Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Wind Has Teeth Tonight: A Gwennie Story | 2014 | Chuck Wendig | N/A |
| 2 | Under the Empyrean Sky | 2013 | Chuck Wendig | Buy |
| 3 | Blightborn | 2014 | Chuck Wendig | Buy |
| 4 | The Harvest | 2015 | Chuck Wendig | Buy |
The Heartland Trilogy by Chuck Wendig is a YA dystopian series published by Amazon’s 47North imprint. It takes place in a future where America’s heartland has been given over entirely to growing Hiram’s Golden Prolific, a genetically engineered super-corn that has taken over the landscape like a weed. The rich live on floating cities called the Empyrean, while everyone else lives in poverty below, forbidden from growing their own food or leaving their assigned towns.
Under the Empyrean Sky (2013) introduces Cael McAvoy, a teenage scavenger who discovers something hidden in the corn that challenges everything he has been told about his world. Blightborn (2014) takes Cael to the Empyrean itself, and The Harvest (2015) brings the story to its conclusion. The Wind Has Teeth Tonight: A Gwennie Story is a companion piece told from the perspective of a supporting character.
The series has the bones of a familiar YA dystopia but Wendig gives it his own spin with body horror elements, a creeping sense of ecological dread, and prose that moves fast. The corn itself is almost a character, and the image of engineered crops spreading out of control gives the trilogy a different feel from most entries in the genre.