Utopian and dystopian fiction are subgenres of speculative fiction that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal to readers. Dystopian fiction offers the opposite: the portrayal of a setting that completely disagrees with the author's ethos. Some novels combine both genres, often as a metaphor for the different directions humanity can take depending on its choices, ending up with one of two possible futures. Both utopias and dystopias are commonly found in science fiction and other types of speculative fiction.
The Giver is a 1993 American young adult dystopian novel written by Lois Lowry, set in a society which at first appears to be utopian but is revealed to be dystopian as the story progresses.
Linda Sue Park is a Korean-American author who published her first novel, Seesaw Girl, in 1999. She has written six children's novels and five picture books. Park's work achieved prominence when she received the prestigious 2002 Newbery Medal for her novel A Single Shard. She has written the ninth book in The 39 Clues, Storm Warning, published on May 25, 2010.
Uglies is a 2005 science fiction novel by Scott Westerfeld. It is set in a future post scarcity dystopian world in which everyone is considered an "ugly," but then turned "Pretty" by extreme cosmetic surgery when they reach the age of 16. It tells the story of teenager Tally Youngblood who rebels against society's enforced conformity, after her friends Shay and David show her the downsides to becoming a "Pretty".
The Hunger Games is a 2008 dystopian young adult novel by the American writer Suzanne Collins. It is written in the perspective of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the future, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem in North America. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, exercises political control over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games is an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12–18 from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle royale to the death.
Catching Fire is a 2009 dystopian young adult fiction novel by the American novelist Suzanne Collins, the second book in The Hunger Games series. As the sequel to the 2008 bestseller The Hunger Games, it continues the story of Katniss Everdeen and the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem. Following the events of the previous novel, a rebellion against the oppressive Capitol has begun, and Katniss and fellow tribute Peeta Mellark are forced to return to the arena in a special edition of the Hunger Games.
Mockingjay is a 2010 dystopian young adult fiction novel by American author Suzanne Collins. It is chronologically the last installment of The Hunger Games series, following 2008's The Hunger Games and 2009's Catching Fire. The book continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, who agrees to unify the districts of Panem in a rebellion against the tyrannical Capitol.
Allyson Braithwaite Condie is an author of young adult and middle grade fiction. Her novel Matched was a #1 New York Times and international bestseller, and spent over a year on the New York Times Bestseller List. The sequels are also New York Times bestsellers. Matched was chosen as one of YALSA's 2011 Teens' Top Ten and named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of 2010. All three books are available in 30+ languages.
The Hunger Games is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set 64 years before the original.
Wither is a 2011 young-adult dystopian novel written by Lauren DeStefano. It was originally published on March 22, 2011, by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. It is set in a future where scientists succeeded in engineering a perfect generation of humans, free of illness and disorders, but as a consequence, also created a virus that plagues that generation's children and their children's children, killing females at age 20 and males at age 25. The fallout from this disaster drastically set apart the poor, who scavenge for food in a society that has few to no workers, from the rich, who celebrate each new building built as the continuance of the human race. It is the first book of The Chemical Garden Trilogy. The second book, Fever, was released in February 2012,. The third and final book, Sever, was released in February 2013.
Crossed is a young adult novel written by Allyson Braithwaite Condie. It is the sequel to Matched and the second book in the Matched trilogy, which concludes with Reached. Told in the alternating perspectives of Cassia and Ky, the novel is largely set in a desert canyon which was inspired by Condie's experience growing up in southern Utah. The plot follows Cassia and Ky's respective journeys to find each other again in the outer provinces as they begin to learn of a growing rebellion against the Society. Reception to the novel was mixed to positive and the novel reached The New York Times bestseller's list for children's chapter books.
Divergent, the debut novel of American novelist Veronica Roth, was published by HarperCollins Children's Books in 2011. The novel is the first in the Divergent series, a trilogy of young adult dystopian novels set in a post-apocalyptic version of Chicago. The society defines its citizens by their social and personality-related affiliation with one of five factions. This rigid system has removed the threat of anyone exercising independent will and re-threatening the population's safety. In the story, Beatrice Prior joins the ranks of the Dauntless and explores her new identity as "Tris". Underlying the action- and dystopian-focused main plot is a romantic subplot between Tris and "Four", one of her instructors in the Dauntless faction.
What Happened to Goodbye is a young adult novel by Sarah Dessen. The book chronicles the life of a teenage girl, Mclean, and her journey of self-discovery. The book was released on May 10, 2011, by Viking. It received mainly positive critical reception.
Reached is a 2012 young adult dystopian novel by Allyson Braithwaite Condie and is the final novel in the Matched Trilogy, preceded by Matched and Crossed. The novel was published on November 13, 2012, by Dutton Juvenile and was set to have a first printing of 500,000 copies. The novel is told from the viewpoints of Cassia, Ky, and Xander, a point that Condie insisted on. The plot follows the experiences of the three protagonists with the rising of the rebellion against the Society, the race to find the cure against a plague of mysterious origin, and discovering the real intentions of the Rising. Critical reception of the novel was positive and it reached No. 6 on USA Today's Best Selling Books list in 2012.
Possession is a young adult dystopian novel trilogy written by Elana Johnson and published by Simon Pulse. The first book in the series, Possession, was published on 7 June 2011, and was followed by Surrender and Abandon. The series follows Vi, a rebellious teen girl who is unwilling to follow the rules set out by the oppressive 'Thinkers' yet unable to leave her prospective mate Zenn behind. After the release of Possession Johnson issued a 20-page short story entitled Resist, which serves as a prequel to the series.
Marie Lu is a Chinese-American author. She is best known for the Legend series, novels set in a dystopian and militarized future, as well as the Young Elites series, the Warcross series, and Batman: Nightwalker in the DC Icons series.
Divergent is a series of young adult science fiction adventure novels by American novelist Veronica Roth set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian Chicago. The trilogy consists of Divergent (2011), Insurgent (2012), and Allegiant (2013). A related book, Four (2014), presents a series of short stories told from the perspective of one of the trilogy's characters, the male love interest Tobias. A later short story, We Can Be Mended (2018), serves as an epilogue five years after the events of the trilogy, again from Tobias/Four's perspective.
Kat Zhang is an American award-winning author of young adult and middle grade literature. She has also written two picture books, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao and Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon. Her first trilogy, The Hybrid Chronicles, was published by HarperCollins in the United States. According to WorldCat, the series is held in 2,545 libraries, and has been translated into Chinese, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Polish and Italian. The first volume, What's Left of Me, was published in 2012; the second volume, Once We Were, was published in 2013; and the third and final volume, Echoes of Us, was published in 2014.
The Matchedtrilogy is a young adult, dystopian fiction series written by American author Ally Condie, set in a centrally governed society. The Society seems to be formed after an apocalyptical global warming event. The novel Matched was published by Dutton Penguin in November 2010 and reached number three on the Children's Chapter Books bestseller list in January. Previously working with a small, Utah-based publisher, Condie took her manuscript to Penguin Random House, after being advised to do so from her director at Deseret Book. This helped the novel reach a national audience. The Matched novel has been optioned to the Walt Disney Company for a film adaptation. Foreign rights were sold to 30 countries before publication. The second book, Crossed, was published in November 2011, and Reached, published November 2012, completed the trilogy.
