King of the World

Against a long lists of Dystopias (like Hunger Games and Insurgent) Coleman has written a Utopian look at the future. Based on the ending of the book this is a projected series, but the length is probably based on the reaction to the first book. It is a successor to such late nineteenth century novels “Erewhon” and “Looking Backwards” and the twentieth century novels of Ursula K LeGuin. The hardest part of writing a Utopian novel is the cynicism of the twenty-first century, so that it doesn’t read as a satire.

Everything begins with the formation of a philanthropic group set-up by five of the richest people in the world, who become known as the “Group of Five” (always referred to in italics). They are the ultimate do-gooders who combine their resources to put together projects to combat hunger, poverty and illiteracy. But they want to make a much bigger impact on the world, then just a hodge-podge of programs.

They come up with the idea of electing a “King of the World” who will help to channel the resources spent on the world’s militaries, into massive programs to create desalinization plants to provide ‘clean’ water to everyone, programs to eradicate disease, and free education for everyone through University. In some ways it mimics the positive side of Robert Heinlein’s “A Stranger in a Strange Land”.

Using the internet they plan to present three candidates to the world but settle on one amazing man by the name of Emmet Comanche Constitution Madison Taylor. With the amazing amount of resources the GO5 buy a piece of Mongolia and set-up their own city-state of Augusta. They use the best and the brightest to build and run their city plus a small army to protect their state. Of course there have to be bad guys who want to stop this vote for KOTW, and they are China, Russia, USA, Britain, Venezuela and others. The pro- countries are India (which now has a veto in the Security Council), Sweden and Thailand. (Strangely, Africa is hardly mentioned.)

Once there is the announcement of the campaign, the bad guys plan all kinds of ways to prevent the vote from happening and to assassinate Emmett. This is where it bogs down into polemics about the problems of the world and some radical solutions. (India and Pakistan will play a cricket match every ten years to determine who controls Kashmir.) On many occasions the rhetoric gets into some flights of fantasy that would make Alice, Dorothy and Polyanna seem like depressives. The end of the book states “The Beginning”.

NOTE: KOTW is published by “The Moon Above, Pte Ltd” based in Singapore. The company is owned by Randall Coleman.

Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com

A political thriller set in the future with inventive solutions to the world’s current dilemmas. With a vision of a world where all people are truly equal, Mr. Coleman has created the quintessential hero in Emmett. Non-stop action, fully detailed background stories and fully realized characters make the book an entertaining and thought provoking read.