Review - Dorian's Worlds

In a dystopian future, medical science has extended the human life span, and age has become the all-important measure of status. The young only exist to serve their elders, whether it’s to hand them food just beyond their reach or to provide sexual gratification. Dorian is a young man in his late teens, a service worker at the beck and call of two elderly ‘patrons’ who use him however they wish.

One day, in a fit of temper at his patron’s insensitivity, Dorian throws some fruit at them and stalks off. For this, he is sent to prison to be reformed. But prison only hardens Dorian’s resolve to find a way out of the unfair system, and he quickly finds friends that think the same way. Together they begin to make plans for an escape that grows to include dozens of rebellious youth.

“Dorian’s Worlds” manages to pack quite a bit into its very short length. Despite being only about 50 pages long, the story feels complete. The characters aren’t exactly deep, but they’re realistic enough. As with many science fictions stories, you can start poking holes in the plot, but none of the issues I identified were glaring enough to really detract from the plot. It’s more the kind of things you might question after you’d read the book, which you will probably finish in a single sitting.

However, once it’s all said and done, the big question might be whether or not Dorian’s new world has simply supplanted one dystopia for another, but that conundrum is only hinted at. Perhaps there will be a sequel which delves into it more.

“Dorian’s Worlds” is available from the publisher, JMS Books.