Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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The future is bleak and cold

Far North by Marcel Theroux

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CBR18 BINGO: Wheels, because Makepeace’s family (and others) moved to the Far North to survive Far North takes place in a dystopian future that is usually depicted as arid wasteland. In this case, the wasteland is the frozen tundra, which is represented rather beautifully on the book cover. A lone figure and a horse stand gazing across the snow-covered landscape; it looks peaceful and hints at a more beautiful story than one finds within. Not that Far North is completely bleak; there’s an unusual undertone […]

The Problem With Compliance

The Memory Policy by Yoko Ogawa

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The Memory Police, by Yoko Ogawa is a quiet, spare, literary tale of dystopia. While I can’t say I enjoyed reading this book, I can say that I think it’s very good. I found the book hard to enjoy for a couple of reasons. One, because it was very strange concept. Our unnamed narrator and her unnamed friends and family live on an unnamed island where things disappear. But, they disappear from people’s memories first, and then the people of the island get rid of the […]

The fame, the wealth, the surveillance system in her body

Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase

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I started Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase sometime in early 2025. It took me until March 30, 2025 to read. Not because it was a bad book, necessarily,  but because it was a dense, hard read. There were a lot of descriptions of what was happening (even if it was just trying to get out of bed, let alone the technical parts), cultural references and even the way of speaking that was not what I was used to. The idea of a future where we […]

Optimistic dystopian fiction?

The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks

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In an alternate universe in 1899,  travelers wishing to cross the land between China and Russia have only one option: the Trans-Siberian Express. The area known as the Wastelands is a dangerous zone: it’s populated by monsters, the air is poison, and even staring at the view too long will mess with your head. Still, the train has a reputation for luxury, especially if you can afford a First Class ticket. Who wouldn’t want to experience the adventure of a luxurious trans-Siberian excursion, with a […]

A great addition to its genre (but you’re better off not knowing what it is)

The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey

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This is a book best discovered blind, without knowing the plot or even genre. But if you already know, or don’t mind mild spoilers, read ahead. “That’s Pandora…she was a really amazing woman. All the gods had blessed her and given her gifts. that’s what her name means, the girl with all the gifts. So she was clever and brave and beautiful and funny, and everything else you’d want to be. But she just had the one tiny fault, which was that she was very, […]

Still relevant 75 years later

1984 by George Orwell

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Despite being 75 years old, this novel holds up remarkably well. I think people can relate 1984 to a variety of things in their lives – an abusive family life, an impossible workplace, or even the society in which they live. But the book is actually about a dystopian future society (which was 1984 according to Orwell, who wrote this novel in 1949). After an atomic war in the 50’s, the world condensed itself into three nation states: Eurasia, Oceania, and East Asia. Airstrip One, […]



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