After London; Or, Wild England (yes an odd title) by Richard 
Jefferies was recommended on one of those top 10 <insert genre 
here> to read lists. The genre in question this time was 
dystopian fiction, it is considered one of the first (1885). 
Jeffereis usually wrote about rural life and natural history 
which is reflected in part one of the book (it is in two parts),
which is really enjoyable and has some great scene setting. The
UK has been returned to the medieval period due to a 
nondescript disaster and nature has reclaimed the land.

Part two follows the adventures of Felix an aristocratic type...
I know what you're thinking; the World ends yet somehow the 
aristocracy survives (like cockroaches)...well yes and no. The 
aristocracy in this case is those who have held on to knowledge 
and passed it down through the generations, which in some cases 
was those with wealth to start with but in others was every day 
people with an education, bettering themselves whilst restricting 
others access to  knowledge. Which I suppose could be seen as a 
rich get richer whilst the poor get poorer situation.

Felix is bored of this life and wants adventure, exploring beyond 
his doorstep.  This I thought would be where the book picked up...
how wrong I was. I seemed like the adventures of Felix were a bit 
of an after thought. There's some regal event with the family of 
the woman he's in love with which seems to last for chapter upon
chapter before he eventually gets going, which again starts great
but then the story line really slows down.

I'd read people were unhappy with the ending and I can see why, it
abruptly stops. I wondered if Jefferies had died before he 
finished it (he hadn't). Apparently the book needed to be cut down 
for publishing, but why he left in the never-ending (rather dull)
dinner party instead of developing the ending makes no sense to me. 

I'd recommend Part 1, and the last half of Part 2. It's interesting
to see some of the parallels between how societal collapse was 
envisaged in the 19th century and how we could easily also perceive 
the future as being.

Fun in places, very dull in others.