Waiting On Wednesday (42) Upcoming Dystopian Fiction (Non-Sequels)

I'm lucky to have gotten my hands on quite a few upcoming dystopian novels already (The Line & Inside Out which I reviewed this week - and Dark Life, Birthmarked, and The Passage which are still to come this month). The following are titles I'd fight a pack of zombie chickens to read:

Upcoming in 2010

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown, May 1, 2010). Set initially in a future shanty town in America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being dissembled for parts by a rag tag group of workers, we meet Nailer, a teenage boy working the light crew, searching for copper wiring to make quota and live another day. The harsh realities of this life, from his abusive father, to his hand to mouth existence, echo the worst poverty in the present day third world.

When an accident leads Nailer to discover an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, and the lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl, Nailer finds himself at a crossroads. Should he strip the ship and live a life of relative wealth, or rescue the girl, Nita, at great risk to himself and hope she'll lead him to a better life. This is a novel that illuminates a world where oil has been replaced by necessity, and where the gap between the haves and have-nots is now an abyss. Yet amidst the shadows of degradation, hope lies ahead.

I am super excited about this one, especially after reading this rave review by Ashley at Book Nerding.

Restoring Harmony by Joëlle Anthony (Putnam, May 13, 2010). The year is 2041, and Molly McClure was only six when the Collapse of ’31 happened, ending life as the world’s population knew it. When she is forced to leave the comfort of her small B.C. island to travel down to Oregon, Molly discovers how hard the Collapse has been on the rest of the world. What starts out as a quick trip to the U.S. to convince her grandfather to return to Canada and be the island’s doctor, becomes a rescue mission. How much will she have to compromise to succeed in getting back home?

Sounds promising, especially when you read this rave review by Lauren at I Was A Teenage Book Geek.

The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen (Feiwel and Friends, May 25, 2010). Mason has never known his father, but longs to. All he has of him is a DVD of a man whose face is never seen, reading a children’s book. One day, on a whim, he plays the DVD for a group of comatose teens at the nursing home where his mother works. One of them, a beautiful girl, responds. Mason learns she is part of a horrible experiment intended to render teenagers into autotrophs—genetically engineered, self-sustaining life-forms who don’t need food or water to survive. And before he knows it, Mason is on the run with the girl, and wanted, dead or alive, by the mysterious mastermind of this gruesome plan, who is simply called the Gardener.

Eeeek! Chilling premise! And it has postive reviews on GoodReads so far.

For the Win by Cory Doctorow (Tor Teen, May 2010). I couldn't find much info about this one, but it seems to be about virtual gambling. I really enjoyed Doctorow's Little Brother, so looking forward to this one too.

Nomansland by Lesley Hauge (Henry Holt, June 22, 2010). Sometime in the future, a lonely, windswept island is populated solely by women. Among these women is a group of teenaged Trackers—expert equestrians and archers—whose job is to protect their shores from the enemy. The enemy, they’ve been told, is men. When these girls come upon a partially buried home from the distant past, they are fascinated by the strange objects—high-heeled shoes, teen magazines, make-up—found there. What are they to make of these mysterious things? And what does it mean for their strict society where friendship is forbidden and rules must be obeyed—at all costs?

I like that they find teen magazines and high heels!

Empty by Suzanne Weyn (Scholastic Press, Sept. 2010). I couldn't find much info on this one either, but it looks like another story about a world without gasoline.

The Unidentified by Rae Mariz (HarperCollins, Oct. 2010). Kid knows her school’s corporate sponsors not-so-secretly monitor her friendships and activities for market research. It’s all a part of the Game; the alternative education system designed to use the addictive kick from video games to encourage academic learning. Everyday, a captive audience of students ages 13-17 enter the nationwide chain store-like Game locations to play.

When a group calling themselves the Unidentified simulates a suicide to protest the power structure of their school, Kid’s investigation into their pranks attracts unwanted attention from the sponsors. As Kid finds out she doesn't have rights to her ideas, her privacy, or identity, she and her friends look for a way to revolt in a place where all acts of rebellion are just spun into the next new ad campaign.

Rae is a tenner! YAY! And I love books about advertising, so mixed with dystopia, this has to be a winner.

Matched by Allyson Condie (Dutton, Nov 30, 2010). So this one is about a 17-year-old falling in love with someone she's not supposed to in a world with arranged marriages. I'm there!
Upcoming in 2011

The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher (Sourcebooks, Jan. 2011). This seems to be a book about problems caused by the scarcity of water - something very plausible scarily enough.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver (HarperTeen, spring 2011). "Love, the deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it, and when you don't."

Lena Tiddle is looking forward to having the procedure on her eighteenth birthday that will keep her forever safe from amor deliria nervosa, the world's deadliest disease--commonly known as love. After she is cured, she will be assigned a job, and paired with a boy chosen for her, and she will live happily and peacefully forever, undisturbed by feelings of passion, temptation, or desire.

In three short months, Lena will be safe, and she can't wait. But love always finds you when you least expect it...

It's no secret I LOVE Lauren's debut Before I Fall, so I was estatic to hear she has written a dystopia. I begged for more details, hence the never-before-seen summary above! I may have to hang around Lauren's trash can to get a sneak peek at this one ;)

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann (S&S/Aladdin, fall 2011) This is a dystopian fantasy about a society where strength and intelligence are rewarded in 13 year olds and creativity is punished by death. Alexander Stowe is an unwanted and is “purged” from his community.

After watching Lisa read an excerpt at I Heart Monster, I am itching to get my hands on this and find out what happens when Alex gets on the death bus!

So these are some of the upcoming dystopian novels I'm most excited about. You can read about even more at this PW article. Are there any I missed that you are super excited about? You know I need to add to my list!