Ten Dystopians You Need to Read

Okay, so it’s nearly Christmas. And whenever it’s nearly Christmas, I always start making lists. Lists of things to do, things to bake, things to make. And–of course–things to read.

As you’ll all know, dystopian fiction is my absolute favourite genre–least of all because I write it. I just love reading dystopian books. I love the freedom and possibility that this genre offers. But I love the realism too. I love how dystopian societies interact with the real world.

And, with that in mind, I’ve decided to compile a list of ten dystopian books that I think you should ask for this Christmas, if you haven’t already read them. (Book descriptions taken from Goodreads)

First up on the list is: MIND GAMES by Teri Terry.

Luna is a no-hoper with a secret: in a world of illusion, she can see what is real. But can she see the truth before it is too late?

Luna has always been able to exist in virtual and real worlds at the same time, a secret she is warned to keep. She hides her ability by being a Refuser: excluded by choice from the virtual spheres others inhabit. But when she is singled out for testing, she can’t hide any longer.

The safest thing to do would be to fail, to go back to a dead-end life, no future. But Luna is starting to hope for something better, and hope is a dangerous thing…

This is a fantastic futuristic thriller, full of tension, angst, and drama. Like Terry’s Slated trilogy (and if you haven’t read that, read it!), the plot is clever and the characters are well thought out. MIND GAMES’s protagonist, Luna, is strong, likeable and strong.

 

Next up on my list of best dystopian books is Margaret Atwood’s ORYX AND CRAKE.

Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.

I love all of Atwood’s novels, but this one is possibly my favourite. In this, I think it’s Atwood’s imagination that really fascinates me–and the horrifying depictions of humanity and the world that lurk in these pages. I also love the speculative nature of this book–it has a completely different feel to Atwood’s other novels (such as THE HANDMAID’S TALE) and is cleverly packed full of fantasy and science fiction–but these elements are incorporated in a believable way. This is a dark, clever, gritty tale. 

And how can we have a list of the best dystopians that doesn’t include Suzanne Collins’s THE HUNGER GAMES? 

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, the shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before– and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

So, yeah, if somehow you haven’t heard of this amazing book, then go and check it out right now. This is a classic dystopian YA novel, full of tension, drama, rebellion, and just the right amount of romance.

FORGET TOMORROW by Pintip Dunn

Imagine a world where your destiny has already been decided…by your future self.

It’s Callie’s seventeenth birthday and, like everyone else, she’s eagerly awaiting her vision―a memory sent back in time to sculpt each citizen into the person they’re meant to be. A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist.

Or in Callie’s case, a criminal.

In her vision, she sees herself murdering her gifted younger sister. Before she can process what it means, Callie is arrested and placed in Limbo―a hellish prison for those destined to break the law. With the help of her childhood crush, Logan, a boy she hasn’t spoken to in five years, she escapes.

But on the run from her future, as well as the government, Callie sets in motion a chain of events that she hopes will change her fate. If not, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all—Callie, herself.

This book was published only a few weeks ago–but wow, should it be on your Christmas list! Callie is such a great character, and the very concept that this book is based on (receiving a memory from your future self) is unique and intriguing. Dunn pulled the plot together perfectly at the end–and oh the twists!

Pintip Dunn is definitely an author to watch.

And isn’t the cover just beautiful?

Next up we have SOUNDLESS by Richelle Mead. 

From Richelle Mead, the #1 internationally bestselling author of Vampire Academy and Bloodlines, comes a breathtaking new fantasy steeped in Chinese folklore.

For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom.

When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves, and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation.

But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.

Richelle Mead takes readers on a triumphant journey from the peak of Fei’s jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiugo, where a startling truth and an unlikely romance will change her life forever…

Whilst technically more of an urban fantasy than a dystopian, this book is amazing.

It’s different to Mead’s other novels–but there was something about it that reminded me of her Dark Swan novels. I’m not entirely sure what, it just had the same feel. Yet, it is SO different. This book felt ‘gentler’ in its exposition of its themes, but held a really magic quality. I loved it.

Fei is a great main character. She’s relatable–perhaps one of Mead’s most relatable protagonists. I felt like I could identify more with her than, say, Rose Hathaway or Georgina Kincaid. I guess Fei’s personality is pretty close to mine. And I loved loved loved discovering her. [Read my full review of SOUNDLESS here]

Number six on my list is of course Veronica Roth’s DIVERGENT.

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

If you haven’t read this, then you need to. I adore this book–and the rest in the trilogy–so much. Tris is such a strong character, and her relationship with Four is so great. So much chemistry. *fangirls*

BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley

 

Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs, all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations, where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his
distress…

Huxley’s ingenious fantasy of the future sheds a blazing light on the present and is considered to be his most enduring masterpiece.

Okay, so this was the first non-YA dystopian novel that I ever read, and for that reason it has a very special place in my heart. And if you haven’t read it then I think you definitely should. It’s got the perfect balance of totalitarian forces, tension, drama… yes, it’s so good. Go and get yourself a copy as soon as possible!

THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy

 

A searing, post apocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other

Okay, so I found this book a little hard to get into at first–and yes it’s more post-apocalyptic than dystopian–but it is amazing. So good. I kind of don’t want to say much about this one because the less you know when going into it, the better.

But this a bleak story of survival and humanity.

Number nine on my list is Stephanie Meyer’s THE HOST.

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, didn’t expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she’s never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

I’ll confess: I saw the film before I finished reading this book. I got stuck on the desert scene, but wow–once I got through that, this book was amazing.

And it’s nothing like TWILIGHT.

And last on my list is A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess.

A vicious fifteen-year-old “droog” is the central character of this 1963 classic, whose stark terror was captured in Stanley Kubrick’s magnificent film of the same title.

In Anthony Burgess’s nightmare vision of the future, where criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, who talks in a brutal invented slang that brilliantly renders his and his friends’ social pathology. A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. When the state undertakes to reform Alex—to “redeem” him—the novel asks, “At what cost?”

This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition and Burgess’s introduction “A Clockwork Orange Resucked”.

If you love your dystopians dark, violent and gritty, then this is the book for you. And be aware, it’s very violent. This book messes with your mind. But the imagery is fantastic–and Burgess really looks at what it means to be human, and just how easily readers themselves can be drawn into a new type of mindset. After a while, I found myself not even questioning–or being horrified at–the violence.

Highly recommended, if you don’t mind violence. 

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And that’s it for my list!

Have you got any dystopian novels that you’d highly recommend–then let us know in the comments!

Madeline Dyer lives in the southwest of England, and has a strong love for anything dystopian, ghostly, or paranormal. She can frequently be found exploring wild places, and at least one notebook is known to follow her wherever she goes. Her debut novel, UNTAMED (Prizm Books, May 2015), examines a world in which anyone who has negative emotions is hunted down, and a culture where addiction is encouraged.