I must admit to a liking for books featuring dystopian futures. It’s really interesting to see what different authors do with the world left after the breakdown of society. Surprisingly then, I’ve yet to read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, but it has gone up the list.
In Far North by Marcel Theroux – Siberia has been settled by Quakers from the Americas who had moved there for a return to a simpler life, which in turn was shattered by influxes of outsiders moving north as the environmental changes take impact. Communities are again forced into survivalist mode and it reaches a stage in the town of Evangeline where there’s just Makepeace left.
Makepeace thinks of committing suicide rather than carry on living all alone, but can’t go through with it, deciding instead to travel East to Alaska to see what’s become of the homeland. Makepeace’s journey is not straight-forward, there are many obstacles along the way – from pockets of zealots to slavers and Makepeace spends much time imprisoned in one way or another, but has a strong will to survive.
The gradual reveal of Makepeace’s story contains many surprises along the way, some of which are quite subtle, others less so but they do keep you reading. There are glimmers of hope too amongst the ruins which alleviate some of the bleakness of life lived as purely the survival of the fittest.
P.S. Quote in the title line from The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe.
I received my ARC through Amazon Vine. To explore further on Amazon UK, click below:
Far North
I also love dystopian fiction, and this sounds great. Onto the TBR list it goes.And do make every effort to read The Road before the movie comes out. I “read” it on audio last year and loved it–it had me bawling at some points.
The Road goes straight to the top of my TBR pile for after my Easter splurge of children’s lit. I didn’t know there was to be a film …
Yes, the movie is in production right now with Viggo Mortenson in the lead. The stills I’ve seen look great. It’s supposed to be released in US theatres sometime in 2009–I’m guessing late in the year.
Drat – I missed that on Vine. As a Quaker myself, its of great interest to me. The topic looks good anyway – so Kindle download it is