Atherton: The House of Power

Atherton: The House of Power is a dystopian novel written by Patrick Carman. Set in the future, it is about Edgar and Samuel, two boys who live on the fictional world of Atherton: an artificial planet created by the child prodigy scientist Dr. Harding. Atherton's purpose was to provide a new haven for the people of Earth (now known grimly as "the Dark Planet"), whose pollution and overpopulation problems have come to an extreme. Those who wished to live on Atherton were transported there by unknown means, and had their memories of previous life on Earth erased. Carman has stated that he drew on stories such as Frankenstein and The Turn of the Screw for inspiration for Atherton. This book is part of a trilogy.

Atherton's society is closely knit to its physical geography. Unlike other planets, Atherton is not shaped like a sphere. Rather, it is shaped roughly like an elongated birthday cake, with each layer having less circumference than the one below it. Atherton has three layers: the Flatlands, the bottom and most barren layer; Tabletop, the middle and most widely populated layer; and the Highlands, the highest layer where governmental figures reside in the House of Power.

The Flatlands are a barren wasteland devoid of human life, or so they appear. All of Atherton's waste is thrown into the Flatlands, and is then disposed of by Cleaners, organisms that resemble oversized centipedes, that eat anything in their path. Because of the Flatlands' largeness, its bottom provides the force of gravity for the pseudo-planet and sustains its orbit around Earth.

People who dwell on Tabletop are viewed as peasants. They live in three villages: the Village of Sheep, the Village of Rabbits, and the Grove, where Edgar resides. It is the responsibility of Tabletop-dwellers to pay regular taxes to the Highlands in the form of figs, sheep and rabbits, which are carried to the Highlands via buckets on pulleys. In return, the ruler of Atherton (Lord Phineus during the time of the story) keeps the water supply to Tabletop regular.

People who dwell in the Highlands are Atherton's upper class. Almost all of them reside in the House of Power, a large castle that has many courtyards filled with vegetation, giving it the appearance of having fused with nature. Atherton's system of government, a monarchical Lord advised by a board of Knights, rules literally over the people of Tabletop. By unknown means, the Lord of Atherton is able to control the flow of the three waterfalls that provide water to Tabletop. Should the people of Tabletop pay inadequate taxes, or begin to stir up feelings of anarchy, the Lord could slow or completely stop the water supply, effectively putting any rebellion to a quick halt. Due to this immense power, Atherton is becoming more or less a dictatorship.