dystopian novels provide some of the most blatant cultural criticism in literature… and we love them for it. reading about oppressive government regimes, or even a giant brain that telepathically controls an entire planet, kindles the fire in our souls. and seeing citizens rebel against the status quo offers hope for the future, even if that rebellion is unsuccessful.
So if you’re looking for your new favorite dystopian novel, we’ve got you covered. We’ve rounded up hardcover editors and writers to compile a list of our favorite books in the genre, ranging from young adult contemporary sagas to classics by masters like George Orwell and Margaret Atwood. but before we go in, this is how we chose to define a dystopian book:
You are reading: Best dystopian books of all time
a work of fiction in which social and/or political forces maintain control of a population by 1) restricting the personal freedoms of individuals and 2) exercising force against those who rebel.
With that in mind, no books with a more post-apocalyptic or survival (the road) vein have been included.
The 30 books below are standout entries in the genre, each promising a compelling read for years to come. here are our picks for the best dystopian books of all time:
30. red rise from pierce brown (2014)
Red Rising, the first book in Pierce Brown’s science fiction series of the same name, introduces readers to an interstellar caste system made of nightmares. From the almighty Golds who rule the universe to the lowly Reds who work beneath the Martian surface, everyone is born with a specific role in society. When Darrow discovers the horrible truths behind his existence as a Red, he joins a plot to bring down the rule of the Golds. Brown delivers a story that is as violent as it is captivating, gradually revealing the twisted machinations of the Golds to perpetuate a dystopian society. —eric smith
29. the lathe of the sky by ursula k. the script (1971)
the lathe of the sky begins in a terrible future and hurtles towards the worst. Ursula K. le guin uses a lone protagonist, george orr, to peel back the skin of reality and question how profoundly we can determine the course of our lives. haunted by the notion that his dreams transform space and time, or abuse drugs, which has relegated him to drug shows necessary in a regimented society. Orr is inevitably referred to a therapist, who turns out to be a famous dream researcher with a machine that can better manifest the power of Orr’s dream, allowing him to irrevocably alter the already dystopian forces of the story. but the more she tries to control his life, the more his choices devastate everything he was trying to change. his destiny finally realizes that he never had much of a choice. —dom sinacola
28. lana by hugh howey (2011)
one of the great success stories of the self-publishing industry, hugh howey’s original novel was quickly followed by four more books that make up wool‘s novel-length story. the book takes place in a single giant silo, in which thousands of people live and work and take it for granted that they will never be able to get out. the story begins with a sheriff investigating the mystery of his wife’s death and expands until the more existential mysteries are fully revealed. Like all great dystopian works, Howey infuses his story with the same questions that haunt us today: How do we balance safety and freedom? How do we respond to an authority that does not take into account the interests of its people? What will we risk in the search for the truth? and howey is a master of slow revelation, with each book peeling back the shrouds of a people who have lost their own history. —josh jackson
27. snow crash by neal stephenson (1992)
in snow crash, neal stephenson imagines technology pushing us forward as a function of excavating the past, where the keys to reshaping the future lie buried in the roots of language: think of the Babel Tower. of course, stephenson’s future involves an anarcho-capitalist hell united by greed and a kind of internet 2.0, the metaverse, through which anyone who is poor, lacks technological acumen, or is an immigrant is doomed to lurch toward a senseless death. stephenson stacks its plot with car chases and sword fights and other adventures on the high seas, but at its heart, Snow Crash is a broad exploration of the class and technology, more specifically, how the technology will fail to empower those who need it most. —dom sinacola
26. oryx and crake by margaret atwood (2003)
a more traditional dystopian world unfolds in the next two maddaddam sequels, but oryx and crake, margaret atwood’s post-millennial meditation on religion and science, had six years to spin in the imagination of readers before. the next book hit the shelves. It’s six years of pondering the mystery of creation, six years of discussing religious controversies, six years of jumping uneasily at the news of every scientific advance in the field of genetic modification or cloning or bioengineering. More an examination of our actual dystopian social order than a piece of speculative fiction, oryx and crake highlights atwood’s skepticism about society’s ability to make compassionate collective decisions. The novel offers a solid meditation on the god complex embedded in science, exploring the arrogant weirdness and utter desolation on which creation myths are built. —alexis gunderson
25. we by yevgeny zamyatin (completed 1921)
we was originally written in Russian, but its dystopian vision of human nature under the rule of cold logic is as resonant to an English-reading audience in 2018 as it was to readers in English. the sovietic Union. nearly 100 years ago. us follows d-503, a rule-abiding man whose life changes when he meets an energetic woman, a woman who has not yet been assigned to a procreative partner mandated by society. she presents a freer way of life that includes passion and an anarchic underground group that seeks to antagonize society, but d-503 wonders if love is too unpredictable a human weakness to be left untamed. As an artefact of hope that societies teetering on the brink of dystopia might find a way to return to safety, us (and its cynical ending) is an ultimate failure. but as a thread that connects humanity across generations struggling to find answers in the face of hopelessness, it’s a smash hit. —alexis gunderson
24. a dark scanner by philip k. cock (1977)
written as a hyperfictional account of the decline of philip k. dick witnessed the drug culture of the 60s and 70s in los angeles, a dark scanner presents a glimpse of the mid-90s, when the war on drugs had to adapt to its growing illogical. Wearing tech suits that “scramble” their identities when they’re not pretending to be drug dealers or low-level addicts, the undercover officers lose control of who they are and what they’re supposed to be doing, consumed by the life and addiction they were apparently struggling. at the mercy of the substance d. As is often the case in Dick’s novels, substance abuse makes it increasingly difficult for our protagonist, undercover officer Bob Arctor, to discern which of his two lives is really the right one. though the novel worked for dick as a eulogy for the many friends and loved ones he lost to drugs, a dark scan ends on a note of oppression far beyond the scope of the crisis of self of archer. if war is big business, then no one knows that better than those who continue to do it with drugs. —dom sinacola
23. the city of coals by jeanne duprau (2003)
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Not all dystopias include puzzles and ancient handwritten instructions for escape that amount to a treasure map, but not all dystopias are the city of embers. A middle-grade classic about a community that has lived for many generations in literal darkness, Jeanne du Prau’s novel begins when the group’s stash of canned food and light bulbs is running low. the city of coals is a fun read on its own merits, but it stands out as a dystopian example by taking the trappings of the genre: a society that pretends to be some kind of ideal and goes to extremes. extreme lengths to maintain their control over the populace, and frame them in a way that, while harrowing enough, doesn’t exclude children from participating in the existential discussions that inspire dystopian stories. Fair warning: It packs quite a game-changing cliffhanger, so make sure you have all three sequels ready to go by the time City of Embers ends. —alexis gunderson
22. american war of omar el akkad (2017)
omar el akkad’s novel imagines a future a few decades from now, one in which the us. uu. is divided by a second civil war. Opening with protagonist sarat chestnut’s tumultuous childhood as the fighting intensifies, american war explores how divisive ideology and local extremism become a destructive cancer in society. And the most terrifying thing about El Akkad’s novel is that it describes a future that could be ours. If hate continues to gain political influence and citizens continue to use weapons against citizens, the reality of sarat could be more than just a disturbing story. The genius of El Akkad’s prose is that it can be read as both a thrilling dystopian novel and a sobering examination of American society. -frannie jackson
21. the hunger games by suzanne collins (2008)
The dystopian novel that launched a bestselling trilogy and an epic film franchise, The Hunger Games is an action-packed journey set in a brutal and totalitarian future. Suzanne Collins’ novel takes readers to Panem, a new nation founded among the ruins of North America and boasting a wealthy Capitol ruled by the One Percent. In a sadistic form of population control, the Capitol broadcasts a live reality competition in which teenagers fight to the death for the entertainment of the elite and the horror of the citizens every year. And when a 16-year-old named Katniss watches as her sister is selected for the event, she volunteers to take her place. The result has devastating consequences, with Katniss’ bravery leading the country into rebellion. —eric smith
20. an ember in the ashes by sabaa tahir (2015)
Young adult science fiction and fantasy novels have triumphed on the complex dystopian front for years. an embers in the ashes by sabaa tahir, which follows three characters in a brutal dystopian society that resembles ancient rome, is one of the recent standouts. The emotional complexity of the starkly different worlds of Laia, Elias, and Helene is impressive, and while their tribulations continue throughout Tahir’s series, the trials they face in the first volume are morally compelling and deeply engaging as a stand-alone read, even if the ending will leave you hungry for more. —alexis gunderson
19. a clockwork orange by anthony burgess (1962)
the main character of a clockwork orange (“protagonist” could be exaggeration) is alex, a young delinquent with a fetish for violence and classical music, who leads a gang of “droogs” in a spate of terror throughout England. bullying and assault are fair game as kids drink milk laced with drugs and go to work. When the droogs escalate his attacks, Alex ends up with a lengthy prison sentence, where he finds solace in reading the bible, not because of its moral messages, but because of its violent scenes, and undergoes a controversial form of aversion therapy. there are actually two versions of a clockwork orange; In the original British edition, Alex is “cured” of his penchant for violence and makes an eventual good-faith attempt to reform his ways. The novel’s American publisher found that ending implausible and insisted that the book conclude with the previous, darker chapter (from which Stanley Kubrick took the conclusion of his film in the iconic adaptation). That America would not accept a character giving up his violent ways says all that needs to be said about the enduring popularity and relevance of A Clockwork Orange. —steve foxe
18. the man in the high castle by philip k. cock (1962)
what makes the man in the high castle so disturbing is that it could have happened. Philip K. Dick’s alternate history novel imagines a world in which Nazi Germany and Japan were the victors in World War II, leading to the United States being divided and ruled by the two empires. the novel begins 15 years later, chronicling American life under totalitarian rule. dick includes fantasy elements, of course, including a novel within the novel depicting an alternate universe in which the allies won the war. the genius of high castle is that the golden alternative universe, so similar to ours, is not a utopia. the allied powers conquer, racism continues to reign and life is better for some and worse for others. the result is a sobering reminder that everything comes at a cost, even on a more enticing timeline. —frannie jackson
17. all these things i’ve done by gabrielle zevin (2011)
Gabrielle Zevin is an expert at conducting mundane thought experiments: what if a teenager who had everything had amnesia? what if death meant living your years backwards until you returned to the world as a baby? and turn them into something special. but she “what if our near-future world criminalized chocolate and coffee?” the young adult trilogy, which begins with all these things i’ve done, is a dystopian standout. it shows how devastating even the most mundane changes in a culture can be. And by telling the story from the perspective of a retired woman who delighted readers with her teenage exploits, she demonstrates how everything comes and goes, even misguided totalitarian policies. you just have to turn back when the tide comes in. —alexis gunderson
16. do androids dream of electric sheep? by philip k. cock (1968)
the plot behind philip k. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is the stuff of public consciousness, with Ridley Scott’s neo-noir adaptation stripped of Dick’s thorniest existential conundrums. Although blade runner questions the organic basis of what makes us human, dick’s book digs deeper, imagining at the center of a dystopian future not a blurred line between what is “real” and what is synthetic, but a functional disintegration of the principles of empathy: the breakdown of the only human ability that allows society to persevere. In Dick’s novel, androids are discovered through a test that explicitly measures empathy, while humans try to buy expensive, ultra-rare organic animals to boost their empathic responses or rally around a cult figure who preaches a system. belief related to practice. empathy. Do androids dream of electric sheep?, then, it’s about embracing such empathy in a post-apocalyptic world, imagining the lush inner worlds of fake people to preserve the humanity of the real ones. —dom sinacola
15. infinite joke by david foster wallace (1996)
The future that infinity joke describes may still be ours, or it may be a year that has already passed, since 12-month periods are no longer recorded numerically but are sponsored by corporations. North America has been consolidated under a privatized government, made up of a network of companies with their own acronyms: ONAN (because author David Foster Wallace goes to great lengths to make a joke of idiots). Meanwhile, a pack of monstrous hamsters roams the vast irradiated portion of what used to be the northeastern United States. uu. and southeastern Canada, as well as Quebec separatists plot ways to commit major acts of terrorism, involving mythological entertainment, run by the founder of a tennis academy, who kills anyone who sees it. Wallace doesn’t explain as much as he occasionally points this out, unable to shake off one incomprehensibly long tangent after another. Its sprawling cast of characters, mostly set in suburban Boston, never makes any reference to the apocalyptic chaos that has long unfolded around them: the aforementioned tennis academy and a nearby rehab center witness a cliffhanger. and an epic tragedy similar to hamlet. they’re just trying to survive the utter heartbreaking absurdity of what their future has become. —dom sinacola
14. the rope girl by paolo bacigalupi (2009)
paolo bacigalupi’s groundbreaking biopunk novel won locus, hugo and nebula awards upon its release, and its global warming-induced catastrophes seem more compelling in the decade since. In the ravaged 23rd century of The Windup Girl, only Thailand maintains a genetically viable seed crop, with the rest of the world scrambling over genetically modified products controlled by a handful of massive ill-intentioned corporations. the “rope” part of the title refers to the coiled spring energy storage system popular in this world without combustion engines, and specifically to emiko robotics, a Japanese “rope girl” who inadvertently becomes makes him a key player in thailand’s political turmoil. bacigalupi excels not only at building its elaborate and hungry world full of “bent springs,” but at humanizing everyone from the company man’s hardened protagonist to the titular automaton. —steve foxe
13. cloud atlas by david mitchell (2004)
David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas is a formal masterpiece, a book whose structure is an essential part of its story. a kind of mirror-plated Chinese box, the structure of the story is inspired by Italo Calvino’s if on a winter’s night a traveler, which contains several interrupted narratives in a nested sequence, each connected to the next by a single character from the previous story. a 19th-century American lawyer meets Maori and missionaries in England; a young British composer in the 1930s convinces a dying luminary to make him his amanuensis; the lover of the young composer ends up being a nuclear scientist in the 70s in california; a journalist with a target on her back; a vanity editor; a slave to a dystopian future korea. The center of the novel is the most identifiably “dystopian” narrative, set in post-apocalyptic Hawaii at an unspecified point in the future. The common thread running through this book is the structural implication that the dystopian future has already been set in motion by events of the present and the past. multi-point-of-view narratives can be difficult to maintain, even when all the characters are in the same story; achieving that with six separate, loosely connected narratives is almost a magic trick. Mitchell’s novel is a structural tour de force and possibly one of the most intriguing books of the 21st century (so far). -amy glynn
12. never let me go by kazuo ishiguro (2005)
Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro plays a litany of tricks on his readers with Never Let Me Go, most notably introducing a dystopian sci-fi premise in this literary meditation on mortality. The protagonist Kathy is a “caretaker,” and we gradually learn that caretakers help ease the last days of donors: clones bred to be harvested for their organs. much of never let me go follows kathy’s memories of hailsham, the boarding school where she grew up alongside her classmates tommy and ruth, and every revelation about hailsham and the young clones’ place in the world is more heartbreaking. than the last. Although the word “clone” brings to mind a far more flashy “hard” sci-fi, Ishiguro wastes no ink trying to explain the genetics of it all. never let me go is a melancholic coming-of-age story with a cast destined from birth never to see old age, and its all-too-familiar dystopia: a world in which certain classes live well , and others are effectively doomed. —steve foxe
11. the giver by lois lowry (1993)
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chances are you first read the giver in school. Lois Lowry’s Newbery Award-winning novel finds its way into classrooms frequently, and for good reason. Set in what appears to be a utopia, the novel features a young man named Jonas who lives in a pain-free society. the world is based on conformity and satisfaction, at the price of emotion. So when Jonas is selected to be the next Memory Receiver and is presented with secrets from the past, he finds himself questioning the world around him. the giver asks big questions about what people are willing to sacrifice to feel safe: would you give up all feeling for a life without crime and disease? And what is the value of your individuality? —eric smith
10. neuromantic by william gibson (1984)
neuromancer did not invent cyberpunk: writer bruce bethke coined the term in 1982, and its central themes had previously appeared, bit by bit, in the tale itself. william gibson: But he remains the definitive, eerily prescient exemplar of the movement. As glossed by Webster’s New World Dictionary of Computer Terms, the environment of cyberpunk is one of “artificial intelligences, monopoly capitalism, and a world culture as ethnically eclectic as it is politically apathetic and alienated.” Gibson’s vulgar prose and inveterate protagonist, a failed hacker named Case, paint this exhaustion with prophetic conviction. Through a series of intricate crimes, Case and his cronies, a cyborg and a thief, reach the end of the novel, which involves two Ais (named Wintermute and Neuromancer) in search of inconceivable power. in this, george orwell’s 1984 has nothing to do with gibson: then and now, the many truths of neuromancer are far more chilling than its fictions. —matt brennan
9. slaughterhouse-five by kurt vonnegut (1969)
Despite protagonist Billy Peregrine’s abduction by aliens and subsequent time travel, slaughterhouse-five boasts one of the more mundane dystopian worlds on this list. And that’s where Kurt vonnegut’s novel is terrifying. Writing about the trivial and horrible realities of war, and chronicling the trivial and horrible ramifications for decades after “peace” is declared, vonnegut reveals that it impacts every facet of daily life. the pilgrim may be unstuck from time, but the slaughterhouse-five governments are the ones caught in a cycle of reliving the past without learning anything from their mistakes. the fact that the governments perpetuating the pilgrims’ dystopian nightmare so closely mirror our own should scare us. —frannie jackson
8. the beauties by dhonielle clayton (2018)
It’s audacious to include the first book in an unfinished series on a “best of” list. But dhonielle clayton’s novel in which beauty has been literally weaponized—both as an indicator of wealth and an instrument of power—is such an accurate reflection of the toxicity of capitalist patriarchy that it would be dishonest to exclude it as new. set in a world ravaged by natural beauty: all humans are doomed to live with wrinkled gray skin, disheveled hair, and red eyes unless they can pay a talented beauty to change their situation: the belles reveals a dystopia that is more alluring, more feminine, and more brutally fragile than any that has come before. Its young protagonist, Belle Camellia Beauregard, is the perfect tour guide through this brutality, poised between being a wide-eyed Pollyanna in awe of life beyond the walls of her sheltered upbringing and a sharp-eyed judge of the moral hypocrisy that harbors its sugar-coated world. The time spent observing the broken world of Orleans through her empathetic eyes, laying the groundwork for the society-shattering fireworks threatened by the sequel, is well worth every second. —alexis gunderson
7. a wrinkle in time by madeleine l’engle (1962)
madeleine l’engle’s classic young adult novel won the newberry award among many others, and it’s hard to believe such an enduring classic was rejected 25-40 times (versions vary). apparently no one wanted a science fiction book with a female lead and/or the book was too controversial, because it introduced children to the notion of “evil”. l’engle was, in any case, a refreshing example of someone who could speak quantum physics and religious mythography simultaneously and accessible (a gift still possessed by few). the clear and obvious dystopian landscape of a fold in time is the planet camazotz, to which the protagonist meg murray travels through space-time to rescue her father, and later her genius brother, from “it”, a giant pulsating brain that controls the minds of everyone within its reach. This overtly dystopian world finds a mirror image in plain old human adolescence, and long before Meg arrives on an evil alien planet Stepford, she is confronted with the inner dystopia of adolescence, the overwhelming need for both conformity and individuation. . —amy glynn
6. v for vendetta by alan moore and david lloyd (1988-1989)
of all the humiliations that alan moore has suffered throughout his long career, the proliferation of the guy fawkes mask among the anonymous sects of internet users is certainly one of the first on the list. Worse, however, is how increasingly feasible the plot of v for vendetta, his iconic comic book series created with artist david lloyd, has become in recent years. Following a nuclear conflict in the late 1980s, a fascist political party has taken control of England, throwing anyone who opposes their agenda into concentration camps, if not executing them outright. this is the fate the entire world has in store for her when she is caught claiming her body, until a masked figure saves her from her would-be assassins and summarily detonates a mass of explosives beneath the parliament building, the first in a series of acts. radicals destined to inspire an anarchist streak in the beleaguered population of england. Over the course of the series, readers learn that V, the masked vigilante, was spurred into action by his experience in one of the concentration camps. but as he later states in one of the most quoted passages in the story, he can’t be killed, because he’s just an idea, and “ideas are bulletproof.” The dystopian England of Moore and Lloyd may seem surprisingly possible in the age of the far right, but there is a glimmer of hope in the idea that any of us can become part of the resistance. —steve foxe
5. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
Even before its adaptation into an emmy-winning television series, The Handmaid’s Tale needed no introduction: Gilead, the theocratic regime that overthrows the us. uu. government after environmental degradation renders much of the population infertile, is the ideal vehicle for margaret atwood’s interest in both historical (alias grace) and speculative (oryx and crack). As told by Offred, who is forced to live with the Commander and his wife and participate in “the ceremony”—a ritualized rape—at the height of her menstrual cycle, The Handmaid’s Tale it is as much a reminder of what societies already do to women as it is a warning about what they could do. As Atwood has repeatedly said over the years, every mistreatment, restraint, or torture has a real-world precedent. the dystopia of the novel is ours. : matt brennan
4. animal farm by george orwell (1945)
Not all classics deserve continued inclusion in the canon, but George Orwell’s Animal Farm, one of the seminal dystopian narratives of the 20th century, continues to offer lasting meaning. scathingly cynical, the farm-based sociopolitical allegory is so unequivocal in its satirical vision of the closed circle that is the specter between idealism and totalitarianism that it’s easy to dismiss it as too easy. And yet we continue, as collective social groups around the world, to ignore Orwell’s lessons. There’s a reason this book is a mainstay in the high school English curriculum; we just need to find a way to make that first reading stick. —alexis gunderson
3. brave new world by aldous huxley (1932)
Predating george orwell’s 1984 and in some ways proving even more prescient, aldous huxley’s vicious destruction of utopia demonstrates that the most brutal deaths can come from the softer touch. Depicting a science-driven society that has been stripped of the emotional resonance of birth and death in the name of comfort and happiness, brave new world reveals a world that has been anesthetized rather than brutalized . The result is that his bottle-grown casts and soothing supply of soma are impossible to ignore in the age of distraction and income inequality. the source of modern technocracy is now silicon valley, not detroit, but compass direction matters less than rate of turn, north, northwest, west, southwest, south… —b. david zarley
2. 1984 by george orwell (1949)
When we say that something is Orwellian, what we really mean is that it exhibits the authoritarian specter of the big brother of 1984. George Orwell’s older brother, the ruling party of all dystopian novels, maintains a society so oppressive that the hopeful appendage of him is never remembered. and it is even more so because of the sheer terror that comes from seeing his ideas, in various iterations, around us. the nsa, the war on terrorism, the rise of fake news as a concept in capital letters; the world is seemingly more Orwellian by the day, more horrible than any alien invasion, nuclear wasteland, or supernatural disaster. we are reminded of nineteen eighty-four every time the clock strikes thirteen for us. —b. david zarley
1. fahrenheit 451 by ray bradbury (1953)
a book about burning books. powerful words about the power of the written word. In 1953, Ray Bradbury gave the world a chilling glimpse of a possible future based too deeply on the truths of the past and present: the bonfires of the vanities throughout history that led to the Nazi book burnings just a decade before and the senate juvenile delinquency subcommittee that came close to launching an attack on comics. Stories help us see the world differently, and that’s what they do for Bradbury’s unlikely protagonist, Guy Montag, whose job it is, as a firefighter, to burn books. stories and characters, people, like clarisse mcclellan, can change you simply through the questions they ask you or make you ask yourself.
dystopian fiction can serve as a warning: be careful or this is where we are headed. and fahrenheit 451 is certainly a warning. but it’s also a reminder of the power of words, that we need to be teased from time to time, and that the most powerful word is “why?” And if Bradbury’s vision for the future was a dark one in which violence and empty entertainment drowned out everything that made us human, there’s optimism in it all. even in the face of totalitarianism, humanity will find a way to rise from the ashes and perhaps make things right. —josh jackson
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