The dystopian genre is filled with hundreds of amazing books. But it isn’t easy to know which ones you should read. That is why we made this list of the 20 must read dystopian novels of all time. Keep reading to find out which books made the list!
There are many great dystopian novels that won’t make this list unfortunately. This list should be the beginning of your journey in reading various dystopian novels. Numerous authors have tried their hands in this genre and many of them are authors that have done well. You can see the full list below!
The 20 Must Read Dystopian Novels of All Time
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
- The Trial by Franz Kafka
- The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
- Zone One by Colson Whitehead
- The Children of Men by P.D. James
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
- The Stand by Stephen King
- Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
- The Iron Heel by Jack London
- The Power by Naomi Alderman
Dystopian Novels That You Should Read
One of the most popular dystopian novels must be The Handmaid’s Tale. Some people may have read it in school while others read it for fun but either way, it is an impactful novel. Another classic dystopian novel that is up there is 1984. They both tackle serious issues and make us imagine the worst-case scenarios.
The dystopian genre wasn’t always aimed towards younger readers. It tackled series issues like the world ending after World War II as people began to imagine the worst possible outcome. After seeing the nuclear bomb, you can’t really blame them.
Some of my favorite books in this genre are books that haven’t gotten the love they deserve. Station Eleven is a modern classic and a novel that more people should read. The Iron Heel by Jack London is another great novel that was published over a century ago. It is credited as one of the first dystopian novels ever written.
Lois Lowry’s novel The Giver was a dystopian novel that was written for a younger audience. And that opened the floodgates and led to novels like The Hunger Games. It is hard to ignore the impact of The Hunger Games as that novel led to many dystopian novels releasing soon after. And while they didn’t capture the magic that Suzanne Collins had, they still made a name for themselves.
Conclusion
That ends this list of the 20 best dystopian novels of all time. What did you think of the list? What novels should we have included? Let us know in the comments below!
What about Ursula Le Guin?
You mentioned like 5 titles and din’t even bother to give a synopsis or review of each, well done.
Wholeheartedly agreeI I did a search just now and found this list at another site. https://ew.com/books/best-dystopian-novels-of-all-time/
Where is the list?
A Canticle for Leibowitz
One of the best
A blueprint for Climate Change
Something is missing here. There is only mention of few novels. I was expecting a full list, as was promised in the title. Could you please republish this, as I would like to see the full list.
This time the AI left you down. You asked it to generate a list but instead it generated an image of a bookcase with the title 20 Must read Dystopian novels. I guess that might actually be a form of dystopia. In the future you ask AI to give you a succinct history of literature and it will generate a monstrous hybrid image of Shakespeare, George Orwell and Donald Trump (the Art of the Deal).
Missing in the list is Gibran Khalil Gibran book “The Prophet”.
According to reliable sources “The Prophet ” is the most read book worldwide after the Bible and the Qur’an and translated into 22 languages.
Stockholm – Sweden
I would add “Anthem” by Ayn Rand.