The action takes place in a dystopian world, and it has themes that are commonly associated with these kinds of stories. In contrast to a utopia, which is a fictional idea of a perfect future world, a dystopia is a fictional idea of a future world gone wrong. Widespread poverty and hunger, devastated cities, and an oppressive, centralized government that uses invasive, creative brutality against its slavish citizens are all marks of a dystopia. You can find these things in other famous dystopias like 1984 and the Matrix movies.

These stories also serve as cautionary tales, and I hope I conveyed some of that in the post. In 1984, we see an audience watching a movie where people are dismembered and gunned down from helicopters -- and the audience is loving it -- just like the citizens in the capital in THG. We're supposed to be disgusted, we're supposed to ask whether the writer is really talking about us. In that way, dystopian works are somewhat like mirrors that can show us our own hypocrisy and the possible consequences of our own actions.

I agree, but quite a few people take offense to that idea.

I started reading it on a plane

Yeah, that is interesting. I liked the comic book parts, but with the same interest I'd feel for a documentary about them.

I actually stopped reading War and Peace because the flight was over, and I had only gone 25 pages or so. I haven't picked it back up yet, but you're right, I should.

Thanks, that's interesting to know. I never had any training on how to go about writing a story, so I didn't know if this method was common or not.