Best dystopian novels
Societies that went wrong on purpose. The best of these argue with each other — one state drugs you into compliance, the next one stamps on you.
Ranked by how often each title comes up across 18 reading lists on NextBook — not by our opinion of them.
1 of 12recommended on 16 listsThe Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
Children put in an arena and watched by the people who built it. The best-written book on this list and the one the rest are answering.
2 of 12recommended on 15 listsThe Giver
Lois Lowry
A boy discovers the calm community he grew up in is maintained by something monstrous. The reveal structure Maze Runner uses, in its cleanest form.
3 of 12recommended on 13 listsThe Maze Runner
James Dashner
Adults hiding the design of a world from the children inside it. The reveal instinct matches; nothing else does, and it is far more interested in running.
4 of 12recommended on 11 listsRed Queen
Victoria Aveyard
Trials, a hidden power and a betrayal you will still feel. Swaps the maze for a court, keeps the sensation of being played by everyone above you.
5 of 12recommended on 10 listsDivergent
Veronica Roth
Teenagers dropped into a testing system that will kill the ones who fail, and a heroine working out who built it. Same machinery, more character work.
6 of 12recommended on 10 listsThe Selection
Kiera Cass
Here for the sorted-society shelf rather than any real resemblance: a palace competition with romance as the point and nothing chasing anyone.
7 of 12recommended on 9 listsLegend
Marie Lu
Two fifteen-year-olds on opposite sides of a state that has been testing children for years. Tight, propulsive, and better on character than most here.
8 of 12recommended on 8 listsDelirium
Lauren Oliver
A state that operates on your brain at eighteen and a girl who runs before her date. Strong writing, but the engine here is romance, not survival.
9 of 12recommended on 8 listsMatched
Ally Condie
A controlled society and a girl who starts noticing the seams. Quiet and thoughtful, which is the opposite of what most people come to Dashner for.
10 of 12recommended on 8 listsThe 5th Wave
Rick Yancey
Post-invasion survival, a training camp for children, and a narrator who cannot tell who is lying to her. Faster and nastier than Dashner.
11 of 12recommended on 7 listsThe Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood
A regime that assigns roles, renames people and calls the result safety. Atwood writes the adult horror underneath Lowry's calm surface.
12 of 12recommended on 6 listsBrave New World
Aldous Huxley
A whole civilisation that traded depth for comfort, exactly as Jonas's community did, with the trade laid out as an argument rather than a boy's discovery.
Start from one you already loved
A genre is a blunt instrument. Pick the dystopian book you actually liked and we’ll rank the next one by what you liked about it.
- Books like The Maze RunnerJames Dashner
- Books like The GiverLois Lowry
- Books like The Hunger GamesSuzanne Collins
- Books like The SelectionKiera Cass
- Books like DivergentVeronica Roth
- Books like The Handmaid’s TaleMargaret Atwood
- Books like LegendMarie Lu
- Books like Fahrenheit 451Ray Bradbury
- Books like The Bone SeasonSamantha Shannon
- Books like Brave New WorldAldous Huxley
- Books like DeliriumLauren Oliver
- Books like MatchedAlly Condie
- Books like 1984George Orwell
- Books like The Darkest MindsAlexandra Bracken
- Books like Oryx and CrakeMargaret Atwood
- Books like Shatter MeTahereh Mafi
- Books like A Clockwork OrangeAnthony Burgess
- Books like UgliesScott Westerfeld
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