Dystopian Fiction, Sābanto, and other novel types.

Photo by Nadine Shaabana on Unsplash

Many readers are familiar with suspense novels and thrillers where the protagonists have a specific goal that they want to achieve and must deal with obstacles in their way, look for clues, and fight the bad guys. 

Usually, the focus of these kinds of novels is on an individual, their choices, and the consequences of these choices.

A couple of examples of such plots:

At the top of his class at Harvard Law, Mitch joins the best law firm in America, which showers him with gifts and money. Mitch, however, should know that you never get anything for nothing. When the FBI knocks on his door, he knows he’s in trouble.
– The Firm by John Grisham

A desperate woman accepts a large amount of money through a rigged lottery scam as she runs for her life, but there is one condition: She can never return home. Ten years later she returns, and the scammer intends to punish her.
– The Winner by David Baldacci
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Although Dystopian Fiction (also called Speculative Fiction) can include thrillers, it doesn’t have to. 

Dystopian Fiction needs to be evaluated as social commentary. It’s often based on current events that seem harmless, imagined as part of an exaggerated trajectory which could one day become dangerous to humanity. It explores not only society and politics as a whole, but often delves deep into human nature and exposes the good and bad qualities of characters facing a new-to-us reality.

Dystopian Fiction deals first with society, then about the individual’s place in it.

A few examples of such plots:

Offred lives in the patriarchal society of Gilead, where women's rights, and especially their reproductive rights, are no longer their own. Resistance to the new laws and reality is faced with severe punishment. Offred is willing to risk her life for a chance at escape.
– The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

In a society where citizens are engineered through artificial wombs, an individual’s class is predetermined before they are born. There is, however, a “Savage Reservation” where a group of people is able to live undisturbed without the technology of the new world. John was born on the reservation, but his mother was from the new world. He is a creation of the two societies but belongs to neither.
– Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The sperm count of human males has plummeted to zero and the old are being forced into mass suicide at the age of 60 because they are no longer needed. Mankind faces imminent extinction. Theo is approached by a woman named Julian who is pregnant, but the baby needs to be kept secret.
– The Children of Men by P.D. James

People are on Mars mining helium-3 to create life, but they are being kept in the dark on the progress of the terraforming of the planet. When Darrow learns that Mars is green and that he is just a slave worker, he takes on the task of infiltrating the upper class. But first, he needs to prove that he is worthy.
– The Red Rising by Pierce Brown 

When reading Sābanto, the reader should first focus on the post-war world, the degradation of the quality of living for most people except a few, and the political situation that is developing. It is important to note the sentiments, opinions, and values that people have. Only then can we understand the characters, their fears, goals, and their actions, because they are products of the society they live in.