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I love classic dystopian novels, and I've read dozens. I was wondering if there were any new utopian/dystopian novels worth a read?

Things I've enjoyed include
- Brave New World
- Animal Farm
- 1984
- Fahrenheit 451
- Lord of the Flies
- Atlas Shrugged
- The Fountainhead
- Anthem
- The Giver
- The Lottery (short story)
- Harrison Bergeron (also many of Vonnegut's other short stories)

I was disappointed with some of the popular new series like The Hunger Games (they were ok), Maze Runner Series (terrible), Divergent (terrible), etc.

Are there any classics I missed or any great new Dystopian lit. pieces that I missed?

You could try a series I like by Vera Nazarian. It is on Amazon, but as far as I know only the first two books are available. There should be a third and fourth coming out eventually. I really liked it. The first book is called Qualify.

Have you read The Handmaid's Tale by Magaret Atwood? It's a classic and not on your list. I recently read it and loved it.

As for something newer, it's not exactly Dystopian but The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson has a lot of hallmarks of a dystopian society like an over oppressive government and people having their freedoms highly limited. It's Hard Fantasy but I definitely think you might want to give it a try. It's a refreshing story and the writing is impeccable.

Maybe try Legend by Marie Lu? It's one of my favorites.
I also recommend Above the Sky by Jenny Lynne.

Have you read The Trial, or The Castle by Franz Kafka? I read both of those after reading Atlas Shrugged, and later The Fountainhead. Have to be a bit of narcissist if you liked Atlas Shrugged. That was a long and difficult read. I enjoyed The Fountainhead better. I liked The Trial better than The Castle, but both were good books. Another good one is Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick.

Sparkletime wrote:Have you read The Handmaid's Tale by Magaret Atwood? It's a classic and not on your list. I recently read it and loved it.

As for something newer, it's not exactly Dystopian but The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson has a lot of hallmarks of a dystopian society like an over oppressive government and people having their freedoms highly limited. It's Hard Fantasy but I definitely think you might want to give it a try. It's a refreshing story and the writing is impeccable.

I haven't read Handmaid's Tale; once upon a time it was on my reading list, but I eventually forgot about it. THANK YOU!

And I'll look into Dickinson's book, thanks for the suggestions!

-- 11 Apr 2017, 16:21 --

Mark Johnson wrote:Have you read The Trial, or The Castle by Franz Kafka? I read both of those after reading Atlas Shrugged, and later The Fountainhead. Have to be a bit of narcissist if you liked Atlas Shrugged. That was a long and difficult read. I enjoyed The Fountainhead better. I liked The Trial better than The Castle, but both were good books. Another good one is Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick.

I'll definitely take another look at Kafka, but the narcissism was my least favorite part of Rand's work. I know it seems like you have to accept egoism to accept the rest of her philosophy, but I've found ways to separate aspects of it. Either way, I like reading well-constructed philosophical fiction, so even if I dislike his philosophy, it might be worth reading Kafka. Thanks!

I'm currently reading Handmaid's Tale, its okay... I'm finding it a little boring, the story is very interesting but I'm having a hard time really focusing on it.
I recommend the Pure trilogy by Julianna Baggot. The books are Pure, Fuse, and Burn. It's a post-apocalyptic dystopian book but I really enjoyed it!!

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin helped to inspire 1984. It's worth a read. Zamyatin was a Russian revolutionary, and he was imprisoned twice in the same cell, once by the Tsar and the second time by the revolution. Needless to say, his outlook was a bit pessimistic.

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor is a lot of things, but one of those things is a dystopian novel. If you don't like fantasy in your dystopia, it might not be for you, though. If you're down, I recommend it highly.

Apparently sales of 1984 soared after Trump became president, a little fact for you.
Is "The Man in the high castle" dystopian? It's a good tv series but I have not yet read the book.

Wool, Dust, Shift (silo trilogy) was really good. And I'm currently reading Yesterday's Gone by Sean platt.

The Wanting Seed by Anthony Burgess is an unfairly neglected dystopian novel by an unfairly neglected novelist. I recommend it.

I know the giver was pretty cool, but while it isn't full-on dystopian, the "Mark of the Dragonfly" is a really good book with the same type of writing.

Animal Farm is that great to me

Technological dystopias:
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
- Feed by M.T. Anderson
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (AKA Blade Runner) by Philip K. Dick

I also highly recommend The Great Courses lecture series, Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature. I listened to it through Audible and downloaded the pdf companion, but it is also available directly through The Great Courses.

NovelConversations wrote: ↑11 Apr 2017, 16:18

Sparkletime wrote:Have you read The Handmaid's Tale by Magaret Atwood? It's a classic and not on your list. I recently read it and loved it. ...

I haven't read Handmaid's Tale; once upon a time it was on my reading list, but I eventually forgot about it.

If you enjoy The Handmaid's Tale - or even if you don't - you might also like to try Atwood's trilogy: Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and Maddaddam . I suppose you should try to read them in order, but I nearly gave up after Oryx and Crake, which is my least favourite. it is a complete novel in itself, but it all makes much more sense, and seems less bleak when you read The Year of the Flood.