Author Guest Post: Ann Aguirre of Enclave

Whenever I read a new dystopia, I wonder about the influences of classic dystopias on current authors. I love teaching dystopias in my classroom, and wonder which of the books I teach will inspire my students to write their own stories some day.

Ann Aguirre, author of Enclave, stopped by to talk about the classic dystopias that inspire her writing.
 
The first dystopian I ever read was LORD OF THE FLIES. I read it for a school assignment, and it made a large impression on me. I've wondered ever since I read whether children would always devolve to such savage behavior. I wondered if Mr. Golding was, perhaps, a touch pessimistic, and I wanted to create a world where the darkness came from excess order, more like 1984, as opposed to complete chaos and a devolution to primitive instincts.

In high school, I fell in love with A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ. The premise that a butcher's shopping list could become a a religious artifact charmed me utterly. It is a brilliant book and one I could read over and over again. (And I have.)

In college, I read my next dystopian, A HANDMAID'S TALE. I studied it and analyzed it for my Gender Studies class. It is a haunting story, and I suspect some of those themes pervade my Razorland books as well.

Beyond these three works, my inspiration has largely come from films. 

Thanks, Ann! I've read (and taught) both Lord of the Flies and The Handmaid's Tale, but have never even heard of A Canticle for Leibowitz. Looks like I have some reading to do!

Stop by the Teen Book Scene for more Enclave tour information.

Book Review: Drought by Pam Bachorz

When I first heard that Pam Bachorz had written another dystopian book, I was overjoyed. I absolutely loved Candor and couldn't wait for another book by the same author. At first, I enjoyed this new book and when a bit starry eyed by the possibilities the world of this book held. Unfortunately, though, this love was short lived and was quickly replaced by lots and lots of confusion.

Drought is the story of a sort of cult, the "Congregation," who has lived for hundreds of years in a secluded section of forest.  They first entered the forest as a group of free people, but were imprisoned in it by an evil dictator named Darwin West more than two hundred years ago.

Though the outside world has progressed without them, it's as if Ruby and her brethren are still in the early 1800s. They know nothing of the outside world and are completely focused on the one thing that will keep them alive and spare them from the wrath of Darwin and the overseers--Water. With drought at an all-time high, Darwin is obsessed with the Congregation collecting as much water--single droplet by singe droplet--as they can. Each day, each member of the Congregation stuggles to find a cup fo water. Seems easy enough, but the end of each day finds more and more of the Congregation beaten bloody for their failure to produce.

Why Water? This is not your every day H2O. Darwin thinks the water in this forest, the Water that has sustainned life among the Congregation for so long is magical because of the manner in which it's collected. Little does he know that every night, Ruby's mother Sula sneaks off to the cisterns that contain the magical water to add in the magic ingredient--the blood of the group's prophet.

But, the blood is almost gone and the prophet, Otto, has yet to return after hundreds of years. How will the group survive without the blood of their savior and without magic water to keep the evil Darwin at bay?

Even as I write this summary, the book almost sounds fairly good. In its plot, this book has definite potential. Solid potential, even. In actuality, the promise of the plot is not quite realized. There is a definite underlying story here, an epic one. It might be related to Jesus and those who blindly follow prophets and the blood of Christ and profiteers of religion...But, I'm not exactly sure. Because there is the whole supernatural living-for-hundreds-of years thing thrown in and lots and lots of unanswered questions.

It feels to me (and I'm not saying this as an author, but as a frequent reader of this genre), that there was too big a bite attempted with this book. As in, if there were less issues taken on, there might have been a great book here. I did not hate this book, but I feel like it was never really came together. I am hoping that some of the elements of this story that were not so clean were cleaned up for the final draft. The ARC that I read is rife with errors, more so than many other ARCs I have read. Maybe the published version is cleaner and some of the plot disparities and questions have been cleared up?

I know that I would still read this book even if I had read negative reviews of it beforehand. I love this genre so much that I really and truly can overlook much of the negatives about any book written in this genre. If you're a die hard lover of dystopias, you will probably read this book no matter what people say. It's not perfect, but there's still some great ideas and some interesting moments in this story. If you're  more casual in your approach to dystopias, you may not want to pick this one.

Based on Candor, I will continue to read book written by Pam Bachorz! 

**Read as part of Presenting Lenore's Dystopian February Celebration**

In My Mailbox (8)

I haven't done an In My Mailbox (hosted by The Story Siren) post in a long, long time. Mostly, I stopped doing this because I was ordering so many books for my classroom that it was going to take me forever (and seem rather excessive) if I showed you all what was coming in.

But, I am breaking this hiatus for one very special package that came in today's mail. As most all of you know by now, I am a huge fan of dystopias. I look forward to a good "world gone wrong" book more than any other. Don't know why, but I do. So, it is with the utmost in (im)patience that I have awaited the arrival of Michael Northrup's Trapped. As it turns out, it was well worth the wait!

Why? Because it came with a cute little polar bear Silly Band bracelet. So cute! Here's a picture:

But, most of all, it came with a note. To me! It's just plain awesome. 

Click Image to Enlarge

I am so excited to read this book. I'm thinking that this weekend will be a perfect time to dive in--It's supposed to be in the mid-teens (in temperature)(Fahrenheit) in Maine and snowy this weekend. My imagination won't have to strain too much to picture this setting!

My review will come toward the end of January, so I'll let you know what I think then. This title will be released in early February.

Book Review: Those That Wake by Jesse Karp

Something has happened to New York City. The normally vibrant city streets are filled with people who act like drones. And, for Mal and Laura, their whole world has changed. For some reason, no one seems to remember who they are. Their parents, their friends, no one. It's like they never existed.

At first, this novel is told in alternating chapters between Mal, a tough city kid who is fights at the local gym and is in foster care now that his father has died and his abusive mother has disowned him. He loves his brother, but they aren't close because of horrible incidents that happened in their childhood. Mal receives a phone call from his estranged brother, Tommy, late one night. When he tries to find Tommy soon after, he's no where to be found. Fearing foul play, Mal starts looking.

Instead of finding Tommy, he meets Laura. She is a seemingly perfect girl. Great grades, all of the right clubs and such for her college application to Yale, only child of doting parents. That is until she tries to call her parents who are vacationing in New York City for the weekend. At first it seems like a joke, because her parents don't recognize her when she calls. They say they have no children. Laura leaves the suburbs and heads into the city to find prove to her parents that she exists.

And that's when she meets Mal. Both are having strange dreams and are finding that no one remembers who they are. They form an instant connection and have a shared purpose--To reclaim their lives and the people who are supposed to know them.

Sounds really good, right? Hm. I just didn't love it. At first, with the back and forth narration, I was pretty into Laura's story, but once the two stories combined and the book got weirder and more crazy, I lost interest. I kept reading just to find out what happened. but didn't have a ton of feelings for the characters or their plight. Which is unlike me. I usually connect with characters fairly quickly and stay with them throughout a novel. Not so much with this one.

I am a little scared. This is the second dystopia that I've read this month and I have not loved it. Have I entered some sort of parallel universe where I still appear to love this genre, but can't find a single book that will satisfy my tastes? Naw. That can't happen! Or can it...

So, I did not love this book. I didn't hate it, but I will not be gushing about it to other lovers of this genre. You're all welcome to go ahead and read it and love it and disagree with me. That's fine. I can take it.

**ARC Received from Book It Forward ARC Tours**

Book Review + Book Giveaway: The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher

I love a good dystopia. I am a huge fan of this genre for some reason or another. No matter what the controlling government or post-apocalyptic plague the characters are facing, I'm there. I will pretty much read any book in this genre, and was terrifically excited to read this one.

The Water Wars is the story of Vera and her brother, Will, who live in a section of the re-apportioned US called Illinowa. There are now only 5 such sections of the US, and they are not friendly toward one another. Much of the coast of the US, Canada, Greenland, and Mexico has been lost to disastrous flooding.  Of course, the all of the flooding from the polar ice caps has melted into the ocean and is undrinkable. Rivers have been dammed, and drinking water is at a premium. Pirates, government agencies, and ordinary citizens are all fighting for one precious commodity--water.

Shortly after Vera and Will become friendly with a mysterious boy named Kai, he disappears. It seems like he's been kidnapped, from the state of his ruined apartment. As it turns out, Kai and his father know where to find water--and dangerous people are vying to control Kai for his secrets.

Vera and Will begin to search for Kai and are quickly swept up in an international battle. They get to experience just how far people are willing to go for clean, drinkable water. And once they start this journey, they can't turn back. Too quickly, they are in deep and know that if they every want to see Kai alive again, they've got to find him.

I did read this book in one sitting, but that had more to do with the fact that I didn't think I'd pick it back up again if I set it down. This is not to say that the book was completely boring, because it wasn't. I just didn't really connect with the characters. Because, when a book presents an entirely different world from the one that I know and understand, I need to have a good relationship with the characters. Books like The Hunger Games and The Uglies series and Matched developed great worlds and great characters.

I just felt pretty much nothing for Vera and Will. I mean, I didn't want anything bad to happen to them, but I didn't not feel any sense of urgency about whether or not they were going to make it to the end of this story. That said, the world of The Water Wars was pretty believable. Just yesterday, it was a balmy 40 degrees here in Western Maine. We barely have any snow! We should have feet by now and the temperature should be right around zero, or at least in the low teens. I completely know that Global Warming is taking place and believe this book. It's just the characters that are a little shallow for my taste.

All badness aside (and it's really not that bad), I do have an extra copy of this book. In my haste to get it and read it, I bought two without realizing it. So, I am going to give away one copy to a lucky commenter. It'd be great if it went to someone who's participating in a dystopia reading challenge or who likes this genre. But, I'll give it to whichever person random.org chooses!

This giveaway is for those with US addresses only. It closes on 1/10/2011 at midnight (EST).  

To enter, simply leave a comment with your email and an answer to this question:

What is your favorite dystopia? Classic, YA, adult, whatever. 

I just need fun titles to look forward to!

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Good Luck!

**This book counts toward my tally in the Dystopia Reading Challenge 2011**

(There's still time to join!)