r/dystopianbooks

please reply to this post for the next 24 hours with your new book, requests for ARC readers or beta readers!

Have fun!

Some examples I can think of are Children of Men, I Who Have Never Known Men, The Memory Police, Tender is the Flesh, Prophet Song, just off the top of my head. But I think what all these have in common are the dystopian element without it necessarily feeling like sci-fi, like say Blade Runner.

Extra points if the book is on the shorter side!

Haven’t seen a lot of this on Wattpad, so I’m looking for some readers and writers for mutual engagement at whatever level. Just completed posting THE CRYSTAL & THE FLAME, which is part one of a planned dystopian YA trilogy. At a minimum, I’ll match your reading and voting pace, and I’ll comment if I’ve got anything to say :). Link below…

Kyla has been "Slated" by the Government. Her memory is completely erased, her past is gone, and her mind is a blank slate.

She is told she was a criminal given a second chance, but she must wear a wrist monitor that tracks her emotions. If her anger or sadness spikes too high, it will kill her.

As Kyla tries to survive her new life, she starts remembering things she shouldn't. Someone is lying to her about who she was—and why she was Slated.

It starts as a slow-burn mystery about identity and turns into a fast-paced thriller.

It makes you wonder: If everything that made you "you" was wiped away, would you still be the same person?

There is currently a best book vote between Harry Potter 1 and The Hobbit. Guess what? The Hobbit is currently losing!! Help me vote for it so that it can surpass Harry Potter.

Hello, posting in here because this has quickly become one of my fav genres. I like to think of it as reverse escapism, the dark futures help take my mind off of our own dark present/future. I’ve read 1984, handmaids tale, I have no mouth and I must scream, man after man, all tomorrows, neuromancer, do androids dream of electric sheep?, the metamorphosis of prime intellect, and maybe a couple more I don’t remember off the top.

With all media, but books especially I need high stakes in order to stay invested, so the darker the better. I especially liked “all tomorrows” and “the metamorphosis of prime intellect”. Thanks in advance y’all I look forward to the recs.

Genre: Post Apocalyptic/ Dystopian Fiction

Concept: Early 20s main character (currently unmanned) finds himself at a safe haven during the approaching socio-political apocalypse located at his former place of work, a hardware store. Meanwhile the world falls into chaos.

Inspiration: I’m a huge fan of all this apocalyptic in media, and given the current political climate of the world currently it doesn’t feel that far fetched to write a dystopian apocalypse story in a not so distant future. The setting of a hardware store is also inspired by my current place of employment.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Please be nice!

Hi dystopians - I posted here a couple of weeks ago looking for beta readers for my 175k word manuscript, Gospels of the Usurper. The handful of folks who raised their hand have been super helpful and I am hoping for a few additional volunteers.

It's the 37th century--fifteen hundred years after the tech oligarchs and their political cronies used nanotech-boosted soldiers to conquer a world already reeling from pandemic.

Ruling as seemingly immortal overlords, their now-ancient tech powered by humanity's blood tithe, the overlords have gotten too comfortable in the crumble of their respective kingdoms.

Enter blood scientist Elodie Moreau. Her fierce curiosity overpowers her long-term habits of complicity and leads to discoveries of the overlords' horrifying secret plots... and of the weaknesses that might finally bring them down.

Whether you read 7 words, 7 chapters, or the whole bloody thing, I'd love your feedback. DM me if interested!

I am currently in the process of writing a dystopian book and want to know some things that readers HATE seeing in books so that I don’t do that hehe!! LET ME KNOW PLS :p

There's a serious lack of wlw dystopia and I need any and all recs you've got!

Hey there, booknerds, bookgeeks, bookgirlies, and all you book fans!

You mod, me, the OG Booknerd, lives in Central Oregon in the US. For those who don't know, we are in the middle of one of the worst wildfire seasons in decades. Both Mr. Booknerd and I have serious asthma, so every time we have to go out, I'm in bed recovering for a day! If I miss a few posts for a day or so that's where I'm at.

Happy Reading

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I've read quite a few collapse/SHTF books over the years. One Second After was memorable for how it portrayed the human consequences of losing the grid, Patriots for the preparedness and logistics, and Going Home for the survival journey.

I really liked that series.

More recently I came across When the Grid Goes Down by Daan J. M. Holland. What stood out to me there was the European setting and the slower progression of the collapse: grid failure, shortages, military response, barter and social order gradually deteriorating rather than everything turning into chaos immediately. For me the change in location meant that the very setup and thus the effects of a shtf scenario are very different. This perspective really changed how i view my preps.

I'm looking for more books like these.

If you recommend one, give a short description of the plot too, and tell me why it stuck with you. Was it the realism, characters, preparedness details, collapse scenario, moral decisions, or something else?

Especially interested in lesser-known books.