Best Dystopian Novels

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frighte more...1 point

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociolo...1 point

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

A beautifully written novel about a terrifying vis more...1 point

A beautifully written novel about a terrifying vision of utopia.1 point

1984 (Signet Classics) by George Orwell

"Outside, even through the shut window pane, more...1 point

"Outside, even through the shut window pane, the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything except the posters that were plastered everywhere." The year is 1984; the scene is London, largest population center of Airstrip One. Airstrip One is part of the vast political entity Oceania, which is eternally at war with one of two other vast....1 point

Lord of the Flies (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) by William Golding

William Golding's classic tale about a group of En more...1 point

William Golding's classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose...1 point

The Time Machine (Signet Classics) by H.G. Wells

The story that launched Wells's successful career- more...0 points

The story that launched Wells's successful career-the classic tale of the Time Traveler and the extraordinary world he discovers in the far distant future. A haunting portrayal of Darwin's evolutionary theory carried to a terrible conclusion.0 points

The Children of Men by P.D. James

Told with P. D. James's trademark suspense, insigh more...0 points

Told with P. D. James's trademark suspense, insightful characterization, and riveting storytelling, The Children of Men is a story of a world with no children and no future. The human race has become infertile, and the last generation to be born is now adult. Civilization itself is crumbling as suicide and despair become commonplace. Oxford historian Theodore Faron, apathetic toward a future without a future, spends most of his time reminiscing. Then he is approached by Julian, a bright, attract...0 points

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

A hard to find, but influential, classic.0 points

Armageddon's Children (The Genesis of Shannara, Book 1) by Terry Brooks

If you have never read anything by beloved fantasy more...0 points

If you have never read anything by beloved fantasy writer Terry Brooks, take your chance with Armageddon's Children, a rich and absorbing epic in which the world lies in ruins as the powers of darkness and light battle for control. Want to learn more? Watch our video featuring Terry Brooks: Watch the video (high bandwith)Watch the video (low bandwith) ="/" noshade="noshade" class="bucketDivider" size="1"> 0 points

The Running Man by Stephen King

Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) crafted more...0 points

Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) crafted The Running Man early in his career, though after such mega-hits as Carrie and The Shining. A bit of a departure from the supernatural horror that is most frequently associated with his work, the novel describes a science fiction dystopia where market capitalism and television game shows have spiraled out of control, and the separation between the haves and the have-nots has been formalized with separate currencies. King establishes characters qu...0 points

The Iron Heel (Penguin Classics) by Jack London

Part science fiction, part dystopian fantasy, part more...0 points

Part science fiction, part dystopian fantasy, part radical socialist tract, Jack London’s The Iron Heel offers a grim depiction of warfare between the classes in America and around the globe. Originally published nearly a hundred years ago, it anticipated many features of the past century, including the rise of fascism, the emergence of domestic terrorism, and the growth of centralized government surveillance and authority. What begins as a war of words ends in scenes of harrowing violence as th...0 points

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Here is the novel that started it all, launching t more...0 points

Here is the novel that started it all, launching the cyberpunk generation, and the first novel to win the holy trinity of science fiction: the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award and the Philip K. Dick Award. With Neuromancer, William Gibson introduced the world to cyberspace--and science fiction has never been the same. Case was the hottest computer cowboy cruising the information superhighway--jacking his consciousness into cyberspace, soaring through tactile lattices of data and logic, rustling enc...0 points

The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel by Margaret Atwood

In the world of the near future, who will control more...0 points

In the world of the near future, who will control women's bodies?Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable.Offred c...0 points

The Long Walk by Stephen King

Phenomenal bestselling horror. On the first day of more...0 points

Phenomenal bestselling horror. On the first day of May, one hundred teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as "The Long Walk," a deadly contest of endurance and determination, where each step could literally be their last. On the first day of May, one hundred teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as "The Long Walk." If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying.0 points

Island (Perennial Classics) by Aldous Huxley

In "Island," his last novel, Huxley tran more...0 points

In "Island," his last novel, Huxley transports us to a Pacific island where, for 120 years, an ideal society has flourished. Inevitably, this island of bliss attracts the envy and enmity of the surrounding world. A conspiracy is underway to take over Pala and events begin to move when an agent of the conspirators, a newspaperman named Faranby, is shipwrecked there. What Faranby doesn't expect is how his time with the people of Pala will revolutionize all his values and -- to his amazement -- giv...0 points

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and more...0 points

Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and widely considered one of the most accomplished, powerful, and enduring classics of modern speculative fiction, Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a true landmark of twentieth-century literature -- a chilling and still-provocative look at a post-apocalyptic future. In a nightmarish ruined world slowly awakening to the light after sleeping in darkness, the infant rediscoveries of science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks...0 points