Book Review: Utopyc by W. Galt

Reviewed by Joelene Pynnonen

A promising vision into a freer future

When journalist Gabriel Dan first hears of the mysterious, relatively new country known as Utopyc, it seems like the opportunity for a groundbreaking article. On arriving in this unusual place, he finds that he is not allowed to go to the city immediately. Instead, he begins his journey by interviewing people in the town. A picture of life in Utopyc unfolds as he talks to more and more people.

The citizens’ lives in Utopyc are so far out of the scope of Gabriel’s experience that, at first, he cannot comprehend how the country functions. The citizens pay no taxes, but they live well. Their country is thriving with solid infrastructure and affordable amenities. The people have no living assistance or welfare, but they earn more than people anywhere else, and the cost of living is cheaper. Their homeland has no State authority; instead citizens decide what is needed and fund it themselves. Barely able to believe that such a place could survive without taxes and politicians, Gabriel sets out on a journey to discover just how perfect this new Utopia is.

Utopyc is basically a modern counterargument to Thomas More’s Utopia. Like Utopia, it is written from the point of view of an outsider who is seeing an entirely new way of life for the first time. Unlike Utopia, it explores the idea of paradise through an anarcho-capitalist rather than socialist lens. The book has a thoughtful, dreamy feel to it with Gabriel drifting through a series of meetings with the people who live in Utopyc.

The principles that the Utopians follow are simple: freedom, right to personal property, and non-aggression. Through the novel, Gabriel meets with and interviews many people to give readers a complete picture of how Utopyc implements these core values in everyday life. It takes a look at the financial institutions, crime and justice systems, immigration, the arts, education, and more. The path that Gabriel takes builds a comprehensive argument for how each aspect of a Stateless society might run.

Utopyc is a thought-provoking vehicle for a political message, but it doesn’t give much attention to it storytelling. The characters are more mouthpieces than people, and their dialogue can be difficult to understand in real world terms. It’s dense and wordy, and there is a good case for anarcho-capitalism snaking through here, but without the connective storytelling tissue, it can be difficult to see it.

Develop a new perspective on how life could be with this interesting thought experiment of a book.

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