Kings of a Dead World

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We’re in a world where all the resources on earth are running out and the powers that be have decided that the solution is something called “the sleep”, everyone sleeps for three months straight and then wakes for a month so essentially you’re only awake for 3 months in the entire year. As someone who is not usually a dystopian genre reader I was surprised how intrigued by this book I was from just the blurb, so when I got the change to read it I snapped it up. In the sleeping city, elderly Ben struggles with his limited waking time and the disease that is stealing his wife from him. Outside, lonely Janitor Peruzzi craves the family he never knew. Around them both, dissatisfaction is growing. The city is about to wake.

Kings of a Dead World’ by Jamie Mollart is a powerful work of dystopian, speculative fiction, set approximately sixty years in our future. Earth’s resources are dwindling to the point of running out. At the same time bringing the onset of drastic climate changes. The solution is The Sleep: periods of hibernation imposed on those who remain with only a Janitor in each zone to watch over the sleepers. Kings of a Dead World is definitely an incredible read. Jamie Mollart presents us with a future that is not beyond the realms of possibility. But what about a Sleep with no dreams? “I wanted there to be a difference between forced Sleep and actual sleep,” Mollart says. “It shouldn’t be a thing where you get to restore your body and your mind. It’s like they’re turned off, literally turned off.”Author Jamie Mollart laughs while admitting this, but the idea for Kings of a Dead World, his new dystopian novel about a world put to sleep to conserve resources, came to him in a dream. And why shouldn’t it have? “Sleep on it” is the common advice for a human being pondering a big choice or change, with the promise that a good night’s sleep will allow them better perspective to write a novel, make a life-shifting decision… maybe even save the world?

Peruzzi is one of the kings of this dead world. Raised from birth to be a janitor, he leads a privileged if lonely life, monitoring his patch of the city, maintaining his sleepers and trading to earn the creds they will use to buy supplies when they wake. I’ve been a long running guest on Litopia, the web’s biggest writing podcast, interviewed by BBC Ulster, BBC Radio Leicester, BBC Radio Nottingham, featured at The Isle of Man Book Festival, Lowdham Festival, Writing East Midlands’ Writing Conference and have taught novel writing for Writing School Leicester.Suffice to say, I really enjoyed the book. It was insightful, intense and imaginative. Kings of a Dead World is a thought-provoking thriller of a novel that will entertain to the very end. There is a lot of passion and empathy within the characters involved. Ben especially, despite his ageing frailties, shows the reader how as human beings, we can still find strength when needed. Mollart’s pacing was perfect – while I felt like I was hurtling towards the climactic ending for most of the novel, at no point did I want to slow down. There was something in that which spoke to the wider themes in the novel – there’s a fragility to the set up with ‘Sleep’ which, once tested, rapidly unravels.

On the speculative side of the plot, it felt very much like The Handmaids Tale. It is very easy to see this world event scenario happening. It makes you question the ethical dilemmas, of who should live and die, like the final solution, although this isn’t discussed in any depth. Other ethical questions about how we should live, who has the power to make these decisions, should they make these ethical decisions. It was all very immersive and felt very realistic, insightful and powerful. Towards the end, there were some really good plot revelations and I felt the ending was handled perfectly.Three narratives and two timelines - Jamie Mollart has done an exceptional job of fusing these together to create an awesome reading experience. Janitors, taking care of the population and trading with other countries, watch over society in the meanwhile. I think this may be a controversial book for some, then so were most of Ballards, he didn't do too bad as an author, did he?