11 of the best dystopian novels everyone should read | WIRED UK

The best dystopian books, as chosen by our readers

The 22 Best Dystopian Novels and Series to Read in 2021

23 of the best dystopian novels of all time - Pan Macmillan

38 Best Dystopian Novels of All Time

Winston Smith, a minor functionary for the government, lives in a dystopian society where the ruling Party, led by Big Brother, scrutinizes every aspect of people's lives, even their thoughts, through omnipresent surveillance technology. The Party orchestrates a linguistic purge, introducing Newspeak, a language designed to obliterate any words or ideas that could provoke opposition to its rule. Winston, growing increasingly dissatisfied with the Party's oppressive control, procures a forbidden diary to record his subversive thoughts. He also becomes intrigued by O’Brien, a high-ranking Party official whom he suspects to be part of the legendary Brotherhood, an underground organization bent on toppling the Party.

Working at the Ministry of Truth, Winston manipulates past records to align with the Party's current narrative. His fear of detection intensifies when he notices a female colleague, Julia, observing him closely. Despite the Party's historical revisionism, Winston can vaguely remember a past that contradicts the official narrative. Meanwhile, he explores impoverished areas, where the proletariat, or 'proles', live relatively unmonitored lives. His relationship with Julia evolves from paranoia to romance after receiving a love note from her. They clandestinely meet in a rented room in the prole district, where Winston’s contempt for the Party intensifies, while he also awaits a potential meeting with O'Brien.

Their anticipated meeting with O’Brien takes place in his lavish apartment, where he lives a life of privilege as part of the Inner Party. O’Brien admits his own hatred for the Party and confirms his participation in the Brotherhood, subsequently initiating Winston and Julia. O'Brien provides Winston with a forbidden book containing the Brotherhood's ideology. However, their rebellion comes to a sudden halt as they are arrested by the Thought Police; O'Brien is revealed to be a loyal Party member and their landlord, Mr. Charrington, a Thought Police agent. Imprisoned and tortured in the ironically named Ministry of Love, Winston endures psychological manipulation aimed to eradicate his rebellious thoughts. Ultimately, his resistance crumbles in Room 101, where he is tormented with his greatest fear, rats, and betrays Julia. Broken, Winston is released; he encounters Julia but feels nothing. In the end, Winston has fully succumbed to the Party's indoctrination, even proclaiming love for Big Brother.

1984

At the outset, we are introduced to a future society based in what used to be London, where human embryos are mass-produced and conditioned for specific roles in a strictly hierarchical society. This society is divided into castes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon; with Alphas being the intellectual elites and Epsilons the manual laborers. Two employees, Lenina Crowne and Henry Foster, serve as our immediate introduction to this world. However, Lenina becomes drawn to the unconventional Bernard Marx, and agrees to accompany him to a “Savage Reservation” in New Mexico, despite her friend Fanny's disapproval. Meanwhile, Bernard grapples with his dissatisfaction with the system, feeling out of place due to his physical inadequacies.

Upon reaching the Savage Reservation, Lenina and Bernard encounter aging and disease, both of which have been eradicated in their society. They also meet John, a fair-skinned young man who has been raised in isolation due to his mother's, Linda, sexual promiscuity. John tells them of his upbringing, how he learned to read from an embryology manual and Shakespeare's works, and expresses his desire to see the world his mother had described to him. Despite the shock and disgust Lenina feels for the Reservation, Bernard secures permission to bring John and Linda back to London. Back home, Bernard escapes banishment due to the Director's shame at being revealed as John’s father. John quickly becomes a curiosity for London's high society, but is increasingly disturbed by their lifestyle and values, leading to conflict and confusion between him and Lenina.

As John's disillusionment grows, he finds camaraderie with Bernard's friend, Helmholtz, who also feels at odds with his society. Meanwhile, Lenina's infatuation with John escalates, leading her to attempt to seduce him, only to be met with rejection and confusion. As John navigates this unfamiliar world, he is confronted with the death of his mother and the disturbing behaviors of the society, resulting in him inciting a riot. The riot sees him, Bernard, and Helmholtz arrested and tried by Mustapha Mond, one of society's ten World Controllers. They debate the merits of their society, leading to Bernard and Helmholtz’s exile. John, however, rejected the option to leave and sought isolation in a lighthouse. Yet, his attempt at solitude was foiled by the intrusive society culminating in a frenzied orgy where Lenina is present. Overwhelmed by guilt and frustration, John ends his life the following morning.

Brave New World

Un Mundo Feliz

El Cuento de la Criada, Libro 1

Offred is a Handmaid living in a totalitarian regime, succeeding the United States. Handmaids are women assigned to bear children for elite couples with fertility issues. Offred's duty is to the Commander and his wife, Serena Joy, a previously renowned gospel singer. The Commander conducts a monthly ritual of attempting to impregnate Offred. Women's freedom in this society is heavily curtailed - they can only leave their houses for errands, their rooms cannot be fully enclosed, and a secret police force monitors their every move.

Offred often reverts to her past, revealing her previous life. She once had an affair with a man named Luke, who divorced his wife to marry her. They had a child together. A dramatic increase in violence against women, coupled with the prevalence of pornography and declining fertility rates due to pollution and chemical spills, led to a military coup. The new regime stripped women of their rights, leading to Offred and Luke attempting to flee with their daughter to Canada. They were separated, and Offred hasn't seen her family since. She was then sent to a re-education center to prepare her for her role as a Handmaid. 

Once assigned to the Commander's house, Offred's life becomes monotonous. Her routine is disturbed when her doctor offers to impregnate her, claiming the Commander might be sterile. She refuses, fearing the consequences. She later starts visiting the Commander in secret, playing forbidden games like Scrabble. Meanwhile, her shopping partner, Ofglen, reveals herself as a member of an underground rebellion. After Offred fails to conceive, Serena suggests she sleeps with their driver, Nick. Offred reluctantly agrees, leading to a clandestine affair. However, her quiet life is upended when she is rescued by members of the rebellion, leaving her uncertain about her future. The narrative concludes in 2195, with a lecture discussing Offred's story, which was found on cassette tapes, suggesting she may have escaped or been recaptured.

The Handmaid's Tale

El cuento de la criada

A man and his child trek towards the southern sea in hopes of finding a hospitable environment for survival. The planet has been devastated by a catastrophic event that occurred shortly before the child was born, which resulted in the annihilation of human civilization and the planet's life-sustaining ecosystems. As a result, the child has never witnessed natural life or celestial bodies, and both he and his father must wear masks to shield themselves from the omnipresent ash particles that linger in the air from the disaster.

The duo shares a profound love and sense of duty to each other, as survival depends on their relentless journey down the road as they scavenge for necessary resources from the remnants of the world that once was. Along their journey through the bleak and frigid landscape, they encounter the full range of human behaviors, some heartening and others deeply disturbing. They strive to keep alive the memories and values of a time long gone, in a world where the past and future have been wiped out in a singular cataclysmic event.

Their story begins with them navigating through mountainous terrain, their possessions carried in a shopping cart which includes basics such as food, survival tools, and a few toys for distraction. As they attempt to eke out a living from the left overs of civilization, other survivors have descended into utter savagery, resorting to cannibalism in a world devoid of agriculture, animals, and modern technology. The pair constantly remain on guard against such vicious marauders, with the father keeping the final two bullets in his gun for their own use if necessary. Despite the constant fear and hunger, they stumble upon caches of provisions left behind by those who once hoped for a future, offering temporary respite. The son's quick maturity comes with a strong conscience, and his empathetic and compassionate nature remains untouched despite the harsh realities of their world. 

Ultimately, they reach the coast but the relentless journey has taken a toll on the father's health. He breaks his promise to his son by dying, leaving him alone in the world. He reassures his son before dying that he will find goodness even in his absence. After spending three days mourning his father's death, the boy is approached by a stranger, who offers him a place in his family. After a thorough interrogation regarding their ethics, the boy decides to join them, marking a new chapter in his survival journey.

The Road

La Carretera

A Novel

Una Novela

Guy Montag is a fireman in a dystopian society who lights fires rather than extinguishing them. In this society, books are burned and individual thinking is discouraged, replaced by high-speed driving, excessive television consumption, and constant radio engagement. His life is challenged when he meets Clarisse McClellan, a teenager who questions the system and prompts him to do the same. Following disturbing events, including his wife, Mildred's suicide attempt, an old woman choosing to die with her books rather than see them burned, and Clarisse’s sudden death, Montag starts questioning his life and begins secretly reading stolen books.

When Montag refuses to go to work, his boss, Beatty, visits him, explaining that it's normal for a fireman to question the value of books, and describes how books came to be banned. According to Beatty, books became homogenized due to public pressure to avoid offending anyone, and eventually, society decided to burn books to prevent dissenting opinions. Montag, however, ignores Beatty’s advice and seeks help from Faber, a retired English professor who agrees to help him read and understand books. Together, they devise a dangerous plan to subvert the status quo by reproducing books and planting them in firemen's houses to discredit the profession and dismantle censorship.

Montag’s rebellion is discovered when his wife's friends report him after he reads a poem to them. When he hands over a book to Beatty, the fire chief uses the occasion to challenge him with contradictory quotes from the literature, highlighting its apparent uselessness and dangerous complexity. Montag is then forced to burn his own house down, arrested, and betrayed by his own wife. When Beatty continues to taunt him, Montag kills him with a flamethrower, escapes the clutches of a Mechanical Hound sent to capture him, and plants books in another fireman's house. He then goes to Faber's house, and learns that a new Hound is on his trail. Faber plans to leave for St. Louis to meet a retired printer who could potentially help them. Montag manages to escape the city and finds a community of outlaw intellectuals, who memorize books in the hopes of rebuilding society after a war. They welcome Montag, and he takes on the task of memorizing the Book of Ecclesiastes. As enemy jets destroy the city, Montag and his newfound friends move on, ready to search for survivors and rebuild civilization.

Fahrenheit 451

A Clockwork Orange

La Naranja Mecánica

The world is devastated by a lethal flu pandemic known as "the collapse", wiping out a significant portion of the global population. This catastrophic event sets the backdrop for the intertwining stories of several characters, encompassing their lives before the outbreak and the subsequent two decades. The narrative frequently alters its temporal setting and focuses on different characters in each segment. 

Arthur Leander, a native of a Canadian island, moves to Toronto in pursuit of a thrilling life and becomes a renowned actor. His life intertwines with Miranda Carroll, another islander, and Clark Thompson, his best friend. After Arthur's marriage to Miranda disintegrates due to his infidelity, his life takes several turns that include a second marriage, a son, a third marriage, and a heart attack whilst performing on stage. Miranda, Arthur's ex-wife, pours her heart into a comic book, Dr. Eleven, and Jeevan Chaudhary, a paparazzo turned journalist, forms a bond with Arthur. After Arthur's sudden death, Jeevan devotes his life to help others as a paramedic. He is one of the first to learn about the arrival of the deadly Georgia Flu in North America. 

In the post-collapse world, survivors grapple with their new reality. Arthur's ex-wife Elizabeth, their son Tyler, and Clark are stranded at an airport when the flu strikes, and over time, Clark establishes a Museum of Civilization within the confines of the airport. Jeevan finds refuge in a settlement called McKinley and starts a family. Kirsten, a child actress who had worked with Arthur, becomes part of the Traveling Symphony, an orchestra performing Shakespearean plays. The group has to confront a religious fanatic known as the Prophet while trying to escape a town. In a twist, the Prophet is revealed to be Tyler, Arthur's son. After the Prophet's death, the surviving members of the Symphony find solace at the airport museum. They discover a glimmer of hope for the future when they spot a town with electricity in the distance.

Station Eleven

Estación Once

The Power

El Poder

The Hunger Games, Book 1

Los Juegos del Hambre, Libro 1

On the day of the drafting, where competitors are selected to participate in a lethal contest, teenager Katniss Everdeen awakens with her mother and younger sister, Prim, nearby. Her father had perished years prior in a mining accident. She spends her morning hunting in the surrounding forest with her best friend, Gale. That evening, during the drafting ceremony, the mayor recounts the story of how the existing governments of North America crumbled, paving the way for the rise of Panem. Following a brutal war between the Capitol and the districts, the Capitol emerged victorious. As a cruel reminder of their power, the Capitol hosts a deadly competition each year. The mayor then introduces the drunken Haymitch Abernathy, the sole survivor from their district who won the competition in the past. 

Shockingly, Prim is chosen as the female competitor, but Katniss immediately offers herself as a substitute. The male competitor chosen is Peeta Mellark, who Katniss remembers as the boy who once gave her bread from his family's bakery when she was starving. After bidding farewell to their loved ones, Katniss and Peeta depart for the Capitol, persuading their mentor Haymitch, a former winner responsible for procuring gifts from sponsors, to take his duties seriously. Once there, they meet their stylist, Cinna, and stun the audience at the opening ceremony with their fiery black outfits. Following group training and an interview where Peeta confesses his long-time crush on Katniss, they are thrust into the competition.

Katniss spends her first day hiding and avoiding confrontation, as advised by Haymitch. When she discovers Peeta has aligned himself with a dangerous group of competitors, she is shocked and confused. With the aid of a new ally, Rue, she manages to destroy the group's supplies, which leads to Rue's death. A rule change allows two competitors from the same district to be declared winners, which brightens Katniss's spirits as she finds a severely injured Peeta and nurses him back to health. As the competition heats up, they play up their romance for the audience and manage to outsmart the remaining competitors to be the last two standing. Just as they're about to be crowned winners, the rules change once again, stating there can only be one winner. Rather than kill each other, they decide to commit suicide by eating poisonous berries. This forces the game makers to proclaim them both winners. After the competition, they return to their district. However, Katniss's defiance of the Capitol puts her in danger and she must convince everyone that her actions were driven by love and desperation rather than rebellion.

The Hunger Games

Los Juegos del Hambre

In a dystopian Los Angeles of 2024, 15-year-old African American girl named Lauren Olamina exists in a walled-off neighborhood, insulated from the neighboring perils of poverty-stricken masses and fire-setting drug addicts. Raised by a Baptist pastor father and educator stepmother, Lauren is distinguished by her hyperempathy, a condition resulting from her biological mother's drug abuse that causes her to vicariously experience others' feelings. Lauren's skepticism towards established religions sparks the conception of her own belief system, Earthseed, which she records in her journal and which posits God as an entity of change, unable to be resisted but susceptible to influence.

Among Lauren's four younger brothers, her stepmother's favored child, Keith, mirrors Lauren's religious skepticism but differs in his reckless pursuit of independence. He abandons home at 13, existing as a successful street thug and sporadically providing his family with cash before eventually being tortured and killed, his identifiable face left as a grim testament to his chosen path. Shortly after, Lauren's father mysteriously vanishes and his fate remains unknown. The subsequent summer, an onslaught by pyro addicts decimates their neighborhood, but Lauren, white friend Harry, and Zahra -- the youngest wife of a local polygamist -- manage to escape to the coast before heading northward.

The trio, with Lauren disguised as a man for safety, gradually amasses a diverse group of survivors during their journey, including a doctor of similar age to Lauren's father. Despite the looming threats of pyro addicts, an earthquake, and firestorm, Lauren shares her Earthseed ideology with the group, envisioning it as a future interplanetary belief system but aiming to establish an initial community on Earth. Bankole, the doctor, becomes Lauren's partner and provides land for the new Earthseed community, despite not subscribing to the belief system himself. The group eventually reaches the land, only to discover that Bankole's family had fallen victim to violence. Undeterred, they decide to build their Earthseed community on this land, naming it Acorn after holding a commemorative service for their lost loved ones.

Parable of the Sower

Parábola del Sembrador

An award-winning pig, Old Major, gathers his fellow farm animals for an assembly where he shares his dream of a world where all animals coexist without human oppression. After his death, three younger pigs - Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer - articulate his ideas into a philosophy named Animalism. Through a successful revolt, they oust the human farmer, Mr. Jones, from the property, now renamed as the Animal Farm. With new found passion for the cause, Boxer, the horse, dedicates his strength for the farm's prosperity, vowing to work harder than before.

The Animal Farm initially thrives under the new leadership. Snowball focuses on teaching the animals to read while Napoleon takes the young pups under his wing to instill in them the principles of Animalism. Despite defeating Mr. Jones again in what would later be referred to as the Battle of the Cowshed, internal disagreements between Napoleon and Snowball escalate. Napoleon ruthlessly drives Snowball away from the farm with his pack of dogs, thus assuming undisputed authority and dismantling the democratic structure of the farm. He now declares that only pigs will make decisions for the collective good.

Napoleon suddenly reverses his stance on the windmill project previously proposed by Snowball, and the animals, particularly Boxer, devote themselves to its completion. When the windmill collapses, Napoleon blames it upon Snowball's sabotage. Any animal questioning Napoleon's leadership meets a swift end by the dogs. Napoleon, with his authority unchallenged and his deeds justified by his propagandist, starts displaying human-like behaviors - sleeping in a bed, drinking alcohol, and trading with other farmers. Betraying his loyal workforce, Napoleon sells the injured and aging Boxer for whiskey money. Over the years, the pigs grow more human-like, and the original principles of Animalism are manipulated to justify their actions. By the end, the animals peering through the farmhouse window can no longer differentiate between the pigs and the humans.

Animal Farm

Rebelión en la Granja

A congregation of gentlemen, inclusive of the storyteller, lend their ears to the Time Traveller as he expounds his belief that time is the fourth dimension. The Time Traveller showcases a tiny model of a time machine, making it vanish into the ether. When the group reconvenes a week later, they find their disheveled and weary host arriving late, initiating his tale post dinner.

The Time Traveller chronicles his journey into the future, specifically to the year 802,701 AD, in his newly completed time mechanism. He encounters the Eloi, diminutive, peaceful humanoids living in an idyllic world who welcome him with fruits. Upon returning from his exploration, he discovers his time contraption missing, deducing it's possibly concealed within a statue's base nearby. He catches sight of peculiar ape-like entities, dubbed Morlocks by the Eloi, who dwell underground. In the course of his adventures, he rescues and befriends an Eloi named Weena. Venturing into the subterranean world of the Morlocks to reclaim his machine, he equips himself with matches as a deterrent against these creatures. Despite being chased out, he musters the courage to seek a safe haven for himself and Weena from the night-prowling Morlocks. His journey leads him to an establishment he refers to as the Palace of Green Porcelain, revealed to be a museum. There, he arms himself with more matches, camphor, and a lever as a weapon. A large-scale fire breaks out amidst their escape from the Morlocks through a vast forest, resulting in several Morlock casualties, as well as Weena's demise. Returning to the statue base, the Time Traveller discovers it already forced open. He takes a leap of faith onto his machine just as the Morlocks believe they've cornered him, rapidly transporting him further into the future.

The Time Traveller makes numerous additional stops in his journey. He lands on a beach in a distant era where he confronts giant crabs while a massive, static red sun dominates the sky. Journeying to a point thirty million years into the future, he encounters a barely breathable atmosphere and a single life form, a tentacled dark blob. Observing a celestial body eclipse the sun, he finally exhausts himself and returns to his original era. However, he embarks on another journey the following day, from which he never returns.

The Time Machine

La Máquina del Tiempo

Set in an alternative late 20th-century England, a grim reality unfolds where human clones, known as "students," quietly exist to extend the lives of regular people through an established organ donation system. Our narrator, 31-year-old Kathy H., identifies herself as a “carer”—a clone designated to look after fellow clones during their organ donation process, which eventually leads to their demise or "completion." The narrative takes us through Kathy’s recollections of her early years spent at Hailsham, a secluded educational institution for clones, and her friendships with two peers, Ruth and Tommy. The trio's bond takes center stage, with Kathy recounting Ruth's enigmatic nature and Tommy's struggles with his volatile temper and lack of creativity, traits deemed essential by the institution's caretaker figures, known as the "guardians."

The narrative oscillates between different stages of Kathy's life, from her childhood to adulthood. It further delves into the trio's transition from Hailsham to a halfway house called the Cottages and their subsequent interactions with "veteran" students from other educational institutions. The narrative captures the nuances of their evolving relationships and encounters, such as a disappointing trip to Norfolk in search of Ruth's possible genetic original, as well as the emotional turmoil they face as they gradually confront the purpose of their existence. Amidst the unfolding events, Tommy and Kathy find solace in one another, indulging in creative expressions, which they believe might determine their eligibility for a rumored donation deferral for couples truly in love.

As Kathy transitions to the role of a carer, she encounters Ruth, dealing with a tough first donation. Following Ruth's passing after her second organ donation, Kathy takes over as Tommy's carer. They explore the possibility of a donation deferral by visiting Madame, an influential figure from their Hailsham days. The visit ends in despair, as they learn that no such deferrals exist, followed by the revelation that Hailsham was a failed experiment meant to prove the humanity of clones. A heartbroken Tommy completes after his fourth donation, leaving Kathy alone with her memories and the inevitability of her own completion.

20 Best Dystopian Books of All Time

1984

Brave New World

The Handmaid's Tale

The Road

Fahrenheit 451

A Novel

A Clockwork Orange

Station Eleven

A Novel

The Power

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, Book 1

Parable of the Sower

A Novel

Animal Farm

The Time Machine

Never Let Me Go

The Fifth Season

The Broken Earth, Book 1

Vox

Noughts & Crosses

Noughts And Crosses, Book 1

Blindness

We

A Novel

The Children of Men

Battle Royale

Sources

What To Read Next

20 Best Dystopian Books of All Time

1984

Brave New World

The Handmaid's Tale

The Road

Fahrenheit 451

A Novel

A Clockwork Orange

Station Eleven

A Novel

The Power

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, Book 1

Parable of the Sower

A Novel

Animal Farm

The Time Machine

Never Let Me Go

The Fifth Season

The Broken Earth, Book 1

Vox

Noughts & Crosses

Noughts And Crosses, Book 1

Blindness

We

A Novel

The Children of Men

Battle Royale

Sources

What To Read Next

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