Love it!!! I live under a rock too. :)
The not-so-new part is the use of tropes from Brave New World and 1984.
But there are only so many stories before the same premise gets used and used again; it's the execution, the characters, the narrative voice, that make the difference. So I shouldn't let fear of "This has been done before" stop me from doing it. Finding a ring (in a cave or anywhere) is also a popular theme in fiction, but your Aussie voice and the Min Min Lights add a whole new dimension. Thanks for your encouraging words!!