Trying to decide on the next top dystopian novel? Struggling with an elaborated dystopian literature thesis? Below is a selection of the best novels you might want to analyze.
Koushun Takami, Battle Royale(1999)
Battle Royale is among the best influential modern dystopian novels. The novel has hunger games which are among the best games ever built. The Battle Royale witnesses the commissioning of kidnapped high school kids to fight to the death on an island. Their obedience is ensured by wearing explosive collars.
John Brunner’s Stand on Zanzibar(1968)
Stand on Zanzibar is written by Hugo Award winner and focuses on overpopulation consequences. It implies that there is a huge corporation trying to overtake a fictional country in Africa management to quickest its growth. Though the book is more like born of 1960’s anxieties, it has predictions and prescient ideas.
Children of men (1992), P.D. James
In this novel, the united kingdom aristocratic nation is governed by a council and a warden that is self-appointed as humanity becomes infertile. The elderly are forced to be suicidal at 60 years since there is a burden to the country as the exploitation of the immigrants is being carried on. The story is about a struggle for reform and by a certain group with the government.
George Orwell’s nineteen eighty-four, 1949
You will feel familiar with the book immediately after commencing reading as it is based on modern culture. Winston smith is a character in the book who lives in fictitious Britain subsumed by Oceania with the perpetual war in one out of three super-states. He is lives under watch through telescreens that can view everywhere in his home by the ruling party leader who happens also to be his big brother.
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid Tale, 1985
Though the book is narrow in scope, it is very powerful. The book, through the life of a woman named Offred, shows women oppression by a government that entered into power via a coup and based fundamentalists of the religion.
Aldous Huxley’s brave new world, 1932
Utopia is the society described in the Brave New World though the illusion fades soon. In this book, Huxley foretells modification genetically which translates to psychology and reproduction ushered in the elite society with an intelligence-based social hierarchy. In this society consume soma a drug to keep them placated. People who live, reproduce and age normally outside the city are seen as savages.
John Lanchester’s The Wall, 2019
The books talk of the seas rising soon and Britain erecting walls to keep water off their land. The walls are manned by young people who are drafted to the see to be on the lookout of any threat. There is a youth-elderly disconnect and it is also about immigration and the environment.
Christian Dalcher’s Vox, 2018
this is a chilling story and has echoes of The Power by Naomi Alderman and The Handmaid Tale. Women are only limited to uttering 100 words in a day where they are shocked by a bracelet tracking their words if they exceed the limit.
Antony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, 1962
this book was written in 3 weeks only by Antony Burgess. The story revolves around Alex, a fifteen-year-old kid with his teenage gang. The book is inspired by 1960s’ Youth culture societal anxieties
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, 2006ty
the book is very captivating till the end and evolves around a beautiful Bleak. A nameless man travels through apocalyptic America with his son. They pass through a place where the traditional norms are fading so fast.
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, 1953
The book was written at a time there were concerns on the extents of McCarthyism censorship. The story revolves around a fireman called Guy Montag, who was hired to set fire on people’s possessions who were suspected to have read the outlawed books. Though eventually opened his eyes. The book predicts machines for cashing money 24 hours and also earphones
Don’t be left behind by other dystopian novel lovers. Check out the above books if you have not considered them yet. Reading is interesting especially if you have the right novel. Remember that fiction is the best reflection of our real life. Sometimes they forecast the future at the sometime showing the defects of our current life.