“The Black Dwarves of the Good Little Bay” by Varun Mathew

🍂”The Black Dwarves of the good little bay” by Varun Mathew is an epic dystopia, set in modern-world Mumbai now known as Bombadrome, for there is no land to live on, no resources to replete, and the only way to live is to live in suspended dorms hovered in the air.
When the ecological system collapsed, and the rains stopped all together ‘visiting’ this city, the newly formed government, with the promise to set things in order, proposed an artificially equated society, where everyone is equal and everyone’s lives are technologically driven to happiness, there is one but no man who remembers what it was like to live in Bom Bahia.
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🍂While the city is changed and there seems to be a state of utopia on the surface, the story of how the city came to be what it is now, is harrowing and highly relevant to times today as well.
Layered with elements of ecological deterioration, the protagonist’s childhood, his part to play in the new world order, political agendas and propagandas, the tale is a strong statement on the various facets of Indian society; its mob, its corruption, its casteism, its classism and more importantly, turning a blind eye to injustices if it serves one’s personal purpose.
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🍂Gripping narration, an engrossing storyline, and a scathing recital, peppered with subplots from the last and the present, this dystopian account keeps you on your ends all the time, wondering what will happen next.
Highly recommended.
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🍂 Thank you hachette_india for this gifted copy, in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Genre: dystopia, indian-literature, contemporary, science-fiction

“The Farm” by Joanne Ramos

“The problem is that she is too pretty. When you are too pretty, the other parts of you do not become strong.”
-The Farm by Joanne Ramos
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Jane a struggling mother and an immigrant from the Philippines finds herself in a valley retreat, one where she can enjoy all the amenities, organic meals, private fitness trainers, daily massages—and all of it for free. And even get paid for her time there.
The only catch, “The Farm” is actually a fancy place to keep surrogates till the time they breed for their uber-wealthy clients.
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While the idea itself is really intriguing and fans of ‘The Handmaid’s tale’ would find themselves leaning towards the novel, but I felt the actual execution lacks the same harrowing and intense experience.
The story primarily revolves around Jane’s character and you do feel empathised by it, her innocence and motherly instincts make you feel sorry for her being trapped in a place like this, but the various subplots and narratives were all scattered here and there without coming to a tangible conclusion.
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The contrast between the rich and the poor and the emphasis on the wealth-divide between the two, by means of a subject like pregnancy, is very well portrayed and worth mentioning.
Overall, an average read touching on a lot of modern-day subjects that hold potential for a good book, if not for the various plots thrown in random directions.
Thank you @bloomsburyindia for the gifted copy in return for an honest review.
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Rating:⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Genre: fiction, contemporary, dystopia

“The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction” by Hachette India

“The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction” by Hachette India is a collection of contemporary sci-fi stories, focusing on themes such as dystopia, climate change, space travel, the arrival of aliens and man’s quest to find sustainable ways to live.
These are some tales from the masterful minds of some of the most inventive minds, and barring a few pieces here and there, all of the narratives were exhilarating and thrilling.
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The book being first of its kind of a selection of historical sci-fi and new age dystopia from the South Asian subcontinent to appear in the twenty-first century, did hold a lot of potentials and it was able to live up to the hype albeit by simple yet effective narratives that one can enjoy and be left with something to ponder on at the same time.
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Some of the anecdotes didn’t work for me, because of their long, tedious and unnecessary description, but the others more than made up for the experience, especially in the latter half of the book.
I absolutely loved the last one, a hypothetical future where a group of young scientists is trying to find a way to combat climate change by coming up with ideas such as sustainable colonies and to seek a way to communicate with the forest even though the web of life has reached a point of destruction.
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Read it with an open mind and overlook the minute nitty gritty and I am sure you are in for a culmination of laughter, wonder, amuse and intrigue.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Genre: sci-fi, south-asian-lit, short-stories, future
Reading Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐/5

“The handmaid’s tale” by Margaret Atwood

“Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”  -Margaret Atwood, The handmaid’s tale

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The handmaid’s tale is a dystopian narrative set in the Republic of Gilead where a theonomic military dictatorship exists in what is present-day Massachusetts. The government is thrown off and a totalitarian Christian theonomy reigns. Human rights are diminished and women’s rights are heavily curtailed. The women of the society are now compartmentalised based on various functions and emphasis is now wholly in the act of reproduction making it the centre of the order.

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As the protagonist puts in these words:
” I am a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping. Inside it is a space, huge as the sky at night and dark and curved like that, though black-red rather than black.”