In a future of bleakness and roboticism, a totalitarian government enforces upon the people a lifestyle that lulls them into a state of obedience. Your career and social status are predestined and you cannot alter it – this is a reality that walks a fine line between evoking sensations of fear and inducing a sense of futility.
A dystopian reality can sometimes turn out to be as powerful and strong as it can be fragile, collapsing in on itself from one second to the next. As a race, we are fascinated with what comes next, what’s over the hill and, inevitably, what happens if we’re left all alone. How can things go on? What lessons can we learn?
Broken Worlds: Dystopian Stories takes a peep into an all too possible future. Narration and style change from story to story, but the core of this volume is human emotion. Coloured by their cultures and backgrounds, the storytellers featured in this volume take the idea of a society at extremes and weave a variety of outcomes.
It took me a while to finish this collection but not for lack of interest. on the contrary, I was sooo into the first few stories, I was afraid I'd be so disappointed if I finished them all too soon.
The stories are inventive, delving into different sides of a sickness that is already spreading through out world, offering cautionary tales of what could become of us if we're not careful, but also giving us a glimmer of hope for the human race and humanity.
Work and other books took me away from Broken Worlds for a while, but I caught myself going back to this book in my mind over and over again. The pause might have built it up in my head a bit more than it should have because the last stories didn't have as great an impact as the first several ones, but most of them were great; some were absolutely amazing!
Wow, this is one DARK collection of dystopian fiction. Normally in a collection like this, there are some dark stories and some hopeful stories…..yeah, not in this one. And in the climate today….this is a hard anthology to read. It is a powerful collection of short stories and they were all interesting & definitely thought-provoking but if you are looking for hope or happiness-you won’t find it in this book. So I recommend it and I don’t!
From the book blurb: “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places... In a future of bleakness and roboticism, a totalitarian government enforces upon the people a lifestyle that lulls them into a state of obedience. Your career and social status are predestined and you cannot alter it - this is a reality that walks a fine line between evoking sensations of fear and inducing a sense of futility. A dystopian reality can sometimes turn out to be as powerful and strong as it can be fragile, collapsing in on itself from one second to the next. As a race, we are fascinated with what comes next, what's over the hill and, inevitably, what happens if we're left all alone. How can things go on? What lessons can we learn? Broken Worlds takes a peep into an all too possible future. Narration and style change from story to story, but the core of this volume is human emotion. Coloured by their cultures and backgrounds, the storytellers featured in this volume take the idea of a society at extremes and weave a variety of outcomes.”
Intense and captivating collection of stories. Some very good, others just too gruesome and much more graphic than the usual sci-fi dystopias. Definitely not for the squeamish.