KANONARA

Genres

Dystopian fiction

Fiction set in an imagined world or society where people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives.

A dystopia is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. Its machinery, as Wikipedia lists it: tyrannical or totalitarian government, propaganda and police-state tactics, censorship and denial of free thought, enforced conformity, surveillance. Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World and The Handmaid's Tale are the canonical novels.

Dystopia is worldbuilding-driven fiction: the society itself is the antagonist, so its rules, hierarchies and information controls must stay consistent across a whole book or serial, which is why the practice of writing down world rules pays off here more than almost anywhere. The register also powers cyberpunk's decayed near futures.

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