The Future is Scary: Dystopian Reading

Have you burned through the Hunger Games trilogy, attacked Veronica Roth's Divergent and Insurgent, and are left still wanting more? Check out some other great dystopian reads for teens and adults!

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Great for teen readers

Beginning with the first book, Uglies, Scott Westerfeld draws us into a sickly-sweet world of physical perfection where everyone is plugged in, drugged up and made surgically beautiful on their sixteenth birthdays.
If you're one that goes against the norm, things can get ugly pretty quickly.

This is a gripping series - read on with:
Pretties | Specials | Extras. 

 

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
Great for older teen and adult readers

No, this isn't that other book you're thinking of.

Rather, this is a logically illogical book about a world where your ability (or lack of) to perceive colour determines your ranking in society, starting with where you live to who you marry. So, what happens when you fall in love with a lowly 'grey' and start to question the conformity you've known all your life? Well, all of a sudden, life doesn't seem quite so rosy anymore...

 

Matched by Allyson Condie
Great for teen readers

in Cassia's world, the Society dictates it all: what you wear, where you go, and who you end up marrying too. She's happy when she is matched with her best friend...but another boy's face shows up for a split second on her match screen too. Is this just a glitch, as the Society says? Or is there more to it than Cassia can even begin to imagine?

If you like Matched, read on with Crossed, also by Ally Condie.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Great for teen readers

Life is cheap and survival is hard. In a lawless future, Saba and her family live in a secluded shed, with only a drying lake to count on. Saba is reckless and wild, the total opposite of her twin brother, Lugh, whom she adores. When a gang of armed riders arrive one day shortly after the twins' 18th birthday, killing her father and kidnapping Lugh, Saba knows that it is up to her to rescue her brother and save the remnants of her family.

 

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Great for teen readers

Juliette is a girl stuck in a poisonous body.

Her touch is fatal, and as a result, she has been ostracized or locked up her entire life. In exchange for her freedom, an ominous post-apocalyptic dictatorship called The Reestablishment, wants her to use her horrific abilities on their terms. But, maybe, she could be more warrior than weapon, if she only figures out how.

 

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
Great for teen readers

A group of Australian teenagers head out on a camping trip, only to arrive home a week later to a place much different than what they had left behind.

When they discover that they have been invaded, they have to use everything they know to fight and survive.

 

 

Children of Men by PD James
Great for adult readers

In an infertile future, the last generation of children have grown to adulthood.
Without children, the fate of humankind is inevitable: there is no future ahead.

When an apathetic historian is approached by an ambitious and spirited woman, he finds himself in the company of a group of unlikely revolutionaries. While he may be more focused on his past than his future, a chance for humanity might still be alive.

You may want to also check out the film adaptation of this book (which strays a bit from the original) but still offers a great story.

 The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Great for adults

Food shortages and bioengineered plagues have created a future where calories are the new currency. In this weak economy, Anderson Lake, a "calorie-man" working for a corporate giant, is in search of whatever nature has left behind in Thailand. In Bangkok, he meets the abandoned Emiko, a genetically-engineered New Person. Their encounter will spark a series of catastrophic events. This is a dark, violent and complex novel with sharply-drawn characters and well-paced writing.

 

There is a lot of fiction out there that takes us into dizzying dystopian futures and haunting societies that really challenge our ideas of freedom and choice. Liked any of these titles? Have some gems of your own that I missed? Be sure to leave a comment!