I'm nearly finished rereading 1984 and my appetite for dystopian books is whetted. What are some other great ones I should check out?
- Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It's a must read if you're into dystopia. Unlike Orwell, Huxley doesn't focus on politics of his time. Specially good to read alongside Island, an utopia of the same author, dealing with similar topics (society, drugs, the human condition).
- Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange. It has some satirical vibes, but it is not a good book to read if you're feeling down (content warning: sexual violence). It focuses on a teen gang leader in the near future, and talks about themes like the impact of free will on morality.
- William Golding' Lord of the Flies. Technically not a dystopia, but it "scratches" the same itch. It's about a bunch of kids dumped in an island, without adult supervision, and the resulting nasty proto-society that they build from it.
- Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. It's perhaps one of the grandparents of the genre; it talks about individuality on a society controlled by a state that managed to conquer the whole globe.
There's also Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I don't recommend it - the book is basically a "if Orwell was right-wing, soapboxing instead of trying to explain what's going on, and with poor writing skills". Seriously.
Yeah if never been interested in Atlas Shrugged, after learning it’s very conservative leaning.
Great suggestions!
Yeah, the whole book boils down to "the hand of the market will solve errything!". Except that Rand doesn't know that the hand of the market has Parkinson's.
I read We before I read 1984 when I was young and I thought it was amazing. I would add that it's also kind of sci-fi.
I think Le Guins "The Dispossessed" belongs here. Its a dystopian/ utopian comparative about an anarchist planet and a capitalist planet. Highly recommend. I've got a signed copy somewhere.
I found "A Canticle for Leibowitz" an astounding read. More apocalyptic than dystopian, but solid.
The MaddAddam Series by Margaret Atwood.
- Oryx and Crake
- The year of the flood
- Maddaddam
"This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin was good enough when I read it 15+ years ago.
"The Dispossessed" by Ursula Le Guin does a lot of world building (in short, anarchist separatists fled Earth to terraform the moon to be barely hospitable) and a fun glimpse into a would-be anarchist society
Jennifer Government by Maxx Barry. In fairness I read it 20 years ago and do not know how it's aged. It was good back then though.
I read it about 10 years ago and I found it good then 🤷♂️
*Neuromancer by William gibson is crazy dark and is the book which started the cyberpunk genre.
The forever war by Joe Hadleman is cynical but not totally dark, still has some awesome dystopic themes which have not lost their power over he years. Hard to say if it could be read as critical of current gender ideology or in support of it.
If you've ever thought about getting into the 40k universe Dan Abnett is great and his writing of female characters gets better over the years.
Alastair Reynolds and peter f Hamilton mention many societies in their space operas and generally have a pretty grim, imo realistic, view of human nature and how it might follow us to the stars.
Brave new world is an interesting concept for those who like dyspotic worlds. IMHO not a great book, still worth a read.
Kayel means Neuromancer, not Necromancer. Don't want you to fall down the wrong rabbit hole.
Also I stand behind all of their points. Neuromancer is cool because its the grand daddy of cyberpunk and predicts stuff like the modern internet and what's starting to seem like our megacorps.
Forever War is one of my favorite sci fi novels of all time. Very influential military theme that seems like a counterpoint to Starship Troopers.
Everything by Dan Abnett is great. He's the best writer employed by Games Workshop. If you don't know much about 40k, his Eisenhorn series is fun. A decent stand alone novel is Double Eagle which is a dark sci fi story modeled after WW2 dogfights. Even the "good guys" in 40k are aggressively dystopian.
Reynolds and Hamilton are on my to read list but haven't gotten there. Do you guys recommend anywhere to start with them?
Thank you friend, it seems we have similar tastes for similar reasons. Would you recommend anything else?
For Reynolds, the revelation space trilogy is he best received and has his biggest ideas. But you could start anywhere. While he has some core themes, his ideas are all over the shop between books; each unique in both style and concepts.
Peter F Hamilton is an odd one. His writing is very male but the hard sci fi ideas and world building are second to none. The darkest place to start is the Confederation universe. The most fun and fantasy adjacent is the Void Trilogy. Despite being a hardcore fan I'm not very well read on him.
For both, their short stories are exquisite, in some cases mind bending and worldview changing.
Yeah I've got the first Revelation Space book waiting for me to open it up, there's just so much out there to read.
If we are talking sci fi dystopias, I'd say Altered Carbon and its sequels are compelling. Skip the Netflix show. We both seem to like military sci fi, and that series has that aspect in spades.
If you haven't read Gibson's stuff after Neuromancer, you might like that too.
His writing is very male
Lol his writing is very phallic? I think I know what you mean.
The Iron Heel by Jack London is one of the earliest dystopian novels. Imagine if the third book of the Hunger Games were written by an early 20th century socialist.
Metroplis by Thea Von Harbeau.
Bonus if you can get the illustrated edition by Michael Kaluta:
https://a.co/d/2mH71xy
'Walt To The End Of The World' Suzy McKee Charnas. Centuries after the nuclear war, women are treated as slave/chattel because they caused the War. imho much better than 'Handmaid's Tale.'
