I’m really divided about Margaret Atwood. I enjoy her science fiction, but it pisses me off that she gets really offended at calling it what it is. She views herself as “better” than the SF ghetto.
There is the Wool/Shift series by Hugh Howey, classics like 1984 and Brave New World. There’s also Logan’s Run (which is the first of a trilogy), the two-book Half Past Human/The Godwhale by TJ Bass, We by Yevgeny Zamyatin has already been mentioned, any novel in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, City of Endless Night by Milo Hastings, and if I think of more I’ll be back with more suggestions.
I didn’t care for Oryx and Crake because I wanted all the major characters to die. They were all such horrible people, I had a hard time caring about them. I finished the book more because I respect the author than any desire to see resolution of the story.
Jennifer Government, on the other hand, is a great fun dystopian book. I found it very entertaining and it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.
I really like Octavia Butler, who has written multiple dystopian series. The Parable books are my favorites, but the Xenogenesis series is very good as well. I’d put Gateway by Fredrick Pohl in the dystopian genre. It’s a good book if you like dread (not fear, but dread).
Heh–Oryx and Crake came across like she thought she was slumming. “Oooh, look at me, the renowned and celebrated author, come to show you poor schmucks how to do literary science fiction right!” I found the book derivative and uninspired, doing nothing that I hadn’t seen other authors do better. It was the last Atwood I read.
I will second 1984, Brave New World and We. They are classics in the genre for a reason and I will add Make Room Make Room. Soylent green was base don the book but, and I know it is a cliche, but the book was much batter. The Murder mystery that is the core of the movie is a small part of the book. It is a great piece of science fiction about a world that is dying under its own weight.
And in the book Soylent Green is not people. It’s Soy beans and Lentils, hence the name.
I’m glad this website is mostly men, because I can say here that I thought “The Handmaid’s Tale” wasn’t very good, and not get my butt kicked for it.
No, it wasn’t not very good. It was AWFUL. I can’t believe some people think it’s one of the greatest books ever written.
How about Stephen King’s “The Stand”?
I’ve read “The Hunger Games” series, and also the first “Divergent” book; however, finishing “Divergent” was a chore because the story got really weird about 3/4 of the way into it.
The only people who think it’s “one of the greatest books ever written” are people who haven’t read any other science fiction.
I admitted I have enjoyed reading her books. That doesn’t mean I think they’re great books, just that they entertained me for awhile which isn’t exactly a high bar to meet most days.
Oh, the OP didn’t specify mostly reality-based dystopias or those with fantastical elements. The Stand, for example, gets off into mysticism and magical happenings after a certain point but The Handmaid’s Tale doesn’t, and relies entirely on real-world physics.
Another lesser known group of dystopian novels are The Rifters Triology by Peter Watts: Starfish, Maelstrom, and Behemoth. He also wrote another novel in the same universe called Blindsight.
If you can stand pointless gratuitous sex and mediocre writing, In the Drift by Michael Swanwick isn’t that bad. (It’s also not that good, but I still like it)
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
The Domination of the Draka trilogy. South Africa becomes a continent spanning nation and the first book leads with their push into Europe during the Second World War. Not for everyone as the main protagonists are, you know, fighting for a militaristic slave state but it’s a pretty good read, imho.
I thought that was a given but thanks for pointing it out. I guess some younger posters might’ve have thought I meant a Black power slave society coming out of South Africa.
Of course, with some exceptions they weren’t planning on the white Europeans they conquered being free.