The Handmaid's Tale

Title: The Handmaid's Tale

Author: Margaret Atwood

First Published: 1985

Series: Stand alone

Genre: Classic, Dystopia, Sci-Fi

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 311

My Copy: Physical copy

My Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Goodreads Summary

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...

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Monsters Of Men

Title: Monsters Of Men

Author: Patrick Ness

First Published: May 3rd 2010

Series: Chaos Walking #3

Genre: YA, Sci-Fi, Dystopia

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 603

My Copy: Physical copy

My Rating: 8/10

Goodreads Summary

Three armies march on New Prentisstown, each one intent on destroying the others. Todd and Viola are caught in the middle, with no chance of escape. As the battles commence, how can they hope to stop the fighting? How can there ever be peace when they're so hopelessly outnumbered? And if war makes monsters of men, what terrible choices await?

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The Ask and the Answer

Title: The Ask and the Answer

Author: Patrick Ness

First Published: May 4th 2009

Series: Chaos Walking #2

Genre: YA,  Sci-Fi, Dystopia

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 536

My Copy: Physical copy

My Rating: 8.5/10

Goodreads Summary

We were in the square, in the square where I'd run, holding her, carrying her, telling her to stay alive, stay alive till we got safe, till we got to Haven so I could save her - But there weren't no safety, no safety at all, there was just him and his men...

Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor's new order. But what secrets are hiding just outside of town? And where is Viola? Is she even still alive? And who are the mysterious Answer? And then, one day, the bombs begin to explode...

"The Ask and the Answer" is a tense, shocking and deeply moving novel of resistance under the most extreme pressure. This is the second title in the "Chaos Walking" trilogy.

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The Knife Of Never Letting Go

Title: The Knife Of Never Letting Go

Author: Patrick Ness

First Published: May 5th 2008

Series: Chaos Walking #1

Genre: YA, Sci-Fi, Dystopia

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 479

My Copy: Physical copy

My Rating: 8/10

Goodreads Summary

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

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Homecoming

Title: Homecoming

Author: Kass Morgan

First Published: February 24th 2015

Series: The 100 #3

Genre: YA, Sci-Fi, Dystopia

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 340

My Copy: Physical copy

My Rating: 8/10

Goodreads Summary

Weeks after landing on Earth, the Hundred have managed to create a sense of order amidst their wild, chaotic surroundings. But their delicate balance comes crashing down with the arrival of new dropships from space.

These new arrivals are the lucky ones - back on the Colony, the oxygen is almost gone - but after making it safely to Earth, GLASS's luck seems to be running out. CLARKE leads a rescue party to the crash site, ready to treat the wounded, but she can't stop thinking about her parents who may still be alive. Meanwhile, WELLS struggles to maintain his authority despite the presence of the Vice Chancellor and his armed guards, and BELLAMY must decide whether to face or flee the crimes he thought he'd left behind.

It's time for the Hundred to come together and fight for the freedom they've found on Earth, or risk losing everything - and everyone - they love.

Day 21

Title: Day 21

Author: Kass Morgan

First Published: September 16th 2014

Series: The 100 #2

Genre: YA, Sci-Fi, Dystopia

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 320

My Copy: Physical copy

My Rating: 8.5/10

Goodreads Summary 

No one has set foot on Earth in centuries -- until now. 

It's been 21 days since the hundred landed on Earth. They're the only humans to set foot on the planet in centuries...or so they thought. Facing an unknown enemy, Wells attempts to keep the group together. Clarke strikes out for Mount Weather, in search of other Colonists, while Bellamy is determined to rescue his sister, no matter the cost. And back on the ship, Glass faces an unthinkable choice between the love of her life and life itself. In this pulse-pounding sequel to Kass Morgan's The 100, secrets are revealed, beliefs are challenged, and relationships are tested. And the hundred will struggle to survive the only way they can -- together.

The 100

Title: The 100

Author: Kass Morgan

First Published: September 3rd 2013

Series: The 100 #1

Genre: YA, Sci-Fi, Dystopia

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 323

My Copy: Physical copy

My Rating: 8.5/10

Goodreads Summary

No one has set foot on Earth in centuries -- until now.

Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth's radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents -- considered expendable by society -- are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life...or it could be a suicide mission.

CLARKE was arrested for treason, though she's haunted by the memory of what she really did. WELLS, the chancellor's son, came to Earth for the girl he loves -- but will she ever forgive him? Reckless BELLAMY fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And GLASS managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth.

Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind's last hope.

The Winner's Curse

Title: The Winner's Curse

Author: Marie Rutkoski

First Published: March 4th, 2014

Series: The Winner's Trilogy #1

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Dystopia

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 355

My Copy: eBook

My Rating: 9/10

Goodreads Summary

Winning what you want may cost you everything you love...

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

Red Queen

Title: Red Queen

Author: Victoria Aveyard

First Published: February 10th, 2015

Series: Red Queen #1

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Dystopia, Sci-Fi

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 383

My Copy: Ebook

My Rating: 8.5/10

Goodreads Summary:

This is a world divided by blood - red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare's potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance - Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart...

The Chrysalids

"If you run away from a thing just
because you don't like it, you don't
like what you find either."

Title: The Chrysalids

Author: John Wyndham

First Published: 1955


Series: Stand-alone

Genre: Classic, Dystopia

Available As: Paperback, hardcover, ebook

My Rating: 7.5/10

Watch thou for the mutant! These phrases has stuck with David all his life. Anyone found with a deviation must be killed. At first, David believes in this saying, but as the years go by, he slowly by slowly loses his faith. He just doesn't understand! What makes them so different, just because of a small physical difference? Until David realises he also has a
deviation. And everything is now at stake.

Reading The Chrysalids was like a taste of fresh dystopia. It was told a bit differently from the dystopian books we read nowadays. It is almost scary how much Wyndham was close to predicting how our world is like now.

David started off as a young, naive boy in the beginning. He blindly accepted everything that was happening, even when he knew it was wrong. Throughout the book, he slowly opens his mind more and more to the world around him, and he finally understands how it is wrong to live the way he has lived all his life.

One thing irked me in the book though. Why does David have to fall in love with Rosalind? And vice versa? But I guess, love is love and there is no controlling it.

The ending is an open ending. We never really find out what happens to all the characters (do we ever?), and all we know is that most of them will get their happy ending. This was a really good dystopian book, written about half a century ago. Does it remind us of our world today? In some ways, it does. These older dystopian books aren't really just for enjoyment (although it can be), but rather some kind of foreshadowing, if we're assuming our whole existence is like a book. Foreshadowing for a future that is yet to come.