Dystopia Land discussion

Hi I am looking for recommendations of some great reads please, must be available in the UK and preferably on Kindle.
I’m disappointed I was nowhere need my reading challenge last year, with Work and family but the biggest problem being stuck on a book I didn’t enjoy but it was the third one so I felt I had to and lost my buzz!

I will give you an overview of what I have liked to read (dystopian has only been my fave for 18 months, when I discovered it) but feel free to check out what I have read on my profile (it’s a mixed, random bunch lol)

I’m on my fifth book by Elle Casey in the last two weeks, I really like her style
I loved the selection series (definitely my guilty secret)
I have read the hunger games, the maze runner (not my fave), divergence, the fifth wave
Matched was good but saving the second and third for my holidays as I need to be able to keep engrossed for many an hour

My first post so please exclude the length and waffle in it!
Thanks in advance for all suggestions

Hi Emily and welcome.

As I don't read as much ya as you I feel it would be a challenge to recommend something for you. But I completely understand being preoccupied and stuck on a book you are not enjoying as much.

A paranormal fantasy series I really enjoyed is The Disillusionists. (I read the read the whole trilogy in one go, which is not typical of me)

I would also say, go back to authors you know you like. I've only read the first James Dashner book that is in the Maze Runner however I was thinking of picking up his other series The Mortality Doctrine. His writing seems to be able to grab me and keep my attention.

If you are looking to expand from ya, I would say the Wool (aka Silo) trilogy is worth a go.

I am sorry for the limited recommendation but I need to get some sleep. Whatever you choose to read I hope you will share.

Let me know if you want to try the YA Dystopian, Gold Shadow. I can give you a PDF or Mobi copy of it :)

Thank you Ellie I will give Wool a try. The only reason I stick to YA more is because that’s how I fell into dystopian after a free kindle book one day.
I also just liked the style to read at lunch and after work. As it takes my mind off a high pressured day 😊

LC, I would love to thank you

Emily wrote: "LC, I would love to thank you"

Awesome I sent you a PM :)

Hi Emily! Here is a list of my favorite dystopian novels:
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
When She Woke, Hillary Jordan
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
The Eye of Minds series, James Dashner
The Giver, Lois Lowry

I'm not sure of how many of these you've read, but I hope you will like some of these. The Handmaid's Tale and When She Woke are very similar in the way that they confront misogynistic and religious views and how they affect our society today. I'm not sure if that's something you're interested in, but I personally found them to be very well written and enthralling.

The Eye if Minds series is the newest series by James Dashner, who also wrote the Maze Runner series. I've only read the first two, and the third came out about three years ago, but I found it a great read. It's about gaming and being in virtual realities, kind of like Sword Art Online and Ready Player One.

If you're interested in short stories, I highly recommend There Will Be Soft Rains, by Ray Bradbury.

Anyway, hope you enjoy at least one of these. Happy reading !

Try The Damned Balkans: A Refugee Road Trip or It shouldn't happen to an aid worker.

Emily wrote: " As it takes my mind off a high pressured day 😊 "

LOL that is what I do as well. I'm glad I currently work in a smaller company so less people distract me.

I agree YA can sometimes be less demanding. Wool for me a great read. Few others that I would suggest for you to look into are:

* Bird Box - this is post apocalyptic. It is more like a thriller and for me was a page turner.
* I'm not sure if you have read any Octavia Butler. She is someone that would challenge the limits of ones imagination. I loved her Xenogenesys series. You can read one of her short stories for free: Speech Sounds
* Genesis - was another quick read for me and it has a nice twist.
* Wayfarers series are amazing. It's science fiction but it has dystopian elements (the second book more than the first one). Her books give me such a good feeling. They are engaging and entertaining and yet raise some social issues in a very multi-cultured (alien, but not so different) society.
* The Girl with All the Gifts - it is a standalone

The Red Rising Trilogy. you wont put it down. Pierce Brown is also releasing his 4th book at the end of the month.

I know these aren't dystopian, but The Black Prism by Bret Weeks (Lightbringer series) (It's more adult) and Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw are 2 very good books.

I'd second the recommendations above on Wool (takes a while to get going but is well worth it), the Pierce Brown trilogy (like a more epic version of the Hunger Games set in space), any of Atwood's dystopian stories (particularly the Oryx & Crake trilogy as well as Handmaid's Tale) and I'd add Ian McDonald's fantastic Moon trilogy which should be concluding this year (like a dystopian SF Game of Thrones) and Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

I can recommend "In a Dark, Dark Wood" (by Ruth Ware).
"Enigma" (by Catherine Coulter) was a pretty good read, but apparently I also picked it up as the 21st or so book in her FBI series.
Since you're in the UK, you are probably familiar with Tim Lebbon, I finished one of his earlier works this year, "The Nature of Balance" was a pretty good read, and I did not see the ending at all. The concept overall was pretty good when you consider what people do to the Earth, seeing it take some revenge is thrilling.

Those are just the most recent ones I have read.

Not sure if any of the ones I'm about to list (or even listed above as I haven't checked) are on Kindle, but they are definitely worth the look.

I also recommend pretty much anything by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (I have been reading her since I was a teenager and some of her writings are beyond anything I could have thought to illustrate myself). She's a fantastic writer who has been writing since she was (I believe) 13 years old. I used to be able to read about a book a day by her, and I wasn't an avid reader at the time, though I was writing.

The Singing Stones (by Phyllis A. Whitney) was a very good, but slow, read.

If you're a fan of Dracula, I read a "runner-up" book that is based on it called "Bloodline" (by Kate Cary), which is set up like a diary and set in WWI. It's an incredibly captivating read.

If you're into coming-of-age stories, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is a classic story of a girl growing up in Brooklyn and how her family managed to get by.

Anything by Dean Koontz, I also recommend. I started with Stephen King's "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon", but Dean Koontz just kept my attention like no other. My first book by him was "Demon Seed", which is nothing but twisted. I think a lot of people would enjoy many of his books.

I do have a book on Kindle, but I don't know how interested you would be in it; if you have Kindle Unlimited it comes with it, which is pretty nice. If I had a Kindle I would have just started reading it there, but I have to wait for my printers to clear some of their other demands before I can purchase it (currently I'm reading my proof version). I don't know if you would be interested in it, but you can read the first 16 chapters as a preview which is nice.

I hope some of my recommendations are up your ally, and I look forward to looking through this list to find some good recommendations myself. I may also update with more recommendations as I get to my 'to-read' list.

Happy Reading!

N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy is a great and different dystopian series that I recently read. I’ve read so many that I really enjoyed the different plot devices she brought to the series. She has another series called the Inheritance trilogy, I believe, that I think I’ll look into as well.

The Maze Runner Is pretty good

Hey Emily! Personally, I love 1984 by George Orwell. A true classic. Since you've read many of the books I love and since I don't want to repeat others' recommendations, here goes! In the "not strictly dystopian but kinda close" category, I like The House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast; The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare; The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer.

Don't put pressure on yourself! Feel empowered to put down a book you're just not into. There are so many choices, and I have no doubt you'll get plenty of recommendations here.

How about a free book on Kindle? I'm running a giveaway for my novel, Male Order. If interested, click the link and enter.

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Happy reading! Leslie

I can recommend Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series. I just finished the third and final book, Monsters of Men, and found it highly engaging, thought-provoking, and entertaining. It's YA. My full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Hi Emily,

Here's a list I put together of the 110 Best Dystopian Novels: http://www.greghickeywrites.com/best-.... I'm sure you'll find lots of great titles on the list.

And here's an addendum with the best dystopian novels of 2016 and 2017: https://www.greghickeywrites.com/best....

Happy reading!

Greg wrote: "Hi Emily,

Here's a list I put together of the 110 Best Dystopian Novels: http://www.greghickeywrites.com/best-.... I'm sure you'll find lots of great titles on the list.

And here's a..."

It's nice to have some sort of compendium of "best" books of the genre. Thank you for sharing...

I also like Elle Casey! I'm currently reading the Variant Saga by J.N. Chaney on Kindle, which you may also enjoy!

you should read six of crows its an amazing book its characters are great

Anna wrote: "you should read six of crows its an amazing book its characters are great"

I keep hearing about this one. The description doesn't sound Dystopian though.

D20 wrote: "Anna wrote: "you should read six of crows its an amazing book its characters are great"

I keep hearing about this one. The description doesn't sound Dystopian though."

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first....."world & destruction" stands out as Dystopian to me ;)

Sounds like an interesting read either way.

I enjoyed The Dwellers Saga by David Estes. There are 7 books in all.