Last week, we crowdsourced your favorite space opera.
And this week, because I’m totally shameless (seriously, the Martians destroyed my Shame Gland in the Second Mars-America Temporal Freedom War of 2018), I feel like we should talk about your favorite dystopian reads.
From adult (Handmaid’s Tale!) to young adult (Hunger Games!).
So: your top three dystopian reads.
Drop ’em in the comments. Let’s make some recommendations.
(And I might just have my own dystopian tale coming out tomorrow, hey, huh, weird.)
fredhicks says:
The one that bubbles to the top for me is Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix.
July 29, 2013 — 12:08 AM
TonyC says:
1984
Hunger Games trilogy
Logan’s Run
July 29, 2013 — 12:11 AM
DebE says:
Well, I think I’d have to agree on “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Although I haven’t read it in a while (though I want to everytime I see it mentioned somewhere!), I still have fond memories of reading it at school. How often does that happen? Usually school takes all the fun out of things, doesn’t it?
I also enjoyed the Cyberpunk dystopian “Non-Compliance: The Sector” by Paige Daniels. It had some nice grittiness, which I am a big fan of.
Otherwise, my dystopian experience only really extends as far as “The Hunger Games”. Persaonlly, I didn’t get attached to any of the characters, which is always something I look for in fiction, but otherwise, it was a well-written tale that seems to have been a real kick-off to the recent surge in dytopian literature.
If we extend to movies/TV, then “Serenity/Firefly” would be up there, also “Blade Runner” and maybe “Total Recall” (the originals, of course).
July 29, 2013 — 12:13 AM
Rhonda says:
Love your movie and TV choices. For Blade Runner, the original would be ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’ and for Total Recall, that would be ‘We’ll Remember it for you Wholesale’, both by my hero, Phillip K Dick. Pity he didn’t live to enjoy the fruits of his labour, but i hasn’t stopped Hollywood from making tons off his stuff.
July 31, 2013 — 10:44 AM
Lani Gerbi says:
Hmmm first thing that springs to mind would be ‘Unwind’ by Neal Shusterman. 😀
July 29, 2013 — 12:27 AM
Ash says:
Anybody remember 1984 by George Orwell?
July 29, 2013 — 12:29 AM
H. says:
I do love me some dystopia. So, here’s my top three:
1. Harrison Bergeron
2. Handmaid’s Tale (even now, this book freaks me out)
3. Battle Royale
I really need to read “Hunger Games.” Everyone says it’s worth it, but I keep putting it off.
July 29, 2013 — 12:38 AM
Sarah says:
“Califia’s Daughters” by Leigh Richards.
July 29, 2013 — 12:38 AM
bailishailish says:
I am Legend, by Richard Matheson.
The Will Smith movie ruined the ending, thus making the title meaningless.
July 29, 2013 — 12:51 AM
David says:
1. The Horus Heresy. The entire series, but start with Horus Rising. It’s basically the creation of one of the great dystopias of tabletop gaming (Warhammer 40,000), seen as it happens.
2. Daemon World by Ben Counter. It’s hard to pick out one Warhammer 40,000 book that really gets across how bad the setting is, but I think this one manages it. You could also try Seventh Retribution for something with less fantasy to it.
3. There’s a short story, which I believe was collected in a Greatest Science Fiction of 200X book, where a bunch of super post-human cockroach hybrids living in an irradiated wasteland find a baseline dog wandering around and try to cope with keeping it alive. It is one of the most hideously depressing things I’ve ever read – seriously it makes Jurassic Bark look pleasant. If anyone can remember the name please chime in.
July 29, 2013 — 1:01 AM
Mario says:
1. Justin Cronin’s “The Twelve”, the sequel to his vampire novel “The Passage”. There’s a setting in it called The Homeland that’s got a pretty good dystopian feel to it. Basically, the people who run The Homeland collaborate with the vampires, feeding them political enemies so that they in turn can feed on vampiric blood to extend their own lives.
2. Robert Buettner’s “Orphan’s Triumph”, the concluding volume of his Jason Wander books. A subplot of the story involves a planet ruled by a fascist state after what we presume is a global civil war. The main character has to infiltrate a concentration camp with his godson who is in league with the state, and in doing so, the godson has to come face-to-face with the atrocities he’s unknowingly helped commit.
3. I haven’t read this all the way through yet, but Kim Newman’s “Anno-Dracula” is a nice example of dystopian horror. It’s an sequel-slash-alternate-reality following Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” in which Dracula has prevailed, married into Britain’s royal family and conquered the British Empire, allowing other vampires from fiction like Count Ruthven and Lestat to come out of hiding.
July 29, 2013 — 2:01 AM
Terre says:
We’re reading “Gathering Blue” by Lois Lowry for Literature at the moment, and I ought to say it’s not bad albeit my all-time favourite would be Clare B. Dunkle’s “The Sky Inside”.
July 29, 2013 — 5:34 AM
Rhonda Hopkins says:
I’ve only started reading dystopian novels recently and have enjoyed what I have read. These are my three favorite so far.
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Waning Moon by PJ Sharon
July 29, 2013 — 6:08 AM
Tyro Vogel (@TyroVogel) says:
1. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream — Harlan Ellison
2. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — Philip K. Dick
3. Snow Crash — Neal Stephenson
July 29, 2013 — 6:48 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
I’m going to pull three from the same author, just to be contrary and fan-personish.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The World Jones Made
A Scanner Darkly
Some of these could also be classified as Sci-fi, naturally, but Philip K. Dick has a penchant for dark, dystopian futures, and a large number of his novels could qualify as excellent/favourite reads.
July 29, 2013 — 7:43 AM
Mike Berkey says:
On a sheer level of weirdness, it’s hard to forget The Night Land, by William Hope Hodgson. Truly bizarre setting, 200 solid pages of fever dream intensity marred by absolutely dreadful writing whenever the romantic element comes into play.
Other than that, my favorite dystopian novels tend to be the cyberpunk ones that everyone’s going to mention anyway. 🙂
July 29, 2013 — 7:45 AM
Kirk Jolly says:
Farhenheit 451 by the late, great Ray Bradbury. That’s all I have to say about that.
July 29, 2013 — 8:48 AM
Matt Gomez says:
1984- Orwell
Brave New World- Huxley
V for Vendetta- Moore
July 29, 2013 — 8:57 AM
Kelsey says:
I’m going to be contrary, and instead of picking the Handmaid’s Tale, go with Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. It’s been quite a while since I read it, but I remember really enjoying the book.
Also, would World War Z, by Max Brooks, count as dystopian fiction? That book is spectacular.
Fahrenheit 451 is also a favourite of mine.
In the category of teen dystopian fiction, I’d probably pick Divergent by Veronica Roth, although of course, the Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins is also great.
July 29, 2013 — 9:08 AM
Kelsey says:
Also, for graphic novels:
– Freak Angels, by Warren Ellis
– Y: The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan
July 29, 2013 — 10:11 AM
Laura says:
Definitely going to second Oryx and Crake. Handmaid’s Tale is brilliant, but Oryx and Crake was a LOT more disturbing to me.
July 29, 2013 — 3:52 PM
James Duncan says:
‘Fahrenheit 451’ and ‘1984’ are two favorites regardless of genre or categorization. For a third selection, I’d say Jonathan Lethem’s ‘Gun, With Occasional Music’. It’s somewhat dystopian, with generous portions of noir, sci-fi, and urban fantasy blended in.
July 29, 2013 — 9:08 AM
smithster says:
Handmaid’s Tale
The Fifth Sacred Thing
A Gift Upon the Shore
July 29, 2013 — 9:09 AM
conniecockrell says:
Again, There are so many. I read Farhenheit 451 when in high school and became a huge Ray Bradbury fan. Stephen King’s The Stand comes to mind also. It gave me nightmares. Geez, I can only pick one more? Ummm, Let’s go with Orwell’s 1984. The rat scene horrifies me to this day.
July 29, 2013 — 9:10 AM
David Wohlreich (@wallrike) says:
“We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin
“A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess
“Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell
Honorable Mention (it’s middle grade): “The Giver” by Lois Lowry
July 29, 2013 — 9:10 AM
The Baroness says:
The Sheep Look Up (John Brunner) Pollution and our refusal to admit to it destroys us; America dooms the world with its corporate-run government.
Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) Terrifyingly still relevant.
Kurt Vonnegut in general, though I suppose Cat’s Cradle and Player Piano are the most flagrantly dystopian.
July 29, 2013 — 9:15 AM
Simon says:
The Uglies, Pretties, Specials & Extras series by Scott Westerfeld is YA dystopian fiction and is sitting near top spot for favorite books I’ve read this year
I’ve not real Neil Stephenson’s more recent work, but I always found Diamond Age to be a better read than Snow Crash – to me, Snow Crash was a whirlwind of Deus-Ex-amp-up-the-cool while Diamond Age resolved the plot via narrative.
July 29, 2013 — 9:19 AM
Christopher Wilde says:
To be fair, Snow Crash was a satire of cyberpunk, while Diamond Age was more a critique of it, so it was INTENDED to be a little absurd.
July 29, 2013 — 12:44 PM
Sarah Z. says:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
July 29, 2013 — 9:20 AM
Maggie Carroll says:
I’m going to go with, in no particular order,
Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
Minority Report, by Philip K. Dick and
The Gunslinger, by Stephen King
July 29, 2013 — 9:22 AM
Lala says:
The Gunslinger is post-apocalyptic, not dystopian.
July 29, 2013 — 11:05 AM
Bill says:
I’m going to flout the top 3 rule a bit, and say that “1984” and “Brave New World” belong on any list of great dystopian novels. These two novels aside, I would also recommend “The Forever War” by Joe Haldeman, “The Burning World” by J.G. Ballard and “The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi for inclusion.
July 29, 2013 — 9:23 AM
EllieDi says:
The entire run of UGLIES is spectacular. I read all three in two weeks.
Always a huge fan of SNOWCRASH.
And I’m going to side with DebE above and throw out FIREFLY because reasons.
July 29, 2013 — 9:23 AM
urdith says:
“Stand on Zanzibar” or “The Sheep Look Up.” – John Brunner wrote dystopias which got more right than wrong.
“Brave New World” – Sadly, it lives under the shadow of 1984 but I think it’s a scarier view of the world.
“Colony” by Ben Bova – How /not/ to write a dystopian novel. Racist, sexist, classist and just a terrible book.
July 29, 2013 — 9:27 AM
Laila says:
Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler.
Logan’s Run by William F. Nolan (loved the whole trilogy but first was my favorite).
Since many of my other favorites have already been listed, I’m going to throw the Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie into the mix here. While I hesitate to call this one of my favorites because it was a bit too romance-y for me, I very much liked the world she created.
July 29, 2013 — 9:28 AM
Abby says:
Uglies, Pretties, Specials- Scott Westerfeld, best trilogy ever
1984- George Orwell- classic
Extras- additional book in Scott Westerfeld series, worth a read.
July 29, 2013 — 9:35 AM
aileenmiles says:
I haven’t read that much in the genre, but right now I’m enjoying the heck out of Wool and Shift by Hugh Howey.
July 29, 2013 — 9:59 AM
Matt says:
OK, I don’t see “Arslan” by M J Engh listed here yet. Shame on you all. This one set my standard for villainy.
“Lanark” by Alisdair Gray. Half fantasy-dystopia, half realist set in Glasgow before and after WWII.
And another Scottish mixed-genre dystopia, Iain Banks’ “Walking on Glass”.
July 29, 2013 — 10:02 AM
Simon says:
But there’s just SO MANY!
If I had to pick three I’d probably go with:
1984
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
The Sheep Look Up
But basically anything by Dick and Brunner should be on this list – plus several movies including the adaptations of the above, Mad Max, the Dredd film (the new one), oh yeah, and the Fallout videogame series…
Gah! Too many!
July 29, 2013 — 10:03 AM
Simon says:
@Simon – yeah – that Dredd film was surprisingly good. I went in with expectations so low they couldn’t be tripped over, and was very, very, pleasantly surprised.
And Dredd reminds me of another comic book dystopia made of all around awesome – Warren Ellis’ Transmetropolitan
July 29, 2013 — 10:07 AM
dtkrippene says:
Most mentioned here already. Handmaiden’s Tale, 1984, The Postman, Children of Men. Does Heinlein’s “Tunnel in the Sky” count?
July 29, 2013 — 10:07 AM
Ash says:
Your mentioning of Heinlein reminds me of Farnham’s Freehold, that was a great dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel.
July 29, 2013 — 10:15 PM
Brandi E. says:
A Handmaids Tale, Prince of Thorns, The Stand
July 29, 2013 — 10:09 AM
ljbreedlove says:
Octavia Butler, Parable series, but her others are equally good.
Kate wilhelm’s Welcome Chaos, but she’s most famous for Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Of course, Fahrenheit 451, On the Beach, Handmaid’s Tale. I did like Hunger Games, but most of the recent stuff is YA and I find it gets, well, juvenile.
July 29, 2013 — 10:18 AM
Lara Santiago says:
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
Wool – Hugh Howey (and Shift, of course)
Only three “is” really hard.
July 29, 2013 — 10:28 AM
Reggie Lutz says:
James Morrow’s City of Truth
Samuel Delaney’s Dhalgren
Francesca Lia Block’s Ecstasia
There are more, but these were the first three that popped into my head.
July 29, 2013 — 11:09 AM
Lala says:
The Long Walk
The Running Man
V for Vendetta
July 29, 2013 — 11:14 AM
LeeAnna Holt says:
My favorite Dystopian so far is the anthology of short stories Brave New Worlds edited by John Joseph Adams. A lot of great stories. It also includes a handy essay written by the editor about what a dystopia really is since a lot of people always confuse post-apocalyptic with dystopia, and that’s not true.
July 29, 2013 — 11:53 AM
petewoodworth says:
While I don’t think I’m Margaret Atwood or Ray Bradbury, I do think I manage to spin a pretty good dystopian yarn myself. So I’m going to give a shout out to my post-zombie-apocalypse dystopian adventure novel, “Runner” (second book in the series dropped on Saturday!): http://amzn.to/13s1gKz
OK, I’m done, I promise. Three other more conventional recommendations:
1) “Starship Troopers” by Robert Heinlein. A vicious critique of fascism disguised as a paean to it. This book is often mislabeled as an action/adventure story, not to mention fascist propaganda, and while it certainly has a few thrilling combat sequences, the vast majority of the book is really a sly discussion of citizenship, sacrifice, and loyalty to the state. It’s been called a “shining dystopia” – where the citizens believe their Hell to be a Heaven – and I think that’s a fair assessment. Read this book. Don’t take the haters at face value, and certainly don’t trust the movies. It’s also a master class in how to use a first person narrative, as well as how to cleverly sidestep the need for lengthy exposition in a sci-fi setting.
2) “Altered Carbon” by Richard K Morgan. Honestly, I’m not sure if this quite qualifies as dystopian, but if it’s not well then it sure comes close. A wealthy man downloads an imprisoned private eye into a loaner body in order to solve the mystery of his own murder, and chaos ensues as the gumshoe tears a post-Singularity version of San Francisco apart to get at the truth. A society where anyone can have anything but – surprise – only the rich really have everything. A great tale of private eye tech-noir in a suitably creepy and oddly believable future. If you listed titles like Neuromancer, Blade Runner, or Snow Crash – read this book. Even if you didn’t, read it anyway. Badass.
3) “Y: The Last Man” by Brian K Vaughn. A mysterious event kills every male higher organism on the planet simultaneously … except for escape artist Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand. All he wants to do is find his girlfriend, who was vacationing in Australia when the disaster struck, but there are a lot of other factions out there who would do worse than kill to get their hands on the last surviving males. Mostly sci-fi with some carefully screened mysticism, it’s a great graphic novel series – funny, honest, exciting and often disturbing. The ending, alas, is a little bit of a letdown, but don’t let that deter you from the rest of the journey. A very cool story told in great style.
Honorable Mention
“Soft Apocalypse” by Will McIntosh. An eerie and all-too-realistic look at what might happen to America if the lights go out, the supermarkets shut down and mail stops getting delivered. Seriously. A great look at what might happen if our society goes off the rails, not in a huge sci-fi way, but due to a series of ordinary, perfectly understandable, utterly devastating events.
The Classics Other People Have Already Mentioned But Are Super Sweet So Get My Vote Too:
Fahrenheit 451
1984
Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
World War Z
V for Vendetta
July 29, 2013 — 11:58 AM
Melissa says:
I suggest Feed by Mira Grant.
July 29, 2013 — 12:38 PM
Christina Kristofic says:
Oh God… Do I have to pick just three?
I can’t.
I love them all…
1984 by George Orwell
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham (So. Freaking. Good.)
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov (though I hesitate to count it as a dystopia; it’s more sci-fi)
July 29, 2013 — 12:43 PM
Richard Kellum says:
“We” by Zamyatin.
July 29, 2013 — 12:46 PM
Juliasd says:
I’ll go with the classics:
1984 by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
July 29, 2013 — 12:51 PM
Christopher Wilde says:
I’m a huge fan of Dystopian lit… Most of the required stuff (1984, Fahrenheit 451, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Handmaid’s Tale, the MaddAddam trilogy (Oryx and Crake/Year of the Flood/MaddAddam), etc.) have already been mentioned… But here’s a few more:
Transmetropolitan, by Warren Ellis
The City and the City, by China Miéville
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson
July 29, 2013 — 12:55 PM
Christina says:
The Across the Universe series by Beth Revis
July 29, 2013 — 12:56 PM
Callie says:
The Giver
Fahrenheit 451
The Sparrow (not sure if it counts, but it should, because EVERYONE SHOULD READ IT)
July 29, 2013 — 1:04 PM
thewhisperingcricket says:
People already hit up the big favorites (and for good reason!), but these are mine:
Canticle for Leibowitz– Miller, Jr.
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sand- Wilhelm
Stand On Zanzibar- Brunner
July 29, 2013 — 1:18 PM