Wanted: Fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent

Introducing the next series you should read

Photo by Cedric Dhaenens on Unsplash

If you devoured The Hunger Games, Divergent, Legend, and Matched, then I have a recommendation for you: The Forged Series.

The adventure starts with Shattered, scheduled to be released in early 2025. Find bits of yourself in the telling of Tessa’s story. Get lost in her world, in her journey. Root for her and her friends as they navigate the twists and turns encountered.

Shattered

In the remnants of the Pacific Northwest, 110 years in the future, fourteen-year-old Tessa Wright's idyllic life in the Wilds is disrupted by the death of her family, forcing her to move to the capital city of Bannock. Struggling with grief and adjusting to public school for the first time, she becomes haunted by fragmented memories about her past, revealing clues that suggest her family’s death was no accident.

As she grapples with these revelations, she’s drawn into a much larger conflict—one that threatens to change the course of her life and the future of her world. Amid rising tensions between the urban centers and the Wilds, the growing Underground movement threatens to expose dangerous secrets that could challenge the oppressive Ryker administration, changing everything.

As she unravels the truth, Tessa must confront her identity, decide whom to trust, and weigh the risks of fighting for justice. In a fractured and unstable society, time is running out for Tessa to reclaim her true self. In a world where nothing is as it seems, discovering the truth could cost her everything.

Self-Discovery

The Forged Series explores several themes. At the center is a coming-of-age journey — the discovery of one’s identity is a rite of passage in every young person’s life. Through the push and pull of internal and external forces, Tessa and the others must figure out what kind of person they each want to be.

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A reflection of current politics?

Woven throughout the series is the examination of free will and freedom of choice. Tessa and the other teens must expose the country's power-hungry leaders and fight back against their efforts to control decisions that limit personal freedoms. The story discusses the idea that power is best held by those who don’t seek it rather than by those who are hungry for it and who want to wield it to control others.

“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”

~ “Freewill” - Song by Rush

Nature vs. Nurture

Science is ever-evolving in the search for deeper truths and the desire to unlock mysteries. But how much scientific control of human evolution is too much? How much do our innate abilities vs. what we are taught affect our decisions? The story touches on the self-destruction qualities of revenge, harboring resentment, and the inability to forgive. Depression and guilt play a major role in Tessa’s journey. There are elements of found—or chosen—family, plus some budding romance. (Ah, the teenage years…)

A touch of CliFi

As a dystopian novel set 110 years from now, the world in which Tessa lives presents how the global climate crisis could play out. It depicts a tale of hope, where future generations have embraced the need to find better ways to preserve Earth’s limited resources and continue to strive to rebalance the ecosystem through focused, joint efforts.

Content Notices

The narrative includes statements about birth control, reproductive sterilization, invitro fertilization, DNA manipulation, reliance on technology, depression, and survivor’s guilt. Other potential triggers include the mention of a fatal vehicular accident, stillbirths, and bullying.

As a reader, your personal experiences will color your interpretation of each character’s words and actions. You may feel that they go “too far” or “not far enough” as issues are faced and decisions are made. There is no one correct answer to the situations they face. They do their best with what they know — and what they can handle — when they’re faced with the situation. Or do they?

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What I’m reading

Here are some other dystopian fiction pieces you might enjoy, available either on Substack or as a published book(s).

1. There is Hope - From

   Claudia Befu
   , “There Is Hope is a climate fiction series about life on a planet devastated by climate change and the little things that give people hope.” The scope of work includes both short stories and letters from the future, each “interlinked through recurring characters and a unifying plot arc.” Beautifully interwoven stories. Magnificently complex characters. Robust world-building. And an entertaining read!

2. Ada’s Children - A post-post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel from

   Larry Hogue
   is recounted from two alternating timelines, one set around the year 2040, when AI “steps in to put a stop to everything threatening humanity and the planet,” and the second set in “a not-quite-idyllic far future in which humans are once again hunter-gatherers living in a matriarchal society.” I’m currently devouring this in book form!

3. The Shell -

   S.E. Reid
   ventured out from her traditional cross-genre fiction set on Ferris Island to write a soft science fiction tale. “[O]ld man Burgess resurrects a force from his past and must make a decision that affects not just his own future, but that of the people around him.” And it does not disappoint!

4. Taken series - Recently re-released,

   Erin Bowman
   ’s YA dystopian series is “about a boy named Gray who lives in an isolated community where all boys mysteriously vanish when they turn eighteen.” I read the series earlier this year and enjoyed every bit of it!