Bit of a random one.
I have been trying to remember for years now the title of a book that I read some 15-20 years ago.
So it's a British book would have been published mid 80's-90's and was beautifully illustrated.
The synopsis that I can remember is as follows. Apologies if this is a bit rambling.
Society has completely failed as we know it. Towns have kings now and places like Boots aren't chemists, but now apothecaries and society as we know it has gone. Nothing post 1985 and anything that was electric or ran on fuel has stopped.
The "king" of this town's "palace" is a car dealership with Rolls Royces and other lovely cars inside that have never moved. They have no idea what petrol is or where to find it, but the main character thinks it may be some mythical beast that he will need to convince to come with him at one point.
The character then sets off on his quest with his donkey and travels on great roads that have crumbled away to nothing. There are some amazing illustrations that show the motorway signs covered over and bridges and infrastructure falling apart.
He eventually arrives at the city which has taken its influences from the 80s punks and is very concrete jungle-esque. This city has great lumbering beasts, which are 70's design armoured personnel carriers that have been modified to look like mini castles with large paddles of wood that are dropped onto crowds, so there's no guns or anything like that.
Eventually, the main character is captured and taken to the city's king who shows him the petrol in jerry cans. He steals some, and sets fire to the rest, and returns home during the chaos. None of the cars work as they all have dead batteries, but eventually a motorcycle springs into life and the king rides the motorcycle around and marries off his daughter to the main character, and that is the end of the book.
Probably no more than 30-pages and beautifully illustrated.
