I have been trying to a book for a long time (HELP)

[Archibald]

I read it when I was in high school so it is before 2005, I have a feeling it's from the 80s or 90s it could be earlier or later my memory is sketchy.

It was about a dystopian future, set in England, following a male character who is just about to do a compulsory test which will determine his future life, if you fail the test you have to live the the badlands or something like that and if you pass the test you get to live in a gated community.

A female character joins him at some point and they are on the run from the government and various things happen i cant remember. I remember that Scotland is a wasteland or where the government builds machines or a place that hasnt been controlled yet, something like that.

I have a feeling it may be part of a longer series of books.

If any more details come to my mind i will post them.

Edit: Posted this in the wrong section of the forum, appologies.

Any help would be forever appreciated, thanks.

[Vandervecken]

Something by Ken Macleod, maybe?

[lolrus]

Sounds like something Edmund Cooper might have written, but that would have been earlier, 70s probably.

[Archibald]

I checked out both those Authors bibliographies and I couldn't find anything that rings any bells.

You say 70s and that could well be the case, I have no idea when it was written.

My memory of the story reminds me of brave new world, the running man and a variety of others.

[tedstriker]

Van Vogt's World of Null-A follows a male character who takes a compulsory test which will determine his future life. If I remember correctly, the people who do well on the test live on Venus, which is something like a gated community. If he isn't on the run from his own government he's at least trying to avoid some hostile alien one (while attempting to foil their plans). It's the first book of a series. I don't think there's anything about Scotland though.

[Archibald]

It's not "World of Null-A".


I am very grateful for these suggestions.

[Triffid]

Maybe it's one of the Barclay series by Michael Elder - I've read the first one - "Nowhere on Earth". The setting is an overpopulated UK which is one vast city that stretches all the way up to Scotland (Ben Nevis is being flattened to make more city). The population is controlled by telepaths. I think that Scotland was a wild area where the protaganist went to evade capture. Perhaps one of the later books in the series involved a test?

It's not the book you're after, but "Gender Genocide" by Edmund Cooper also has a wild Scotland, where the last men hide out, hunted by a society of women.

[Archibald]

I think it's Nowhere on earth: A by Michael Elder!!!

I am very grateful i have ordered the book, i checked reviews etc couldnt find anything.

Ill message back when i get confirmation.

[Archibald]

It is NOT Nowhere on Earth...

There is no mention of a life/career test at the beggining of Nowhere on Earth..

The character is not a father in the book I am thinking of, he has just finished high school and then heads to the city and meets a girl and they go off trying to escape the government etc.