Recommend any dystopian YA books?

Recommendations, discussions, and odes to your favorites
User avatar
Robin
Posts: 315
Joined: April 8th, 2010, 9:09 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA
Contact:

Re: Recommend any dystopian YA books?

Post by Robin » March 24th, 2011, 10:23 pm

I'll third The Handmaid's Tale- excellent book. And yes, most dystopian novels make me depressed after reading, but isn't that the draw? Isn't that supposed to be the goal of any book? To feel something? To close it with the words and themes swirling around in your head, like an after taste of a good wine?

Here are a few more:
The Giver
Bumped
The Children of Men
1984
Farenheit 451
Brave New World
Robin
"A glass slipper is only a shoe. Dreamers who only dream never have their dreams come true."

http://www.RobynLucas.com/

trixie
Posts: 311
Joined: January 4th, 2011, 12:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Recommend any dystopian YA books?

Post by trixie » March 26th, 2011, 10:23 am

Wow, great list. Thank you all for the recommendations!

I'm not sure why I'm hesitant to read Margaret Atwood. Whenever I'm at the library and grab one of her books, I end up putting it back down and choosing something else. I feel intimidated by an author I've never read. How's that for ridiculous? :)

User avatar
Cookie
Posts: 540
Joined: September 20th, 2010, 11:18 am
Location: Berkshires
Contact:

Re: Recommend any dystopian YA books?

Post by Cookie » March 29th, 2011, 10:26 am

trixie wrote:Wow, great list. Thank you all for the recommendations!

I'm not sure why I'm hesitant to read Margaret Atwood. Whenever I'm at the library and grab one of her books, I end up putting it back down and choosing something else. I feel intimidated by an author I've never read. How's that for ridiculous? :)
I sometimes do that with a highly praised author, or even sometimes a specific book. Neil Gaiman comes to mind for me. I'm always slightly terrified when I pick up one of his books. I think it's because I have such high expectations and I don't want them to be dashed.

Also, highly recommend 1984. I had anxiety for days afterward, it was that amazing.

trixie
Posts: 311
Joined: January 4th, 2011, 12:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Recommend any dystopian YA books?

Post by trixie » March 29th, 2011, 11:07 am

Cookie, great example with Neil Gaiman. I completely agree. I had to "break into" his work by listening to The Graveyard Book on cd. I found it very entertaining, even though it was unabridged and therefor 10+ hours long.

I finished The Diary of Pelly D yesterday. I'm still trying to sort out my feelings surrounding the dystopian genre, but I know I enjoyed the book. I picked up The Giver last night and was highly impressed, if not disturbed. I can't wait for my lunch hour so I can read more!

1984 is on my list, but I have to work up to that one as well. Man, I'm a sissy.

stephsco
Posts: 8
Joined: March 12th, 2011, 5:50 pm
Contact:

Re: Recommend any dystopian YA books?

Post by stephsco » April 8th, 2011, 11:41 am

I read Delirium by Lauren Oliver last month, and it defnitely felt lighter than some of the other books mentioned. I had some issues with some of the dystopian world created in that book, but the story and writing was decent enough that I put those issues aside and tried to focus on the characters. Some of the other books mentioned, like Forest of Hands & Teeth, have less of a teenager-YA feel and are more bleak. I think it would be useful to read a variety to see how the genre is done differently.

As someone else mentioned being a little fearful of reading a highly regarded author, I totally get that. Usually it's rewarding in the end. A book like The Road has intimidated me; I already know it's bleak and depressing, and I haven't been able to convince myself to invest in it yet. Even though a bleak film like Children of Men is one of my favorites.

User avatar
Falls Apart
Posts: 182
Joined: January 16th, 2011, 4:53 pm
Contact:

Re: Recommend any dystopian YA books?

Post by Falls Apart » April 8th, 2011, 4:52 pm

Cookie, great example with Neil Gaiman. I completely agree. I had to "break into" his work by listening to The Graveyard Book on cd. I found it very entertaining, even though it was unabridged and therefor 10+ hours long.

I finished The Diary of Pelly D yesterday. I'm still trying to sort out my feelings surrounding the dystopian genre, but I know I enjoyed the book. I picked up The Giver last night and was highly impressed, if not disturbed. I can't wait for my lunch hour so I can read more!

1984 is on my list, but I have to work up to that one as well. Man, I'm a sissy.
Yay! I love Diary of Pelly D. But as for Orwell, I have to say that I much preferred Animal Farm to 1984. I felt like 1984 spent more time illustrating the society than it did developing a plotline. But then, that's just me, and Orwell is pretty much the king of dystopia, so I'm not about to criticize :) Also, I know I said it once, but I cannot reccomend the Gone series highly enough. They're my favorite YA books ever, and the author is pretty much my writing role model. Crossing dystopia with horror with supernatural with adventure . . . it just can't not be awesome. I got the newest book recently and literally read it for seven hours straight.

trixie
Posts: 311
Joined: January 4th, 2011, 12:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Recommend any dystopian YA books?

Post by trixie » April 26th, 2011, 12:44 pm

Also, I know I said it once, but I cannot reccomend the Gone series highly enough. They're my favorite YA books ever, and the author is pretty much my writing role model. Crossing dystopia with horror with supernatural with adventure . . . it just can't not be awesome. I got the newest book recently and literally read it for seven hours straight.
Hmm... I couldn't get into the first Gone book. I gave it about 50-60 pages but I wasn't "grabbed" by the story lines. Same with the first Immortal Instruments book. I hate putting down a book, but I ended up returning both books unread to the library. However, I have to be honest with myself. Perhaps the issue wasn't so much the book, but my short attention span.

On the one hand, the thought of reading 3 or 4 huge books in a series is overwhelming, but I had no problem blowing through the Twilight books (ducks while others throw tomatoes) or the Harry Potter books. I'm enjoying The 39 Clues series, but I'm more interested in MG than YA right now as well. Maybe some day I'll pick up Gone again. I had more interest in that than the Immortal Instruments.

Sommer Leigh
Moderator
Posts: 1624
Joined: April 2nd, 2010, 11:07 pm
Location: Omaha, NE
Contact:

Re: Recommend any dystopian YA books?

Post by Sommer Leigh » April 26th, 2011, 12:52 pm

trixie wrote:
Also, I know I said it once, but I cannot reccomend the Gone series highly enough. They're my favorite YA books ever, and the author is pretty much my writing role model. Crossing dystopia with horror with supernatural with adventure . . . it just can't not be awesome. I got the newest book recently and literally read it for seven hours straight.
Hmm... I couldn't get into the first Gone book. I gave it about 50-60 pages but I wasn't "grabbed" by the story lines. Same with the first Immortal Instruments book. I hate putting down a book, but I ended up returning both books unread to the library. However, I have to be honest with myself. Perhaps the issue wasn't so much the book, but my short attention span.
I am kind of with you on the Gone book. I read about 100 pages? Maybe not quite, before stopping. I don't think I liked the characters very much and I just couldn't get into the story.

I've heard a lot of people say they like it though, and I am sure there is nothing wrong with the story. It just wasn't for me. I think that goes to show how one person's 'awesome' book is anothers 'ho-hum.' Nothing wrong with that.

However I don't mind putting down books. I have too many books on my TBR pile to waste time on one I am not interested in.
May the word counts be ever in your favor. http://www.sommerleigh.com
Be nice, or I get out the Tesla cannon.

trixie
Posts: 311
Joined: January 4th, 2011, 12:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Recommend any dystopian YA books?

Post by trixie » April 26th, 2011, 4:58 pm

Same with the first Immortal Instruments book. I hate putting down a book, but I ended up returning both books unread to the library. However, I have to be honest with myself. Perhaps the issue wasn't so much the book, but my short attention span... I had more interest in that than the Immortal Instruments.
And by "Immortal Instruments," I meant "Mortal Instruments."

But now I see Charlee raving about how good they were and I'm wondering if I missed something? Might give it another shot. Maybe over the summer. We'll see...

User avatar
Falls Apart
Posts: 182
Joined: January 16th, 2011, 4:53 pm
Contact:

Re: Recommend any dystopian YA books?

Post by Falls Apart » April 26th, 2011, 6:09 pm

Yeah, I hated the first 100 or so pages of Gone and actually did put it down :) I was just lucky enough to be profoundly bored one weekend and picked it up again. The bad guys don't come in until about 1/5 of the way through. Once they're there, it gets exciting. But I agree that it is a quite daunting series at this point, about 2000 pages out so far, and a thousand more to go. When I started, it was just two books. Also, the interesting charcters mostly come in later. But it is the only YA series I've read that actually has a lesbian character who isn't portrayed as a wannabe guy, ridiculously fanservice-y fantasy-in-the-flesh, or look-at-our-edgy-modern-riskiness minority, and is a *gasp* real character. I guess I've got a soft spot for books that break stereotypes :)

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests