Disclaimer: This is not a book review. Nor will I be labeling sections as "Spoilers". The people who will really understand what I mean are those who have read 1984, a few Terry Pratchetts and State of Fear by Michael Crichton.

Big Brother is watching you.

Perhaps this is the single most famous sentence from George Orwell's 1984. But the concepts of a dystopian future (future as in for George Orwell) include many more ideas and observations apart from the all-intrusive two-way observation screens prevalent in Oceania.

What I will be focusing on first is the concept of immortality through loss of individuality. That any organization- or rather any individual can be rendered immortal by the fact that even if he passes away there are hundreds more exactly like him (perhaps not in physical appearance, but rather in ideology, actions and beliefs). The overall change is unnoticeable. Something extremely similar is alluded to by Terry Pratchett in his discworld novels: the Auditors of reality, who arrange all the fundamental laws (including that of gravity) are exactly the same: in appearance, thought, actions. Everything is done after achieving a consensus; whenever an auditor starts displaying a personality, something that distinguishes it from others - it can die.

While surrounding the same concept, the two approaches are extremely different. The auditors are exactly the same; they are fictional- what one auditor knows is known by all others. 1984 on the other hand, has something which is possible, perhaps making the concept even more scary.

Another concept is that the controlling powers- either the inner party in 1984, or the normal, democratic governments in State of Fear use fear, hate for unifying as well as controlling the people. There is an enemy (real or fabricated) which must be overcome: It can be another country, some phenomenon, anything.

There are many more topics addressed, and of those that I have written about I have only scratched the surface. What I enjoyed most was the fact that these novels had something in common inspite of belonging to different genres.