What Kind of (Dystopian) Trend is This?

I've recently come across THREE dystopian/post-apocalyptic books with similar premises. I do have all three in my TBR pile. So I hope to get to all three at some point. Which of the three appeals most to you? Which do you think has the best cover? the best premise? Have I missed any new releases that fit this new trend?


Vultures War. Kirsty Murray. April 2010. Holiday House. 272 pages.

The synopsis (from B&N):

In this page-turning futuristic novel, a young woman finds out what it means to be living in a world destroyed by war, and a young man discovers that his only chance of survival is to question everything his parents taught him.

Even though he is half dead, Callum is lucky. It is Bo's roboraptor who finds him-not the rogue Outstationers from whom the boy has escaped. But even as Bo nurses Callum back to health, the Outstationers are homing in. The two barely escape capture when Callum discovers something incredible: Bo is a girl, maybe the last girl in a world in which females are thought to be extinct. And now, by helping Callum, she has put her own life at risk. With the Outstationers in hot pursuit, the two set off across a dangerous continent in hopes of finding haven in the city of Vulture's Gate. But nothing can prepare them for what they encounter at the end of their journey.

The SLJ Review mentions it is a MUTATED AVIAN FLU that caused the 'complete' extinction of the female populace.



Epitaph Road by David Patneaude. March 2010. Egmont USA. 272 pages.

Synopsis (B&N):

2097 is a transformed world. Thirty years earlier, a mysterious plague wiped out 97 percent of the male population, devastating every world system from governments to sports teams, and causing both universal and unimaginable grief. In the face of such massive despair, women were forced to take over control of the planet—and in doing so they eliminated all of Earth's most pressing issues. Poverty, crime, warfare, hunger . . . all gone.

But there's a price to pay for this new "utopia," which fourteen-year-old Kellen is all too familiar with. Every day, he deals with life as part of a tiny minority that is purposefully kept subservient and small in numbers. His career choices and relationship options are severely limited and controlled. He also lives under the threat of scattered recurrences of the plague, which seem to pop up wherever small pockets of men begin to regroup and grow in numbers.

And then one day, his mother's boss, an iconic political figure, shows up at his home. Kellen overhears something he shouldn't—another outbreak seems to be headed for Afterlight, the rural community where his father and a small group of men live separately from the female-dominated society. Along with a few other suspicious events, like the mysterious disappearances of Kellen's progressive teacher and his Aunt Paige, Kellen is starting to wonder whether the plague recurrences are even accidental. No matter what the truth is, Kellen cares only about one thing—he has to save his father.

Nomansland by Lesley Hauge. June 2010. Henry Holt. 256 pages.

Synopsis (FROM BACK COVER of ARC)

Sometime in the future, a lonely, windswept island in the north is populated solely by women. Among these women is a group of teenaged Trackers--expert equestrians and archers--whose job is to protect their shores from the enemy. The enemy, they've been told, is men.
When these girls come upon a partially buried home from the distant past, they are fascinated by the strange objects--high-heeled shoes, teen magazines, makeup--found there. What are they to make of these mysterious things, which introduce a world they have never known? And what does it mean for their strict society where friendship is forbidden and rules must be obeyed--at all costs?
Nomansland is a powerful, shocking story that will challenge young readers' perspectives and provoke much discussion over the timely, controversial issues presented.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews