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This Year's Top New Dystopias (Plus a Primer on the Classics)
The year 2022 has turned out to be another busy one for dystopian fiction. Then again, the genre has been in high gear for the past several decades, really. If art imitates life—and it does—then this is a somber indication of where our heads are at.
Ah, well. May as well get some reading done. We’ve gathered here all the books with a dystopian theme published in 2022, many of which represent the best literary speculative fiction of the year. Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts, for instance, is less standard sci-fi than prescient cautionary realism. Other high-profile releases include Sequoia Nagamatsu’s How High We Go in the Dark and Jessamine Chan’s The School for Good Mothers.
For fun and context, we’ve also curated a special companion section after the 2022 list featuring some famous classics of dystopian fiction. Ray Bradbury! Octavia Butler! Kazuo Ishiguro!
Scroll over the cover images for links and details, and add anything interesting to your Want to Read shelf.
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A Primer on Classic Dystopia
Perhaps you're just getting started in the "things have gone wrong in the future" genre of reading. If so, try these classic dystopian reads.
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Have a fantastic dystopia recommendation? Share it with your fellow readers in the comments below!
And be sure to check out more recent articles.
And be sure to check out more recent articles.
Comments Showing 1-22 of 22 (22 new)
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by
Russell
(new)
Oct 18, 2022 07:18AM
No list of dystopian is complete withour Robert McCammon's "Swan Song"
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The Dog Stars by Peter Heller is also excellent.
I LOVED End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker!
Russell wrote: "No list of dystopian is complete withour Robert McCammon's "Swan Song""Still think about this book literally decades after I read it!
Susan wrote: "The Dog Stars by Peter Heller is also excellent."Agree - not sure where I first heard of it, but I was not disappointed!
Some of the old classic British dystopian novels are still worth looking up, even if they are a bit dated. The two best known writers are John Wyndham and John Christopher, but, slightly later from the same school are Black Alert by Alan White, and Heart Clock by Dick Morland.
"Sawn Song" Robert McCammon. Glad to see it mentioned... loved that book so much!Recently read "I Am Legend" Richard Matheson.... it is still buzzing around my head.
It’s not universally liked, but I loved Station Eleven too.
Good list, a decent chunk in here I'm not aware of so a lot is going on the overflowing to-read shelf.I have to say though, How High We Go In The Dark was such a colossal disappointment. The opening story was fantastic; the rest was just ... meh.
I’m in agreement with Janice and Russell, I absolutely loved Swan Song, by Robert McCammon!
Dystopian tales start and ends with "Earth Abides". Written in 1949, but reads like it was written last year. Don't miss this one.
I love that Parable of the Sower is the 1st on the classic dystopia list, its one of my favorite books! Im not sure why Ready Player One is in the classic section, its not that old.
Earth Abides, one of the top! Emotional and thought-provoking.
How High We Go in the Dark was an excellent read.
List cannot possibly be complete without The Passage trilogy.
Liz wrote: "I’m in agreement with Janice and Russell, I absolutely loved Swan Song, by Robert McCammon!"Al wrote: "Dystopian tales start and ends with "Earth Abides". Written in 1949, but reads like it was written last year. Don't miss this one."
Agreed!
Agree with others - must adds:On The Beach
Swan Song
Earth Abides
Station 11
Oryx and Crake (MaddAdam series)
The Dog Stars
Ugh, modern dystopian novels are just utter garbage and the premises of these recent releases are based on total falsehoods anyway.At least we have the classics.
Nick wrote: "Some of the old classic British dystopian novels are still worth looking up, even if they are a bit dated. The two best known writers are John Wyndham and John Christopher, but, slightly later from..."Really enjoy the John Wyndam books!
