Dystopia can be defined as an imagined future in which a worst-case scenario is explored. It is the opposite of Utopia. Check out these great dystopian reads!
Feed by M.T. Anderson
Imagine a society dominated by the feed, an Internet/television hybrid that is directly hardwired into the brain. Titus never questions his world, in which corporations dominate the information stream. But everything changes when he and his pals travel to the moon for spring break.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss' skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place. First in a series; followed by Catching Fire and Mockingjay.
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right. Also by Doctorow: Homeland, For the Win, Pirate Cinema.
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.
Gone by Michael Grant
In a small town on the coast of California, everyone over the age of fourteen suddenly disappears, setting up a battle between the remaining town residents and the students from a local private school, as well as those who have "The Power" and are able to perform supernatural feats and those who do not. First in series.
The Declaration by Gemma Malley
In 2140 England, where drugs enable people to live forever and children are illegal, teenaged Anna, an obedient "surplus" training to become a house servant, discovers that her birth parents are trying to find her. First in a series.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses, learns a startling secret about her existence.
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. First in a series.
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
In the distant future, when cities move around consuming smaller towns, a fifteen-year-old apprentice is pushed out of London by the man he most admires and must seek answer in the perilous Out-County, aided by one girl and the memory of another. First in a series.
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Fifteen-year-old Daisy runs away to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
In a future world where those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives "unwound" and their body parts harvested for use by others, three teens go to extreme lengths to survive until they turn eighteen. First in a series.
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that? Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there. But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world-and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever. First in a series.
The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn
In the near future, Kayla finds herself running for her life when she refuses to get the mandatory bar code tattoo on her seventeenth birthday - a decision that renders her a social outcast and places her family in grave danger. First in a series.
Lotus and Thorn by Sara Wilson Etienne
Exiled from her desert community and separated from her sisters, Leica finds refuge in the Dome, where she hopes to uncover the truth behind a deadly plague and find a way home.
Flawed Cecelia Ahern
Celestine North lives a perfect life, in a society in which perfection is paramount and flaws are punished. She's a model daughter and sister, she's well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she's dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan. When she breaks a rule, she faces life-changing repercussions. She could be branded. She could be found flawed, and her life would never be the same.
Bluescreen by Dan Wells
Los Angeles in 2050 is a city of open doors, as long as you have the right connections. That connection is a djinni--a smart device implanted right in a person's head. In a world where virtually everyone is online twenty-four hours a day, this connection is like oxygen--and a world like that presents plenty of opportunities for someone who knows how to manipulate it. Marisa Carneseca is one of those people. She might spend her days in Mirador, but she lives on the net--going to school, playing games, hanging out, or doing things of more questionable legality with her friends Sahara and Anja. And it's Anja who first gets her hands on Bluescreen--a virtual drug that plugs right into a person's djinni and delivers a massive, nonchemical, completely safe high. But in this city, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and Mari and her friends soon find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy that is much bigger than they ever suspected.
The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow
The teenage princess of a future-world Canadian superpower, where royal children are held hostage to keep their countries from waging war, falls in love with an American prince who rebels against the brutal rules governing their existences. First in a series.
