Back In Your Dystopian Era? Read These!

There’s no denying that the dystopian genre has been making a comeback as of late, and we couldn’t be happier about it! 🖤

Many of our childhoods or early teen years were filled consuming stories about futuristic and apocalyptic worlds in which characters had to fight to survive across their brutal landscapes. Think The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Divergent by Veronica Roth, and The Maze Runner by James Dashner. These books and their equally popular film adaptations took the world by storm in the early 2010s, and it’s no wonder why! Despite their darkness, these stories made us rethink what we believed to be important, gave us hope in the face of destruction and adversity, and highlighted the power of found family and the strength they can give us.

But the genre didn’t start there, for there are many classics within the dystopian genre such as 1984 by George Orwell, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. These earlier tales of dystopia were all centred on political critique and making complex ideas on totalitarianism and censorship more palatable to the public at the time of their release. The trend in the 2010s still heavily featured this societal commentary, but these books were written for entertaining a younger audience as well. The stories focused more-so on the cutthroat survival of it all, turning the conflict into a bleak but bingeable adventure that also emphasised characters’ personal journeys.

And now a resurgence of dystopian novels is here, helping us process modern crises and bringing about feelings of nostalgia. Are you ready for this this new wave of dystopian fiction? Here are some of our more recently released favourites we think you will devour! 💫

⛓️ To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast

Raven Thorne is Dividium’s most notorious bounty hunter, living on the edge of society. But when her younger brother, Jed, is sentenced to Endlock, a prison where the wealthy hunt the inmates for sport, Raven will do anything to save him. Even if it means getting herself arrested.

🏙️ Coldwire by Chloe Gong

To escape rising seas and rampant epidemics, most of society lives “upcountry” in glistening virtual reality, while those who can’t afford the subscription are forced to remain in crumbling “downcountry.” But upcountry isn’t perfect, and a cold war rages between two powerful nations. Enrolling at Nile Military Academy is mandatory for Medan orphans, and though Eirale and Lia tear through Medaluo on different planes of reality, the two start to suspect they are puzzle pieces in a larger conspiracy.

🐑 Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid

Inesa lives in a half-sunken town where her family scrapes by running a taxidermy shop. When Inesa learns her cruel and indolent mother has offered her as a sacrifice in a livestreamed assassination spectacle known as the Lamb’s Gauntlet, despite her despair she thinks she has a chance at surviving the apocalyptic wastelands. But Melinoë is trained to track and kill sacrificial lambs, and she has never once failed to assassinate one of her marks.

⛈️ Storm Breaker by Nisha J. Tuli

For nineteen-year-old Poet, New Manhattan has always promised safety — if she obeys. Raised within the ruling Houses and betrothed to a powerful heir, she enters Amery Academy knowing her future has already been decided. But Amery is nothing like she imagined, and as Poet struggles to survive, she must hide the truth that could get her executed: the storms don’t fear her ― they answer back.

☀️ Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans.

🫀 Daggermouth by H. M. Wolfe

Greyson Serel has spent his life caught between two worlds. Publicly, he’s the flawless heir to the presidency. Privately, he’s entangled in secrets that could topple the regime. But when he’s forced into a political marriage meant to bind him tighter to the government’s brutal laws, he finds himself shackled to a bride as lethal as she is unwilling.