Kings of a Dead World by Jamie Mollart

(Sandstone Press, 2021)

Reviewed by John Dodd

What would happen if the governments of the world accepted that there were too many people on the planet and took measures to reduce the population by any means? They started by killing the criminals, then euthanising those with terminal diseases, then euthanising anyone older than a certain age. At this point, you’re fairly sure that you’re in a really dark world where there’s not going to be much in the way of happy endings. Then they decide that there’s still too many people, so huge buildings are made to put people to sleep for a long time, which allows the minimal resources that are available to be used as they need to be.

There’s a lot to take in from the start, it’s a cross between the Matrix and Dark City, where the sleeping pods are looked over by Janitors, who have a massive responsibility in watching over those who are in their block of pods, but literally no oversight, they can do as they wish, when they wish, how they wish.

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Review from BSFA Review 17 - Download your copy here.