When Suzanne Collins released the first “Hunger Games” book in 2008, it revived interest in dystopian fiction for a new generation of young adults (YA). The captivating trilogy was soon released as a franchise in a four-part movie series with billions of dollars in earnings. The appeal of YA dystopia encouraged other authors to get in on this popular genre with books like the “Divergent” and “The Maze Runner” series appearing in bookstores and movie theaters.
Readers familiar with the genre know that the appeal lies in the “what-would-happen-if” premise that underlies the stories’ settings and plots. What would happen if we lived in a world where the news was censored? What would happen if there were an elite group of people who held power while the rest had to do their bidding? What would happen if citizens were injected with chemicals to control their thoughts and actions? What would happen if we lived in a world that was “anti-utopia”?
In these situations, the stories are peppered with heroes and heroines who use their skill, wit, and pure luck to cast off their captors and change their worlds for the better. The tales can be gripping as the reader awaits the next challenge and for the sequels to see how the story ends.
Readers also know that these stories are peppered with teen-on-teen violence. They contain content dealing with teenage love (which may involve more than kissing), and include inappropriate language. Such books and movies may desensitize young readers to violence and sex, and cause an over-reliance on their own grit to overcome difficult circumstances. The latter is not necessarily a bad thing, but it entails cutting out one thing that society has been slowly chipping away from our daily lives: God.
Enter Brian Penn’s YA Christian dystopian novel “The Wall.” While it has many story elements that may remind readers of “The Hunger Games,” the book clearly stands out from other dystopian novels with its Christian themes and the importance of faith in overcoming seemingly impossible challenges.
Building the Wall
The wall plays an integral part in creating the American dystopia of 2099. In this case, the wall keeps the “Drecks” (the dregs of American society) captive within its boundaries, called “Middle America.” Here, Asher, the protagonist, lives by rifling through trash heaps for discarded weapons, car parts, and anything else he thinks he can sell on the black market.Related Stories
It is a struggle to live and survive, while outside of these walls is Zion—the land where the privileged live. Once a month, a lottery is offered to a lucky Dreck to move out of Middle America and “into paradise.”
Under constant watch of the Lazurite guards, Drecks need to follow the rules and stay out of the guards’ way, or they could be blasted to smithereens for any hint of trouble.
The wall also serves as a barrier for young love. Sarai is the daughter of Zion’s sultan. In a flashback scene, she briefly escapes her claustrophobic royal life and lives with an aunt in Middle America. She meets and falls in love with Asher. But like Romeo and Juliet, the young lovers are kept apart, here by the wall once she returns to her privileged life.
Asher and his uncle Cephas concoct an outlandish plan to help Asher get past the wall, infiltrate the ranks of Zion’s elite, and lead an army to overthrow the ruling class. It’s a plan that will entail Asher participating in “The Canonization”—a gladiator-style event for low-ranking soldiers to compete against each other in battles and mazes—with the victor called upon to lead an army unit and win the hand of the sultana Sarai.
With much at stake, Asher leads the readers through twists and turns in order to fulfill what he has set out to do—and to be reunited with Sarai. It is an exciting read once the plan is in motion.
Elements of Dystopia
As dystopian fiction, “The Wall” has all the requisite elements: an altered world, a group of oppressed people, a small group of people with “rules for thee, but not for me,” and unfortunate similarities to modern history.Mr. Penn quotes Fyodor Dostoyevsky: “The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison.” Sure enough, Zion controls the Drecks by air-dropping packets of drugs to keep them pacified.
Zion bans firearms. One of the tasks of the Lazurite guards is to sequester any illegal weapons to prevent rebel armies from forming.
Even the Bible is banned and Zion’s approved online search engine spouts propaganda. In an act similar to book burning, “computer smashing” is employed with the similar Nazi objective of withholding and controlling information.
For the “what if” premise, “The Wall” deals with the hypothetical question of whether people would live differently if they knew they had a chance at a second life. In Zion, the technology to have a second life is available but is outlawed. As the story moves along, readers will see how this twisted concept of a new life will play a bigger role in this distorted reality.
Elements of Christian Fiction
What sets the book apart are the Christian elements which rose above the violence and gore that readers normally find in this genre.Biblical names are used for characters like Sarai and Jude (Uncle Cephas’s right-hand man). Cephas is Aramaic for Peter, which means “the rock,” and it suits him as the leader of the rebel group “The Defiance.”
Names aside, “The Wall” contains Bible quotes, which would be out of place in the “Hunger Games.” Uncle Cephas, despite his limitations, has learned to rely on his faith and on the Scripture passages he has memorized. He defines freedom, not just as freedom from drugs and captivity, but also as finding “the way, the life, and the truth.”
As Asher grows into his role as liberator of the Drecks, he grows in his faith. He surveys the Drecks who had not succumbed to addiction and likens them to a mustard seed—a small group with hope. When all seems lost, this familiar line comes to Asher’s mind: “If God is with us, who can be against us?”
Mr. Penn’s “The Wall” is a valiant effort to oppose mainstream YA dystopian novels. It has all the elements that make this genre popular, while holding steadfast to basic Christian tenets of hope and faith. The good news is that this story is part one of a trilogy. If Mr. Penn continues with his initial formula, the next two books will be delightful reads as well.
‘The Wall’
By Brian Penn
Koehler Books, Dec. 19, 2023
Hardcover: 256 pages
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