The 30 Best Dystopian Novels Everyone Should Read
The 30 Best Dystopian Novels Everyone Should Read
Whether they're sci-fi books about androids dominating the world or speculative fiction stories that aren't that far from real life, dystopian novels are never out of vogue. From highly popular series to critically acclaimed works, the social commentary of these stories caters to casual readers and literary critics alike, often making the list of the best books of all time. And the continued popularity of dystopian novels shows our constant and collective curiosity about where society is headed.
Since the twentieth century there has been a fairly constant deluge of books in this genre. To help you navigate and choose between these introspective potential futures, here are 30 dystopian novels you shouldn't miss.
1. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Although published in 1949, this famous work is predictably set in 1984. Orwell's world envisions only three countries the size of a continent, at least one of which is overseen by a ubiquitous, vigilant government. A censorship in this nation questions the totalitarian system and its attempts to erase individual thoughts and emotions, and soon begins a search for others who may be in the same boat.Among his other legacies, the most amazing thing about this fictional work is the painstaking world building that Orwell undertook. Based on his observations of society on the eve of the Cold War, Orwell designed complex mechanisms such as 'double thinking' and contradictory slogans like 'War Is Peace' with such care and connection to real life that it is easy to see how this fictional autocratic world could exist. Not to mention the story itself - a hair-raising and unexpected journey that will ensure that Nineteen Eighty-Four will stand the test of time.
2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Set in a world that many of us avid readers would find nightmarish, the Ray Bradbury is Fahrenheit 451 from the story of Guy Montag, a 'firefighter' who becomes disappointed with his job - to put it simply, he is assigned in tostabbingbook fire instead of extinguishing fires. Unfortunately, society's short attention span no longer requires viewing novels, and the authoritarian state wants to prevent people from thinking too much (if at all). What the government didn't expect is that Montag opened his mind to the mysteries of the written word and began a quest to try to save these books, as well as the ghosts of those around him. The Red Scare of the 1940s, in which America was gripped by anti-communist sentiment close to hysteria, prompted Bradbury to write this eternal love story in books in the 1950s. But Bradbury's warning horn against increasing censorship is timeless, perhaps more important than ever in our era of Big Data, and will live on through Montag's painstaking journey.
3. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
In this once futuristic world - the book was published in 1985 about the near future - America is taken over by a religious sect and the order of the country is pushed back for centuries. It is horrifying enough that women are domesticated and subordinate to men, even though the environmental degradation and its impact on fertility means that fertile women are extraordinarily more precious and desirable. In the midst of all this stands Offred, a young woman forced to bear children for ruling class men. The Handmaid's Tale World of is distinctly different from many of the other worlds we read about in well-known dystopian novels. However, the focus on the experience of women is not the only outstanding quality of this book. With Atwood's unconventional style and varied storylines, readers can unravel this complex universe at their own pace before the plot escalates to a feverish height, making Atwood's masterpiece one of the great pillars of dystopian fiction.
4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Contrary to the well-executed orders we've encountered thus far, The Road transports us into a universe destroyed by an unnamed catastrophe. Ordinary lives are replaced by crazy struggles for food and supplies for those who survive. In this bleak “eat or be eaten” situation, a father and his young son head south in anticipation of winter, driven by their hopes to find the “good ones” and unite.Make no mistake: this book is truly melancholic. From bleak atmospheres to the heartbreaking loss of humanity, both physical and moral, this post-extinction setting is brought to life in front of readers through McCarthy's bleak prose. Rather than question the structures of our society, The Road encourages readers to look inward and explore our compassion in a world that is becoming increasingly competitive and individualistic.
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
In this dystopian classic, the World State government of the year 2540 AD controls. The population not by telling them what to think, but by stunning them with happiness. Huxley's Brave New World introduces readers to a seemingly perfect empire, genetically engineered, carefree and well-fed citizens. With mass production and Fordism in mind, Huxley's cheerful consumers and blissful citizens grow up and remain satisfied with this type of technology. So you can imagine how someone coming in from the "wild" world would appear to them from the outside… and that's exactly what happens, with a tragic effect. The most striking and thus memorable thing about this novel is how it shows that the state does not need to ban books or torture dissenters to silence them - our culture can purify itself of intellect simply through self-indulgence.
6. Blindness by José Saramago Plays
This Nobel Prize winner, who took part in the 1990s, describes the social order of a city that falls apart when a curious contamination infects the population. As things get out of hand, food becomes scarce and criminals are exploiting the chaos, the militant state is tightening surveillance and setting up quarantines to try to maintain order. At the heart of blindness is our refusal to see the violence and heartlessness that already exist in our society. Saramago is a famous allegorist and he is at his best in this work: with his unique style and resounding images, he emphasizes this harsh reality and points out the importance of solidarity and compassion in difficult situations.
7. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
In this troubling world, youth alienation manifests itself in a much more dramatic way than heavy metal rock laden with fear. Indeed, our protagonist, Alex, links up with his rebellious friends through vandalism and heinous crimes. As his parents and social institutions try to stop and help him, Alex begins to take a different view of his friends and the isolating culture he grew up in.
Full of violence, psychological manipulation, and a secret language made up of Shakespearean and Russian loanwords, A Clockwork Orange isn't the easiest to read. Burgess's system of elaborate slang may have been a genius, but his hauntingly powerful descriptions of brutality are unpleasant, and made the book quite controversial. Nonetheless, clearly at the time of the book's publication, the exploration of youth discontent with what society expected of them is still brilliant and incredibly timely.
8. The Children of Men by PD James
Set in 2021, James's 1992 novel, speaks of a different society broken by infertility. While the last humans to be born on Earth are killed in a pub battle and the world falls into disarray with no future for humanity, historian Theo Faron becomes entangled in a political battle with his dictatorial cousin Xan. But then the struggles take a new turn when Theo finds out that there may still be hope for a future. The Children of Men offers a different view of the end of humanity - one that is not caused by a Holocaust or an Ice Age, but rather by something much more gradual and credible. While our 2020 (thankfully!) Doesn't seem to be leading us to the death of our species, Theo Faron's thrilling journey may shock you with how close we are to the problem of depopulation.
9. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick
's critically acclaimed novel takes its readers to a post-apocalyptic world in which natural disasters have rendered the earth's conditions unlivable. As a result, we are seeing the emergence of artificial beings resembling organic beings, including humanoids. A bounty hunter is ordered to kill six of these androids, which he must now identify among the actual humans. Full of action and full of intriguing world-building - from bizarre psychological tests to see if a human is indeed an android to a social status determined by the collection of naturally raised animals - this novel will make readers shudder. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? turns out to be a loaded question that prompts us to think about what makes us human and what AI technology has in store for humanity.
10. The Drowned World by JG Ballard
In the year 2145, the world sweats as global warming takes over, engulfs cities and turns animals into beasts. While civilization is being devastated by these prehistoric creatures, Dr. Robert Kerans and his team venture into new uncharted territory to explore the now-wild world. , published in 1962, The Drowned World is one of the earliest works of “cli-fi” (climate fiction) written. This adventurous novel takes us on a journey into the new unknown, where areas we once built are transformed into brooding tropical labyrinths. Still, it's more than just an adventure: Ballard's plot is ultimately a smart Trojan horse to uncover the implications of this gruesome possibility and the psychological effects it has on humans.
11. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
In a shining glass city of the distant future, people live like androids - emotionless, passionless, and nameless. Each person is identified by a number and only one of them, mathematician D-503, seems to realize that he can do things and think about things differently. As he discovers his own feelings through his relationships with others, readers learn about the strange conventions of this totalitarian system - and the consequences of defying them.
If the plot of this book sounds familiar to you, it is because it was the inspiration for many subsequent critically acclaimed dystopian novels, such as Nineteen Eighty-four and Brave New World. Released in 1921, it was an absolute precursor to this genre. In addition to his originality, We also shines in his prose - his deliberately abrupt sentences and dry language emphasize both the square quality of the mathematical narrator and the colorlessness of the world in which he lives.
12. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
At the beginning of Never Let Me Go, we meet a caretaker in her thirties who reminisces about her school days when she bumps into her old classmates. While this sounds like it could just be another young adult book accidentally added to a list of dystopian novels, don't let that fool you: as we dig deeper into Kathy H.'s memories, elements of an unconventional and alarming society come forward.
Guiding the entire maze is Ishiguro's simple yet emotional writing, capturing the eternal question of morality in an era of rapidly evolving medical technology. And Never Let Me Go's 1980s, rather than distant future, setting gives the story an eerie sense of reality, easily propelling Ishiguro's commentary home.
13. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Station Eleven jumps back and forth between the timelines of several main characters: a deceased actor, his first wife, the paparazzi who tried to save him, his good friend and a young aspiring actress who was witness to his death. As if that was n't enough, their lives were also disrupted by a deadly flu that wiped out most of civilization.
In this popular recent novel, Emily St. John Mandel explores the meaning of humanity by removing all the conditions that made it what it is. Rather than surprise you with fantastic mutations, Station Eleven will leave a deep impression on you by showing you what extreme conditions can do to people. Indeed, the depth of imagination and care in Mandel's world-building - what people remember, what survives of the old world, and what needs to be drastically changed - gives this dystopian novel the eerie cadence of a nonfiction story, as if they took it all out of first-hand.
14. The Time Machine by HG Wells
This classic (Now You Can Listen To!) Tells the story of a Victorian scientist who tests his time machine and travels to the distant future, where he finds a carefree world inhabited by childlike humans. The scientist spends some time uncovering the evolution of humanity before returning to where he parked his Time Traveler - only to realize he's gone. As his adventure progresses, the grim underbelly of this seemingly indulgent future comes to light.
As one of the first sci-fi works ever written, The Time Machine takes you on a wild ride without a particularly complicated storyline (just a very well-done twist). In short, this brilliantly simple story lets the late Victorian literature's signature commentary on duality and the dark underside of societies shine through.
15. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Oryx and Crake follow two friends, Jimmy and Crake, who happen to encounter the dark side of the Internet in their teens: a simple act fueled by youthful curiosity that would change their lives forever. In their adult years, the world's population takes a nosedive after a strange pandemic, and survivors want to create genetically 'better' people. Central to these technological developments are Crake, now an adult scientist, and Jimmy.
Very different from Atwood's popular totalitarian novel, The Handmaid's Tale, this first installation of The MaddAddam Trilogy is as much a tale of the rippling effects of childhood experiences as it is a warning against gene modification. Atwood's striking writings give this dynamic so profound that you will be both impressed and disturbed by how plausible these horrific developments seem to be.
16. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Getting back to the theme of life under totalitarian states, we have Katniss Everdeen's rise to stardom in a gruesome reality TV show called The Hunger Games. If you're new to this, it involves two people from each district of the country being randomly picked, brought together and forced to kill each other in an essentially massive and deadly obstacle course - only one can emerge victorious all for the entertainment of the upper class.
This poignant survival story, also one of a series of three, became a pop culture phenomenon almost immediately after its publication in 2008. In addition to portraying a warped, hierarchical society, The Hunger Games is about finding a way to rise above difficulties and the absurd ignorance people can have for the suffering of others.
17. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
In Parable of the Sower's grim and disorderly vision of the future, the climate catastrophe leads to scarce resources and global anarchy, sparing only a few gated neighborhoods, such as the one in which Lauren Olamina lives. But even the safety of her community will be jeopardized as Lauren and her family try to support what's left of the moral order of civilization.
The parable of the sower destroys all traces of a functioning society, leaves deep sadness, but still hints at the hope that can still be experienced in such a situation. Though told through Lauren's youthful voice, the explored emotional depth makes the story terrifyingly mature.
18. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
The world plunged the world into a technological dark age following the collapse of civilization. The Chrysalids show us what's left after the storm - a small community driven by the belief that only by maintaining strict normalcy can they avoid God's punishment (unlike their predecessors). Then they become eugenicists, killing or sending "mutated" people into the unknown. At the heart of this community is David, son of a pious man and figure of authority, and his own secret mutation.
While not comparable to Wyndham's other sci-fi creations, this is often considered his best book. Fast, exciting and insightful in the reflection of social exclusion and discrimination, The Chrysalids is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.
19. The Giver by Lois Lowry
You probably already know this one. In case you're not familiar, let's give a quick summary: The Giver is the story of a teenage boy, Jonas, who grew up in a utopia where everyone is happy with their routines and colorless world - including Jonas. But all of this changes when he is chosen to be the recipient of the memory, a role in which he must know everything that others have forgotten. Thus begins a journey in which Jonas discovers hard truths about his world and somehow has to come to terms with them.
While this muchloved -coming-of-age story is shorter than other sci-fi and dystopian novels, it carries a powerful message. Lowry vividly takes readers through the innocent internal dilemmas of a growing boy, highlighting the struggle to choose between individual freedom and security.
20. The Power by Naomi Alderman
Five thousand years into the future, the world is dominated by women, and a male author writes a work of historical fiction describing how this matriarchy came about - creating a meta-book-in-a-book that states counselors are able to cunningly comment on men's perceptions of this change. The origin story itself, fueled by the sudden possession of electric superpowers by women, takes place in the 21st century, intertwining the stories of many different women from different parts of the world who cultivate this power to turn the roles. to run against those who have oppressed. them.
If you go into this book expecting a utopia about gender equality, you will be disappointed. At its core, The Power is both a book about systematic inequality and the fate of women. The unique concept of the story explores the complexity and difficulty of the superpowered characters and ultimately warns against going too far in our quest to fix an imbalance.
21. The Stand by Stephen King
From the pen of master storyteller Stephen King comes this gruesome tale of good and evil, of humanity and chaos in a broken world. This enduring fantasy novel is the story of the 1% - specifically, their odyssey after accidentally unleashing a deadly biological weapon. As chaos rages around the world, survivors must build a new order for themselves while avoiding infection. But two different groups, with different supernatural abilities, come to two drastically different conclusions about how society should proceed, and end up confronting each other as their stories converge.
King's skillful narration takes readers of The Stand on a rollercoaster ride as they explore the pain of the characters' losses, as well as their hopes for a brighter future.
22. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
The powerful book by Ursula K. Le Guin tells the story of physicist Shevek on two completely different (but parallel!) Planets: he comes from the anarchist planet Anarres, but ends up on the capitalist world of Uras. The two stories set in these different places and times are told alternately as we discover the strange features of their opposing worlds.
Although The Dispossessed is part of a series of seven books, it can certainly be enjoyed on its own. Interestingly, it is actually a utopian novel that explores the freedoms of an anarchist society and contrasts with the limitations of a capitalist society. Nonetheless, Le Guin's utopia has been described as 'ambiguous', suggesting there's more to it than what's on the surface - you'll have to judge for yourself.
23. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
This Japanese thriller novel is about a group of teenagers who are forced to an island with nothing but weapons and are expected to kill each other until only one survives - all as part of a military training program. When chaos ensues, Shuya Nanahara decides to protect his friends instead of sticking to this gruesome playbook ... but the dark side of a fascist Japan becomes more apparent every day that this teenager is defying the militant state.
While Battle Royale had the gruesome storyline of preventing it from being published right away, it enjoyed great success after going to press and remains a cult favorite to this day. (And if the plot resembles The Hunger Games, it's because Suzanne Collins was inspired by Takami's ingenious story - all the more reason for you to pick it up!)
24 Worn by Jeff VanderMeer
In this bizarrely intriguing version of the future , an unknown city is ruled by a giant bear. If that's not strange enough for you, get this: There is an eccentric organism called Borne, entangled in the grizzly's fur. That fact only comes to light through Rachel, a girl who makes a living cleaning up products made by a biotech company called the Company - which is how she came across Borne in the first place.
The resulting upside-down literary sci-fi novel, Borne, brings the ecologically ravaged world to its readers in the most unconventional way. It may take awhile to get into Vandemeer's writing, but the story that awaits you is worth it.
25. The Iron Heel by Jack London
HetThe Iron Heelrich vanis is one in which the long-standing socialist revolution was successful, and totalitarian states ruled the world. In the US, the Oligarchy is running the show in the name of equality, although the reality of her governance turns out to be very different. In a metafictional way, readers learn about the origins and problems of this world through the discovery of an autobiographical manuscript from the 1930s.
First printed in 1908, this book impresses not only because it was one of the first dystopian fiction ever published, but also for its uncanny predictive power. While there is no oligarchy running the White House now, hats off to Jack London and his interpretation of political developments, which were actually not far from what the world eventually went through in the 20th century.
26. The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham
A meteor shower blinds much of the world's population at the worst possible time - that is, as humans struggle to combat and understand the mechanism of a locomotive, poisonous, and possibly genetically modified species of the plant called the Triffids. Now the few lucky enough not to have lost their vision must try to regroup and find a way to survive all this disorder.
Wyndham's cautiousness towards biological weapons in this story stems from the experiments rumored to be conducted by the Soviet Union in the 1940s in an attempt to manipulate nature to their advantage. Given that we are so accustomed to seeing plants as the saviors of the environment, The Day of the Triffids is arguably the most bleak expression of concern about biological warfare you'll read - and the most engaging.
27. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
After being unreliable after regenerator Billy Pilgrim, back and forth between the memory of his service during World War II and his many flashes after repatriating to America, Slaughterhouse-Five is clearly the story driven by a man to the brim by violence. Billy's life is made even more incredible when he is kidnapped by a race from outer space whose conception of time and death reflects the inhuman feelings he encountered during the war.
While the plot may be a bit baffling, Slaughterhouse-Five discusses the same questions about morality and materialism at its core. What really stands out is Vonnegut's decision to have his character look back in time, which reminds us that dealing with the past is as important a part of progress as looking for the future.
28. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Many are probably familiar with this classic from their high school years: they force us to learn it for a reason! But let's get to it: A wartime evacuation flight lands on a desert island, leaving only a gang of preadolescent boys as the survivors. This gang of ragtag boys is forced to organize to survive.
Meanwhile, their mini society exposes the true horror at the heart of humanity. Lord of the Flies compresses the trials and tribulations of growing up into a single event, accentuating the devastating consequences of a world that is selfish and commandless.
29. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
In Ernest Cline Ready PlayerOne, teenage Wade Watts joins an Easter egg hunt in the virtual world of his gaming community, hoping to reap its hefty rewards: the legacy of both the company that the game produced and the fate of its creator. But what were once just virtual battles becomes very real when players compete against each other for this incredible prize.
Reader Player One intrigues on several points - first, in its depiction of the increasingly uneven world in which Wade lives; and second, in the advanced technology of the book, which is actually not far from ours. Cline's work duly reminds us of how blurred the line between reality and virtuality becomes, and how that too can be seen as a way of blurring crucial social divisions.
30. The Wall by John Lanchester
Change has engulfed the world - leaving Joseph Kavanagh's island state to build a wall to protect themselves from the tide and asylum seekers who considered 'the others'. Joseph's job as a defender is to keep these people out, although there are times when he questions this job.
is rightly called the "dystopian fable for our time.This novel" for its approach to immigration and xenophobia, and touches on all of the most pressing issues currently engulfing our media. Most notably, The Walls Ability to show what may await us several decades later, requiring us to take stock of man's vulnerability to nature.
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