Nothing says ‘It’s a great time to read Dystopian novels’ like the summer during a pandemic.
Welcome to the new world order.
Join all of these characters as they navigate their way through dangerously transformed landscapes, politics, and the dreaded leftovers of humanity.
You may recognize a lot of these, and you may not, but they’re all fantastic books to kick back and enjoy at your own pace. Perfect for a lazy summer read.
Warning!
Each of these books contains their own horrors and could have triggering content.
Reader discretion advised.
(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.)
Every dystopia is a utopia for somebody else. It just depends where you are. Are you in the class that benefits, or are you in the class that’s not?
Ken Liu
Publication date: March 2011
Pages: 250
Genre: Novel, Science fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Horror
Series: Book 1 of 4: The Chemical Garden
What if you knew exactly when you’d die?
The first book of The Chemical Garden Trilogy.
By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males born with a lifespan of 25 years, and females a lifespan of 20 years—leaving the world in a state of panic. Geneticists seek a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.
When Rhine is sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Yet her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement; her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next; and Rhine has no way to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive.
Together with one of Linden’s servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?
The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
Publication date: June 2014
Pages: 420
Genre: Novel, Science fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Dystopian fiction
Series: Book 1 of 2: Girl With All the Gifts
Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her “our little genius.”
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.
The Girl With All the Gifts is a groundbreaking thriller, emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Publication date: September 2009
Pages: 410
Genre: Young adult fiction, Science fiction, Dystopian, Action and Adventure
Series: Book 1 of 5: The Maze Runner
The first book in the blockbuster phenomenon The Maze Runner series now features chapters from the highly-anticipated series conclusion, The Fever Code, the book that finally reveals the story of how the maze was built!
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround them is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
Remember. Survive. Run.
Publication date: April 2010
Pages: 651
Genre: Novel, Romance novel, Science fiction, Thriller, Dystopian
Series: Book 1 of 1: The Host Series
Now available as a special edition eBook:
New Bonus Chapter and Reading Group Guide, including Stephenie Meyer’s Annotated Playlist for the book with linking to and back from text.
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.
Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST
is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.
Publication date: June 2015
Pages: 324
Genre: Young adult, Romance novel, Paranormal fiction, Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of 3: The Gifting Series
“If science is right, then I am crazy. And crazy is dangerous.”
In a world where nothing supernatural exists, Tess Eckhart is positive she’s going crazy. After her complete freakout at a high school party, her family is too. So much that they pack their bags and move across the country, next to a nationally-renowned facility for the mentally ill.
Tess is determined to fit in at her new school, despite the whispers and stares. But when it comes to Luka Williams, a reluctantly popular boy in her class, she’s unused to a stare that intense. Then the headaches start, and the seemingly prophetic dreams that haunt her at night. As Tess tries harder to hide them, she becomes increasingly convinced that Luka knows something—that he might somehow be responsible.
But what if she’s wrong? What if Luka Williams is the only thing separating her from a madness too terrifying to fathom?
Publication date: May 2009
Pages: 581
Genre: Young adult fiction, Occult Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Paranormal fiction
Series: Book 1 of 9: Gone
The first in New York Times bestselling author Michael Grant’s breathtaking dystopian sci-fi saga, Gone is a page-turning thriller that invokes the classic The Lord of the Flies along with the horror of Stephen King.
In the blink of an eye, everyone disappears. Gone. Except for the young. There are teens, but not one single adult. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what’s happened.
Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.
It’s a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: on your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else. . .
Publication date: October 2010
Pages: 308
Genre: Young adult, Paranormal fiction, Urban fantasy, Horror
Series: Book 1 of 2: The Hollows
Hollowland – the first book in the young adult dystopian series The Hollows..
“This is the way the world ends – not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door.”
Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way – not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.
Publication date: May 2006
Pages: 448
Genre: Novel, Young adult fiction, Fantasy fiction, Dystopian fiction
Series: Book 1 of 4: The Uglies
The first installment of Scott Westerfeld’s New York Times bestselling and award-winning Uglies series—a global phenomenon that started the dystopian trend.
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can’t wait. In just a few weeks she’ll have the operation that will turn her from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty. And as a pretty, she’ll be catapulted into a high-tech paradise where her only job is to have fun.
But Tally’s new friend Shay isn’t sure she wants to become a pretty. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world—and it isn’t very pretty. The authorities offer Tally a choice: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. Tally’s choice will change her world forever.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Publication date: March 2009
Pages: 322
Genre: Young adult fiction, Horror, Fantasy fiction, Zombie apocalypse
Series: Books 1 of 3: Forest of Hands and Teeth
In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?
Carrie Ryan lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Darkness We Crave by Katie May
Publication date: October 2018
Pages: 260
Genre: Young adult, Reverse harem, Romance, Dystopian fiction
Series: Book 1 of 4: Together We Fall
Most people don’t think about where they’re going to be when the world ends. On the beach drinking margaritas? In the arms of a lover?
How about in a shit-ass resort run by your shit-ass parents?
I have always lived my life as the perfect daughter. At seventeen, I had no other option than to follow my parents’ strict regiment. Did I mention that they’re assholes?
The world didn’t decide to suddenly end. Oh no, that would be too easy. Instead, it was a series of events that led to its eventual demise. Earthquakes, tornados, and a mysterious virus that turned people into raving lunatics. Fortunately for me, I have the help of seven handsome men to combat the coming storm. Literally.
Declan, an enigma from my past. Ryder, a flirty musician. Asher, the sweetest boy I had ever met and probably the only one that I don’t want to kick in the balls. Tamson, shy and timid, with a past I’m aching to uncover. Ronan, my sarcastic leprechaun. Fallon, the stoic leader. And, finally, Calax (but he doesn’t really matter because I kind of hate him and want him to fall on his head and die).
I will have to learn to rely on these boys and myself if we’re going to survive the apocalypse.
This is a slow-burn reverse harem series.
Warning: This book deals with sensitive issues such as abuse, rape, and suicide that some readers may find triggering. Reader discretion is advised.
Publication date: November 2011
Pages: 348
Genre: Young adult fiction, Romance novel, Dystopian fiction
Series: Book 1 of 6: Shatter Me
The gripping first installment in New York Times bestselling author Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me series.
One touch is all it takes. One touch, and Juliette Ferrars can leave a fully grown man gasping for air. One touch, and she can kill.
No one knows why Juliette has such incredible power. It feels like a curse, a burden that one person alone could never bear. But The Reestablishment sees it as a gift, sees her as an opportunity. An opportunity for a deadly weapon.
Juliette has never fought for herself before. But when she’s reunited with the one person who ever cared about her, she finds a strength she never knew she had.
And don’t miss Defy Me, the shocking fifth book in the Shatter Me series!
Publication date: August 2015
Pages: 350
Genre: New adult, Horror, Fantasy Fiction
Series: Book 1 of 4: The Wilds
My name is Dahlia but I’m called a Plaguer, a person who survived the Bloody Death. When the virus first hit the world, it ravaged the human race. I thought I was lucky to survive it but survival comes at a cost. Ever since the sickness, I see things and I’m hunted for these visions.
Some seek me out because they want to keep their secrets safe. They don’t want the world to know the truth of what they are. Others, like Dax, want my knowledge. Dax has secrets of his own but as long as he helps me evade the Dark Walkers, he can keep them. There’s only one place left for people like me, the Wilds, and only one man who can lead me there.
This book is for all the Plaguers, the truth sayers branded and marked as liars, often hunted and sometimes forgotten. This book is for the girl who was right.
The Girl in Red by Christina Henry
Publication date: June 2019
Pages: 302
Genre: Horror fiction, Fantasy fiction, Fairy tale, Action and Adventure
Standalone
From the national bestselling author of Alice comes a postapocalyptic take on the perennial classic “Little Red Riding Hood”…about a woman who isn’t as defenseless as she seems.
It’s not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn’t look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.
There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there’s something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined.
Red doesn’t like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn’t about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods….
It’s incredible how many books could have been on this list.. So many more have only just been released and are just waiting to be read. It seems that Covid was just what the reading world needed for the Dystopian genre to explode.
Myself? I can’t wait to see what everyone has come up with.
Happy Summer!
Are you tired of ‘end of the world’ scenarios yet or still enjoying all the the ridiculously wide variety of ways our entire race could be wiped out or taken over?
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Interesting! Up to now, I didn’t even know such genre existed! Always learn something new from your reviews, although, I believed there isn’t anything that new anymore.
Thank you, you say the nicest things!
There are a lot of fantastic books in this genre, some get really creative(not that most authors don’t) but I always find it slightly fascinating to see all the ways our planet/race could perish(usually because of our own arrogance or greed) and the reactions humanity has to the threat of impending doom.
You’re right, there are a lot of stories that are literally regurgitated material.. but it’s the ones that are unusual and original that make it worth it.
I hope you’re doing well and having a lovely week, take care!
Such a great post! Love this genre(deep down there’s nothing more optimistic than a good dystopian which believesthings can be changed) and love the graphics at the beginning of your post – you should turn it into a regular meme. Which ones out of this selection did you enjoy the most?
Thank you so much, that’s so nice of you! I do too, there’s just something about the struggle to survive that creates the strongest and most resilient characters(sometimes). And thanks,I was pretty happy with the way it turned out!
I’d say my favorite on this list would be ‘The Darkness We Crave’. You?
Wow, Sheri. A great line up. I like dystopian worldbuilding. Thanks for the opportunity to browse. 🙂
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it! Dystopia on it’s own is usually intriguing enough, but considering everything going on, it seemed appropriate. 😆
Wow some of these sound really good! I’ve only read Shatter Me.
That’s great, right? More adventures to be had! I hope you enjoy them. ☺
And thank you!
A great list with some solid titles, and many others I will now explore. I love the quote you shared by Ken Liu, ‘utopia’ is indeed highly subjective!