Kings of a Dead World

Another absolutely fantastic novel from Jamie Mollart! It's not often that I'm caught breathlessly fangirling, but Kings Of A Dead World totally hit the spot for me! This novel is very different from his previous triumph, The Zoo, (which I also loved). Set in a not-too-distant England, Kings Of A Dead World is a cautionary tale of where our planet is headed environmentally which depicts one potential solution that's scarily plausible. I was captivated by two of the characters at the centre of this story, Ben and his wife Rose whose dementia is so realistically yet sympathetically portrayed. Mental health is a strong theme of Mollart's writing. We follow before and after storylines which allowed me to gradually understand how 'that Ben' had become 'this Ben'. And the ever watchful, yet isolated Peruzzi is simply fascinating. His seemingly superior lifestyle as one of the chosen few Janitors should give him everything he needs, but the price of being so closed off is an interesting one to ponder.

On the face of it, Kings Of A Dead World is a mysterious dystopian novel, however I really appreciated how Mollart makes the story much deeper emotionally than the science fiction genre is often expected to be. In reading this book I was reminded of Amitav Ghosh's questioning in Uncanny and Improbable Events and I think that Kings Of A Dead World should be considered literary fiction as much as science or climate fiction. Mollart's world-building is so authentically detailed that it always felt real and I could easily imagine myself in each scene alongside Ben or Peruzzi. Kings Of A Dead World presents a vivid and original take on where we might all be headed within the next century. It's well worth experiencing literarily now.