Question:
Dystopian novels worth reading?
?
2012-05-06 17:12:36 UTC
Dystopian novels worth reading?
I've read Matched, HG, Inside Out, etc. what dystopian books/series' compare to these? Please add a synopsis/description of the books! Thank you!
Five answers:
Dane Coriell
2012-05-07 12:11:22 UTC
There are some great reads dating back decades. Below are my favorite recent novels along the lines of those you mentioned.



Across the Universe by Beth Revis - 2011. When 17-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo on a spaceship, she expects to be thawed 300 years later upon arrival at a new planet. However, her world turns upside down when she is awakened fifty years too early and finds herself embroiled in the mystery surrounding the attempted murders of frozen passengers. Her life endangered by the tyrannical leader of the ship's maintenance population, she turns to her only ally: Elder, the young man destined to become the leader. As they solve the mystery together, romance blossoms between Amy and Elder, complicating an already complex situation.



The Shore of Monsters by David J. Nix – 2011. Five generations earlier, a horde of monsters nearly obliterated humanity. All males are dead or ruined by a monster plague; words like 'father' and 'romance' have lost meaning. When teenager Sky joins an expedition to the shore that falls apart, she must survive amongst the monsters that roam the ruins. She gets unexpected help from a very surprising source. Mystery, action, and romance follow!



Blood Red Road (Dustlands Series) by Moira Young – 2012. In a post-apocalyptic future, 18-year-old Saba’s twin brother is stolen by black-clad riders. When tough-as-nails Saba launches a relentless search to recover him, she must fight for her life in gladiator cages, overcome enemies both creature and human, and learn to trust others for the first time. And try as she might, she can’t help but fall for the charming scoundrel Jack, who just may understand her more than she knows.



Delirium by Lauren Oliver – 2011. In the tightly controlled society of a future America, love is forbidden, classified as ‘deliria’ by authorities. Three months before her 18th birthday and a mandatory procedure to ‘cure’ her deliria, Lena meets Alex, who sends her heart aflutter. As love blossoms between the two, Lena questions what she has always been told about love, and begins to consider the unthinkable: not submitting to the cure, and choosing deliria instead. Beautifully written, but a little slow.



Divergent by Veronica Roth – 2011. In a future dystopian Chicago, each 16-year old must choose to belong one of five factions, each of which represents a dominant personality trait. For most the choice is easy – simply follow the results an aptitude test. For Beatrice, however, the choice is not simple. Her test indicates three aptitudes. In addition to complicating her life, this fact makes her dangerous to the community for reasons she does not know. What she decides promises to put her in danger, and possibly tilt the entire balance of society.



The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan – 2010. Seven generations have passed since the Return, a plague that reanimates dead humans into creatures that feed on the living. Teenager Mary lives inside one of the last enclaves of uninfected, protected by a chain link fence that surrounds her village. When the fence is breached, Mary flees the village with a small band of survivors. Their flight toward an uncertain salvation is both harrowing and revealing, as they try to determine if they are humanity’s last hope.



How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff – 2006. Fascinating novel about the outbreak of a 21st century world war as seen through the eyes of Daisy, a 15 year old American staying with her cousins on a remote England farm. At first utopian, the kid's existence degenerates into horror as the war encroaches on the farm. Through the several month period covered by the story, Daisy grows from a self-centered girl into a determined survivor. This book will leave a mark on the reader for years to come.



Shipbreaker by Paolo Bacigalupi – 2010. In a near future of rising seas, no oil, and extreme poverty, a teenager works as a shipbreaker - one who salvages rusting ships for parts. When he finds a wrecked super-yacht after a storm, he thinks his days of poverty are over. However, he gets swept into an adventure when bad people come for the one survivor of the wreck - a rich, beautiful girl who owns the vessel.



Unwind by Neal Shusterman - 2009. In post-war future, the abortion debate has been solved through compromise. Parents may elect to have their teenage children "unwound", a process where the teens organs and body parts are harvested for others. The story follows three runaway Unwinds, each discarded for behavior, religious, or economic reasons. As the trio embarks on a harrowing journey of escape, the reader will ponder very heavy moral questions, and wrestle with how much a bad decision can affect future generations. This is a masterpiece on every level!
anonymous
2012-05-07 01:56:27 UTC
Uglies - Scott Westerfeld

Messenger - Lois Lowry

Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Among the Hidden - Margaret Haddix

The City of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau

Peter and the Starcatchers - Dave Barry

Found - Margaret Haddix

The Giver - Lois Lowry

Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
Asdfghjkl;
2012-05-07 00:17:50 UTC
Divergent by Veronica Roth

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.



The Maze Runner by James Dashner-

Thomas wakes up in an elevator, remembering nothing but his own name. He emerges into a world of about 60 teen boys who have learned to survive in a completely enclosed environment, subsisting on their own agriculture and supplies from below. A new boy arrives every 30 days. The original group has been in "the glade" for two years, trying to find a way to escape through a maze that surrounds their living space. They have begun to give up hope. Then a comatose girl arrives with a strange note, and their world begins to change. There are some great, fast-paced action scenes, particularly those involving the nightmarish Grievers who plague the boys. Thomas is a likable protagonist who uses the information available to him and his relationships (including his ties to the girl, Teresa) to lead the Gladers.







my fanfiction of HG- http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7993432/1/Taking_Flight





Thanks!!



Hope I helped!!



~Smile
anonymous
2012-05-07 11:19:44 UTC
1984 by George Orwell:

1984 is the year in which it happens. The world is divided into three great powers, Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, each perpetually at war with one another. Throughout Oceania 'The Party' rules through an agency of all-powerful ministries. The authorities use every device to keep a check on people's thoughts, words and deeds. Against this nightmare background is played out the drama of Winston Smith, who rebelled against The Party's rule.



Z For Zachariah by Robert C O'Brien:

Anne Burden, the lone survivor of a nuclear holocaust, is threatened by the arrival in her valley of an unknown intruder. She hides, he watches and they both wait. Might he be a friend or ally, this scientist in a radiation-proof suit, or have the horrors he has witnessed turned him into something more sinister? The answer unfolds in a battle of wills which ends in a chilling struggle for survival, between a girl and the last man on earth.



World War Z by Max Brooks:

It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginnings of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse. Faced with a future of mindless, man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality.



The Chrysalids by John Wyndham:

David Strorm's father doesn't approve of Angus Morton's unusually large horses, calling them blasphemies against nature. Little does he realise his own son, and his son's cousin Rosalind and their friends, have their own secret aberration which would label them as mutants. But as David and Rosalind grow older it becomes more difficult to conceal their differences from the village elders. Soon, they face a choice: wait for the eventual discovery, or flee to the terrifying and mutable badlands...
b97st
2012-05-07 12:59:02 UTC
Divergent by Veronica Roth

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Legend by Marie Lu

Gone by Michael Grant

Uglies by Scott Westerfield

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Declaration by Gemma Malley

XVI by Julia Carr

The Secret Under My Skin by Janet McNaughton

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

Runner by William Dietz

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

Seed by Rob Ziegler

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Variant by Robison Wells

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Feed by M.T. Anderson

The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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