Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve.
The
idea of Monday's Muse is to introduce you to unknown, forgotten, or
overlooked fiction that has been lost from regular radar. I am
WriterGirl. I am in the business of saving lives, one book at a time.
What
I do is go to one of several places, narrow it down to a YA field and
type in a random word, any word that comes to mind. I then take a
sampling of some I have never heard of before, or only vaguely heard of
(and hopefully you as well). No infringement is intended for any
description I take for the books. It's purely for promotional reasons. I
will try and cover as many genres as possible that are fitting for the
random word. Simple but it really uncovers some incredible gems. I will
be doing this every other Monday. If there are any words you want to
prompt me with, go ahead and fire away.
Today's random word:
Dystopian - "Old School".
Here are some books that were dystopians before some knew to call them that. Feel free to add to it in the comments!
Shade's Children by Garth Nix.
Plunge directly into a nightmare--a scrawny boy flees monstrous trackers
in an urban wasteland. Gradually the reader learns that Earth has been
taken over by the terrible Overlords, the laws of physical reality
warped, all adults killed, the brains and body parts of children raw
material for endless war games. Led by an all-too-human artificial
intelligence known as Shade, a forlorn resistance battles on, with hope
only because the misfit warriors have special talents that came with the
Change. Throughout the struggle, hints that Shade's sympathies are not
irrevocably human add additional suspense. Although the trappings here
are science fiction, Nix tells essentially the same story as he did in
Sabriel: a desperate quest by a talented few, aided by a potentially
treacherous Other, to destroy the source of the power of an evil force
that has poisoned the world. As in the author's previous book, the
alternate world he creates is amply imagined and the twists and turns of
the action-filled plot compelling, though the flat banality of the
Overlords' evil is disappointing, as is the sketchy characterization of
the four major protagonists. But while the book lacks some of the
emotional depth of Nix's first work, it will draw (and keep) fans of the
genre.
--Publisher's Weekly.
The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer.
Set in Zimbabwe in 2194, this sci-fi/fantasy combines a coming-of-age
quest with its attendant dangers and rewards and an interweaving of
elements from African mythology. Tendai, 13; his younger sister, Rita;
and preschool brother, Kuda, are children of Matsika, their country's
Chief of Security. Frustrated by their choreographed existence, they
attempt a cross-city trip that will fulfill requirements for a Scouting
merit badge in exploring. They little realize the opportunity this
unchaperoned escapade will afford their father's enemies, and find
themselves abducted soon after their trip begins. Prisoners of the "She
Elephant," so-called queen of a toxic dump known as the Dead Man's Vlei,
the children discover they are not to be ransomed, but to be worked and
then sold to a terrorist group called The Masks, deadly and
spirit-damning. Matsika calls in "The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm
Detective Agency," whose three agents each have a special power to aid
in their search for the captives. They are steps behind as the children
escape from one dire situation to another. Ultimately, the Masks are
unveiled and destroyed, and the family is reunited. Rich in setting, the
story is as complex as a weaver's kente pattern, as symbolic as an
eijiri figure, as sophisticated as a Benin bronze. Demanding and
intricate, but often convoluted, it will be rewarding to readers willing
to travel beyond everyday places and to work to untangle its many
strands.
--Patricia Manning, Eastchester Public Library, NY, School Library Journal.
The Gods and their Machines by Oisin McGann.
To Altiman teenager and trainee fighter-pilot Chamus, the people of
bordering Bartokhrin are just Fringelanders--backward religious fanatics
whose women wear geishalike makeup and wigs and whose men occasionally
appear in Altima to commit a kind of supernatural version of jihad. But
when Chamus crashes his plane near the home of a Bartokhrin young woman
named Riadni, the two are thrown into a reluctant alliance, with
ramifications that are as personally jolting as they are politically
far-reaching. Although the protagonists’ coincidental ties to key
leaders on both sides require a significant suspension of disbelief, the
action hurtles forward deliciously, and the alternating narratives
build sympathies for both protagonists as they grapple with “a situation
so big and so brutal that there was no way to make sense of it.” The
real-world parallels with Western secularism and the more traditional
societies of the Middle East are clear, but McGann’s facility with both
character and world building makes this impressive debut as rewarding as
pure fantasy as it is as provocative allegory.
--Jennifer Mattson
(December 15, 2004, pg. 736), Booklist.
Among the Hidden by Margaret Petersen Haddix.
Born third at a time when having more than two children per family is
illegal and subject to seizure and punishment by the Population Police,
Luke has spent all of his 12 years in hiding. His parents disobeyed once
by having him and are determined not to do anything unlawful again. At
first the woods around his family's farm are thick enough to conceal him
when he plays and works outdoors, but when the government develops some
of that land for housing, his world narrows to just the attic. Gazing
through an air vent at new homes, he spies a child's face at a window
after the family of four has already left for the day. Is it possible
that he is not the only hidden child? Answering this question brings
Luke greater danger than he has ever faced before, but also greater
possibilities for some kind of life outside of the attic. This is a near
future of shortages and deprivation where widespread famines have led
to a totalitarian government that controls all aspects of its citizens'
lives. When the boy secretly ventures outside the attic and meets the
girl in the neighboring house, he learns that expressing divergent
opinions openly can lead to tragedy. To what extent is he willing to
defy the government in order to have a life worth living? As in Haddix's
Running Out of Time (S & S, 1995), the loss of free will is the
fundamental theme of an exciting and compelling story of one young
person defying authority and the odds to make a difference. Readers will
be captivated by Luke's predicament and his reactions to it.
--Susan L.
Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA, School Library Journal.
City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau.
Ember, a 241-year-old, ruined domed city surrounded by a dark unknown,
was built to ensure that humans would continue to exist on Earth, and
the instructions for getting out have been lost and forgotten. On
Assignment Day, 12-year-olds leave school and receive their lifetime job
assignments. Lina Mayfleet becomes a messenger, and her friend Doon
Harrow ends up in the Pipeworks beneath the city, where the failing
electric generator has been ineffectually patched together. Both Lina
and Doon are convinced that their survival means finding a way out of
the city, and after Lina discovers pieces of the instructions, she and
Doon work together to interpret the fragmented document. Life in this
postholocaust city is well limned--the frequent blackouts, the food
shortage, the public panic, the search for answers, and the actions of
the powerful, who are taking selfish advantage of the situation. Readers
will relate to Lina and Doon’s resourcefulness and courage in the face
of ominous odds.
--Sally Este (April 15, 2003), Booklist.
The Giver by Lois Lowry.
In a complete departure from her other novels, Lowry has written an
intriguing story set in a society that is uniformly run by a Committee
of Elders. Twelve-year-old Jonas's confidence in his comfortable
"normal" existence as a member of this well-ordered community is shaken
when he is assigned his life's work as the Receiver. TheGiver, who
passes on to Jonas the burden of being the holder for the community of
all memory "back and back and back," teaches him the cost of living in
an environment that is "without color, pain, or past." The tension
leading up to the Ceremony, in which children are promoted not to
another grade but to another stage in their life, and the drama and
responsibility of the sessions with TheGiver are gripping. The final
flight for survival is as riveting as it is inevitable. The author makes
real abstract concepts, such as the meaning of a life in which there
are virtually no choices to be made and no experiences with deep
feelings. This tightly plotted story and its believable characters will
stay with readers for a long time.
--Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library
of Pittsburgh, School Library Journal.
The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick.
In this riveting futuristic novel, Spaz, a teenage boy with epilepsy,
makes a dangerous journey in the company of an old man and a young boy.
The old man, Ryter, one of the few people remaining who can read and
write, has dedicated his life to recording stories. Ryter feels a
kinship with Spaz, who unlike his contemporaries has a strong memory;
because of his epilepsy, Spaz cannot use the mind probes that deliver
entertainment straight to the brain and rot it in the process. Nearly
everyone around him uses probes to escape their life of ruin and
poverty, the result of an earthquake that devastated the world decades
earlier. Only the "proovs," genetically improved people, have grass,
trees, and blue skies in their aptly named Eden, inaccessible to the
"normals" in the Urb. When Spaz sets out to reach his dying younger
sister, he and his companions must cross three treacherous zones ruled
by powerful bosses. Moving from one peril to the next, they survive only
with help from a proov woman. Enriched by Ryter's allusions to nearly
lost literature and full of intriguing, invented slang, the skillful
writing paints two pictures of what the world could look like in the
future—the burned-out Urb and the pristine Eden—then shows the limits
and strengths of each. Philbrick, author of Freak the Mighty (1993) has
again created a compelling set of characters that engage the reader with
their courage and kindness in a painful world that offers hope, if no
happy endings.
--(November 1, 2000), Kirkus.
The Diary of Pelly D by L. J. Adlington.
A young driller breaking up rubble in war-devastated City Five unearths
an old water can with a diary inside and then breaks Rules and
Regulations by keeping it, rather than surrendering it to the
authorities. So begins Toni V’s relationship with the diarist, PellyD, a
teen who, before the war, had it all. Toni V enters the everyday
thoughts and experiences of a privileged girl who, despite her societal
status, may not be protected when the most powerful ofthe planet’s three
genetic clans demands all citizens be identified and sorted by genetic
type. Although inspired by the buried diaries found in the Warsaw
Ghetto, Adlington has crafted an original and disturbing dystopian
fantasy told in a smart and sympathetic teen voice. Particularly
skillful is the author’s use of setting and detail to build slowly
toward a full revelation ofthe unique physical, psychological, and
political worlds PellyD and Toni V inhabit. This provocative addition to
the growing body of dystopian literature for teens is a disturbing book
that shouldn’t be missed.
--Holly Koelling (May 1, 2005,
pg. 1586), Booklist.
For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
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