Silver Elite

Dystopian fiction is a sub-genre of science-fiction that emerged in the late 19th century and gained popularity in the 20th century as technological developments, world-wide warfare, and rising authoritarianism led to fears about what the future would look like. Dystopian literature, often set in the near future, frequently critiques elements of real-life society by showing the horrors that might arrive if society continues on its present course. The dystopian genre is characterized by its bleak, oppressive setting and tone. Characters live highly controlled or secretive lives in order to escape persecution. While characters in these stories face external conflicts at every turn, most of the stories’ emotional impact derives from the characters’ internal conflicts. Whether the protagonist is an active part of society breaking free from propaganda, a rebel working against the government, or one of the oppressed hiding to survive, their internal conflicts form the heart of dystopian novels. Because dystopian stories are highly character-driven, they typically lean into emotions such as paranoia, fear, and distrust.

Early dystopian works include Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (1932), 1984, by George Orwell (1949), and Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (1953), all of which critiqued authoritarianism, surveillance, and loss of individuality. With the rising popularity of young-adult dystopian fiction in the 2000s with releases such as The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (2008), Divergent, by Veronica Roth (2011), Delirium, by Lauren Oliver (2011), and Matched, by Ally Condie (2010), the genre began to blend with the romance genre, with many dystopian novels not just incorporating romantic subplots, but making romantic relationships the central focus of the narrative. In these works, love is often presented as an act of rebellion or as a powerful force that drives change and represents freedom.

Silver Elite is a hybrid of the dystopian and romance genres. While it features a post-environmental-collapse world, an oppressive government, and the persecution of mutated humans, its core story is the romance between Wren and Cross, whose secret love represents a threat to the authoritarian government known as the Company, with its strict separation between the Modified and the un-Modified.