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Original poster

Can you suggest any incredible dystopian novels for me to read, pls??

217 replies

CantFindTheBeat · 09/01/2023 20:37

I'm desperate to get engrossed in a book again.

Very little seems to interest me right now.

I love dystopian novels.

Over the years, I've loved:

Handmaids Tale
Flawed
The Road
World War Z
Brave New World

Found these ok:

Vox
Station Eleven
The Chrysalids
1984
I am legend

And loads more I can't remember!

Have you read anything along these lines that you would recommend?

OP posts:
Burgerqueenbee · 10/01/2023 13:16

CantFindTheBeat · 09/01/2023 21:27

I've just given up on The Wall, @Theredjellybean

Not sure if it was the book or my lack of concentration.

Show quote history

Which one - John Lanchester or Marlen Haushofer?
Marlen Haushofer's The Wall is amazing, John Lanchester's is only average (both very different stories).

amigababy · 10/01/2023 09:57

I just finished
The Last one at the party by Bethany Clift

And can't stop thinking about it.

Siddalee · 10/01/2023 09:01

I'm not a massive fan of dystopian novels but

The Grils with all the gifts was amazing

SykesLane · 10/01/2023 08:46

The choice by Clare Wade

orangelotus · 10/01/2023 08:41

place mark

Theredjellybean · 10/01/2023 08:15

@stringbean I read the mandibles by Lionel Shriver a few yrs ago, was just thinking how it would be more "scary" reading it for the first time now given the economic and social climate.
It's a fantastic book

redpickle · 10/01/2023 07:59

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. So brilliant!

ImaginaryDragon · 09/01/2023 23:30

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Wool Trillogy
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Z For Zachariah Robert C. O'Brien

Elbo7 · 09/01/2023 23:14

I'm watching this thread keenly as I like this genre. I don't think anyones said yet the Eve of Man Trilogy (only 2 are out so far) by Tom and Giovanna fletcher (YA but I really enjoyed them as a 40 something)

Also Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift.

ODFOx · 09/01/2023 23:03

The Death of Grass is amazing.
I read it at school in the early 80s. The three classes in the year read Death of Grass, Brave New World or 1984 as our dystopian novel for UIV. It has stayed with me all these years.

MotherofPearl · 09/01/2023 22:24

CantFindTheBeat · 09/01/2023 21:28

@MotherofPearl, I feel I should read some Ursula Le guin 😂😂

Sorry OP!Blush Kept getting a message saying I'd failed to post.

unsync · 09/01/2023 22:07

Chrysalids - John Wyndham. So ahead of his time, some are rather haunting.

ecuse · 09/01/2023 22:07

I absolutely loved The Power by Naomi Alderman

PuppyMonkey · 09/01/2023 22:06

Never Let Me Go.

MeghanThyStallion · 09/01/2023 21:59

The Red Rising series is brilliantly written and very enjoyable.

CrossPurposes · 09/01/2023 21:52

Mara and Dann by Doris Lessing.

PixellatedPixie · 09/01/2023 21:52

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep…

LachrymoseLeeches · 09/01/2023 21:50

Have you read anything by octavia butler? If not then I recommend parable of the sower, or anything else she has written, it is all brilliant.

I read the death of grass, it's a great (terrifying) concept, but I didn't love the story, the attitudes are very much 'of its time'.

I second cixin liu, the maddaddam trilogy and lots of others mentioned.

Original poster
CantFindTheBeat · 09/01/2023 21:47

CrossPurposes · 09/01/2023 21:33

Those multiple replies were jolly disturbing!

Anyway, I second "Who Have Never Known Men" by Jacqueline Harpman.

Just ordered this, @CrossPurposes 🤞🤞

OP posts:
Etinoxaurus · 09/01/2023 21:44

@Heffapotamus
Definitely Girl with all the gifts! Can’t believe no one else suggested it.
God of Strange New Things is wonderful.

Binfluencer · 09/01/2023 21:42

Never let me go
The heart goes last

Heffapotamus · 09/01/2023 21:41

MR Carey - The Girl with all the Gifts and The Boy on the Bridge.

John Wyndham - I've read them all since October - so prescient. My favourite was The Chrysalids.

Your local library should have all of the above.

warmmfeet · 09/01/2023 21:39

I'm reading the school for good mothers by jessamaine chan, it's kind of like a cross between 1984 and handmaids tale so far. It's quite gripping.

StarDog · 09/01/2023 21:38

Murakami 1Q84 books ... everyone will debate whether it qualifies in this category and they aren't for everyone. Regardless, they will give your brain a new years work out!

Tratjymp · 09/01/2023 21:35

Lord of the Flies.

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