Matt McAvoy Book Review

Stories about an oppressive dictatorship in the very near future are bang on trend at the moment, but very few are as good as this soul-destroying cautionary tale by T.K. Kanwar.  In fact, the last time I read a book quite this good on the subject was, in fact, the last time I read and reviewed a book by Kanwar.  The World We Deserve is not so much a direct sequel to Identity Crisis as the afterword may lead you to believe, but it is definitely a series of sorts, in the same narrative vein, only this time the focus is on the imminent dangers of overall left-wing authoritarianism, rather than the identity politics which characterized the earlier book.

One of the reasons why Kanwar’s books are so good – and this one is fantastic, it has to be said – is the fact that they are not far-fetched, as some dystopian-future books are.  It doesn’t rely on the horrors of sci-fi, as these books tend to do, but rather more on the social and political path we are already on.  Kanwar doesn’t say to us, “Wow, just think what could happen!”  He says, “This is happening right now – open your eyes.”  And it is; the new world order, or whatever you want to call it, appears to be infiltrating the highest levels of every major government in the world, and they are bulldozing their ideological agenda through society by using the age-old tactics of keeping the population at each other’s throats.  There is a small element of sci-fi in the book, of course, though, as the author speculates on technological advances, and important societal roles are overseen by artificial intelligence.

The other reason why Kanwar’s books are so much better than many others is that he doesn’t feel the need to fit into the approved mould; he knows, as we all do, that the major threat to our freedom which is emerging on a global scale is not from billionaire megalomaniacs hellbent on world conquest (well, maybe it is, but that isn’t apparently all they want); it is the orchestrated pandemic of far-left rhetoric.  In my opinion, and I suspect in the author’s, too, the powers that be, with their own agenda, are happy to let the mindless minions of left-wing chatter do their enforcement for them.  And Kanwar should know, for in recent years few countries have been more openly tools of this great takeover than his own home of Canada.

But it isn’t just politics; this book focuses very heavily on people.  It doesn’t shy away from the fact that the politics of social currency which are being tossed among the people with the pin taken out are supported, generally, by a minority, many of whom have their own liberal agenda.  It discusses hot-potato topics such as gender education in schools, critical race theory and immigration generally, in a grown-up and honest way, and the potential costs to decent, ordinary people for not absorbing them wholly.  Indeed, in the book, set in the United States in the middle of this century, an entire population of “normal”, right-minded people have virtually created their own country and declared independence from the madness, much to the fury of the brainwashed millions, themselves oppressed by social credit scoring.  Think this is over the top?  Just go on Twitter at any time and you will see these future enforcers in the making – and if you’re still not convinced, well, the title speaks for itself.  In fact, the A.I. in this book actually seems to be more contemplative and questioning of our path than most of the humans, who, by the time the book is set, are just too far gone, morally and intellectually.  The books stops short of saying it is too late now, that hope is gone, but you can certainly see Kanwar’s fading.

An excellent book, exceptionally intelligent, while articulately studied and presented.  If you ever think you’re alone in how you feel, I implore you to read Kanwar’s cautionary fiction – and pass it on.  Superb.