found loads of twists and turns in the stories of the characters that kept me on the edge of collapse as well since I read late into the night and couldn’t help but have to know what was next. There’s so much truth in what happens between these pages you’d almost swear if an EMP happened, Hanna Sheridan would be there to help you learn how to defend yourself in an unforgivable world. This book is a clean read, though there are some adult situations that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone under 14. I gave this a five star rating because there’s so much to love about the books, even though some of the favorite characters die.
The last one is Among Wolves (Children of the Mountain series) by RA Hakok.
I fell in love with because it had a different take on what led to the world becoming dystopian: an iron virus which affects metal, making the people affected with metal sickness rabid. I found this different take interesting. This particular world opens up ten years after a virus took over, though it goes back through and tells the tale of what happened and why. Here, our main character Gabriel has to go out searching for the last bits and pieces like medicine or anything that could be useful. But they’re having to go further and further out since they’ve scavenged everything close by. It seems as if they are the last ones on earth who have survived, but there are also many dangers, including the contaminated metal. Don’t touch it. Stay out of the dark places, and always be within hollering distance from your partner.
There are many secrets in this series, which when they are unfolded lead to one conclusion only. The virus was done on purpose and the culprit could be closer than the characters realize. There’s tons of adventure, lots of secrets that everyone holds. The true nature of humans can be found in the good, the bad, and the ugly and terrified me to think this could happen if the wrong person ever got the idea of unleashing a virus upon an unsuspecting population. I give it a five star rating because I loved the characters, the world, and all of the backstory that blew me away.
So, I hope if you’re looking for something different, you’ll find these books interesting. It’s not all zombies and bad governments with these books, but the struggle for the regular characters to survive in a desolate and unfriendly world. The pay off is in the ends when the characters have changed and have started to effect change around them.
Let me know what your favorite dystopian tale is for a chance to win Erin R Howard’s Beyond the Gates ebook and a $5 Amazon gift card. Just leave a comment here on the blog anytime between 8 am CST Friday, May 13 to 12 noon CST Wednesday, May 18th with the book’s title, author, why you liked reading it, and your email address so I can contact you if you win. Winner will be drawn at random and I’ll contact you via the email you leave in your comment. Winner chosen randomly. Contest ends on Wednesday, May 18th at 12 pm noon CST. Contest open for US and Canadian residents only.
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