Comments on Best Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction - page 3
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I am a HUGE fan of dystopia--whether it's in novel/book form or any other. And, as such, I've viewed countless lists to gauge what I should read, as well as what to avoid, next; and, by far, I consider yours to be one of the best. Good job with your collection that you've listed here. Take care!
Michael wrote: "foundation definitely deserves a higher rating"I love the Foundation books but I'm not sure they qualify as post apocalyptic or dystopian , they're more science fiction possible future tales...Although, I could see an argument being made for the empire and Seldon era Trantor being a dystopian society.
I see that a lot of people are complaining that most of these books do not fit the dystopian genre in which I wholly agree. Since I am a goodreads librarian, I've decided to remedy this and delete books that do not belong. This list will strictly include dystopian societies.
Dystopian books should fit the following criteria:
"Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, environmental disaster, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Elements of dystopias may vary from environmental to political and social issues."
This definition was taken from Ian's comment:
"A dystopia is a society in a repressive controlled state, kept there through various forms of coercion and often masquerading as a utopia. Police states, caste systems, restricted sense of individuality, repression of invention, abolishment of the family, and technological limitations are a few elements commonly found in dystopian fiction."
Any books deemed unfit will be removed.
I have not read all these books so If there are any books that I have missed, please don't hesitate to reply to this comment and cite which books I should check out and if they do not belong in this list then they shall be removed immediately.
Winnie the Pooh and Little House??? Really???
How come no one has thought to add A clockwork Orange? That makes no sense...
Genericusername wrote: "how is it that not one phillip k. dick novel made it to this list?"There are at least three
Can someone explain what are Naked Lunch and El Quijote doing here? Since when they are "dystopia" and why?
There are a lot of books on this list that are not Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic. There are really only a handful of great classic novels that fit that description, and I haven't read any of them. As I was voting I realised I don't really like Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic fiction. So I voted for the books I've really enjoyed that I believe match the intent of this list, for one reason or another.
Although it certainly is post-apocalyptic, The Road is not dystopian in the literal sense of the term. It is, though, the most realistic and chilling depiction of the end of the world that I've read.
Why is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead on here? Or Don Quixote? or A Modest Proposal? Cleaning up this list. Let me know any books that are in a series but are not the first book, any that are just sci-fi or fantasy but not dystopia, and any others that don't belong.
HOW IS THE HUNGER GAMES HIGHER THAN 1984 ARGG!! My personal favourites are 1984, The Handmaid's Tale and Brave New World.
I cannot understand why hunger games is at the top of this list. Mediocre for the genre. Will not stand the test of time without publishers marketing it relentlessly. Where is Children of the Dust? That is absolutely my quintessential post-apocalyptic novel.
Genericusername wrote: "how is it that not one phillip k. dick novel made it to this list?"Do androids dream of electric sheep? is there. Have you looked through all the list? (pages link at bottom).
Genericusername wrote: "how is it that not one phillip k. dick novel made it to this list?"Number 24 on the list. Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep is the novel that BladeRunner was based on.
Zarakoda wrote: "I think one of L'Engle's books belongs on there, least A Wrinkle in Time, with the whole planet (Camatroz? something like that) where they're ruled and controlled by It - definitely dystopia."Close, Camazotz :)
Silver wrote: "Sara wrote: "How is one hundred years of solitude Utopian, Dystopian or other worldly?I wish someone could illuminate me."
Because of its surreal elements and the way in which it does bend the bo..."
So then Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas should be on this list by those criteria. People should understand what "Distopian" and "Post Apocalyptic" mean before adding things to the list.
DYSTOPIA (dystopic): An imagined universe (usually the future of our own world) in which a worst-case scenario is explored; the opposite of utopia. Dystopic stories have been especially influential on postmodernism, as writers and film-makers imagine the effects of various aspects of our current postmodern condition, for example, the world's take-over by machines (The Matrix); the social effects of the hyperreal (Neuromancer); a society completely run by media commercialism (The Running Man); the triumph of late capitalism (Blade Runner); bureaucratic control run amok (Brazil, 1984); and so on.
POST-APOCALYPTIC: A work of fiction may be considered post-Apocalyptic when its setting or plot features a world in which civilization as we (or the characters) know it has ceased to exist. Many of these stories are set in a near, often dystopian future, or in alternate realities.
Although the term Apocalypse has its origin in Christian religion and refers to a Revelation made by God, over time the definition of the word has expanded, and may now also indicate a more secular end to an age or era such as by plague or war, or the End of Times as foretold in other religions.
The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mocking Jay are great examples of Post Apocalyptic Fiction. As are The Stand, Out of the Ashes, and Jericho.
The Republic by Plato and The Bible are in this list!There are people who don't see dystopia as I see it. :)
I don't understand how Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus are Dystopian!!! I mean really? They are clearly set in current day, and happen to be about mythology. The people who voted for it need to stop.
Brian wrote: "Cameron wrote: "Twilight has already been brought up, it should not appear on a list with the word "best" in the title. "amen"
I saw something recently, and it was an interview with Stepheny Meyer, she said "I just felt that the gods of writing were calling me to write the Twilight books"
Then there were pictures of J.K. Rowling, Orson Scott Card, and J. R. R. Tolkien talking in a circle, they all were going around saying "Did you tell anyone to write that?" and "I didn't tell anyone those!"
Then the last picture was one where it was darker, and a they had kind-of creepy pictures of each of the three, and they said "WE ARE IN CONSENSUS! WE SENT NO ONE!!"
Again, how are books like the Seven Realms Novels and the I Am Number Four books Dystopian???
OK, How in the world does the Bible count a Dystopian or Post Apocalyptic? I understand the whole Revelations thing, but this is a list of FICTION, while the Bible is utterly FACT, and therefore, NONFICTION!
No offense to Hunger Games fans, but a young adult book on top of a list which includes Orwell, Dick, Huxley and Bradbury?
Andrea wrote: "No offense to Hunger Games fans, but a young adult book on top of a list which includes Orwell, Dick, Huxley and Bradbury?"I agree with you. Hunger Games is more a teen story. Not at the same level than the other authors you listed. But at least, this is not the Bible nor The Republic by Plato, which are in this list.
There are MANY books here that do not fit this category. Also, some contributors seem not to have noticed that the list specifies BEST; there is an awful lot of dross here.
in some fashion Plato has written about a dystopian world, but there's much more than that, so it's kind of a stretch to put it there....
I know it's relatively new but I can't believe The Circle isn't even in the top 100. Dave Eggers' book is a must read for sci fi fans
There are a lot of books on this list that should not be. Someone does not know what Dystopian means. And The Hunger Games is not the best, even though it's on the top of every damn list on this site. It's not even the best YA book ever written, in fact it's just a rewrite of a Stephen King book.
Andrew wrote: "There are a lot of books on this list that should not be. Someone does not know what Dystopian means. And The Hunger Games is not the best, ever though it's on the top of every damn list on this ..."
Hunger Games is the first on this list probably just because the guy/girl who created the list put it there first. That doesn't mean that it's the best or the favorite. Happily, there are other people who added books who have a sounder judgment than him/her.
Guys this is dystopian and post-apocalyptic, not dystopian and utopian. There's no such thing as a utopian book and if there was nobody would read it. Utopian means a perfect world, no conflict, no totalitarian government, no brainwashing, no character flaws. There would be no point in reading or even writing it.
Hi wrote: "Guys this is dystopian and post-apocalyptic, not dystopian and utopian. There's no such thing as a utopian book and if there was nobody would read it. Utopian means a perfect world, no conflict, no..."Here is a list of utopian novels:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category...
Note that except
Island by
Aldous Huxley, none of them is very well known.
winnie the pooh, the fault in our stars, and Laura Ingall books?? not sure they belong
I am convinced by this list that many people do not know what a post-apocalyptic/dystopian book is...
Bryn wrote: "I am convinced by this list that many people do not know what a post-apocalyptic/dystopian book is..."I don't know why people vote if they don't even know what is the list's subject. I've seen on another list "The Fiction of the Best 20th century
" Shakespeare's books, Dante's Hell, and so on. Can't they open their eyes?!!
Hi wrote: "There's no such thing as a utopian book and if there was nobody would read it."What about, you know, More's Utopia?
Daniel wrote: "Hi wrote: "There's no such thing as a utopian book and if there was nobody would read it."What about, you know, More's Utopia?"
Yeah, why not? Even though More considered slavery as part of his Utopia.
Daniel wrote: "Hi wrote: "There's no such thing as a utopian book and if there was nobody would read it."What about, you know, More's Utopia?"
And how about Aldous Huxley's Island?
Danny wrote: "Daniel wrote: "Hi wrote: "There's no such thing as a utopian book and if there was nobody would read it."What about, you know, More's Utopia?"
Yeah, why not? Even though More considered slavery ..."
Yeah, I'm not saying I'd like to live in it haha (nor in Bacon's New Atlantis/Campanella's City of the Sun, for that matter).
I removed the following books for not being dystopian or post-apocalyptic (and also some sequels in line with the list description):The Amber Spyglass
The Lost Hero
The Subtle Knife
The Name of the Wind
Mort
Elsewhere
The Graveyard Book
Clockwork Prince
The Pern and Harper Hall books
City of Bones
The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flammel
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
White Cat
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Fablehaven
Running Out of Time
Of Mice and Men
Wizard's First Rule
Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception
Wings
The Lightning Thief
A Lord of the Rings tie-in book
A Shannara book
Catch-22
Coraline
I'm uncertain about whether these fit or not:
Jurassic Park
Magic Bites
The Doomsday Book
Witch & Wizard
Mistborn
Good Omens
Peeps
Treason, The Worthing Saga, Ender's Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Coolcurry wrote: "I removed the following books..."Good!
Jurassic Parc don't fit the list for sure.
The Doomsday Book could fit, it depends which one it is. There is about a million books with that title.
Good Omens is more a British humor book about the end of time. This is not "post" apocalyptic, since everybody in the book tried to stop Armageddon. It has not still happened.
Witch & Wizard could fit, but not Found, that is more a time-travelers story, than anything else.
For the others, I don't know.
Danny wrote: "Coolcurry wrote: "I removed the following books..."Good!
Jurassic Parc don't fit the list for sure.
The Doomsday Book could fit, it depends which one it is. There is about a million books wit..."
Sorry, it's The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.
I'll remove Jurassic Park, Good Omens, and Found then.
I removed the following for not fitting in the list category:Jurassic Park
Good Omens
Found
The Pit Dragon Chronicles
Everlost
A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull
I also ran into a few more that I'm unsure about:
Frankenstein
The Dream Cycle of HP Lovecraft
Robots and Empire by Asimov
Coolcurry wrote: "I removed the following for not fitting in the list category:Jurassic Park
Good Omens
Found
The Pit Dragon Chronicles
Everlost
A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull
I also ran into a few more th..."
Is it THE Frankenstein?
FrankensteinIf it is this one, it doesn't fit at all.
Robots and Empire... If it's the book 4 of the Robots series, it's about about the decline and fall of Solaria. Solaria is how Asimov call our solar system. So it could do.
For the Dream Cycle, there is over 20 short stories in the book. I asked someone if one of them was dystopian or post-apocalyptic, but I've no answer yet.
Coolcurry wrote: "The Dream Cycle of HP Lovecraft..."Here is the answer I got:
"Not particularly, most all the stories are fantasy/horror or occur in ~1920's time period. Nothing really like an apocalypse. "
Danny wrote: "Coolcurry wrote: "I removed the following for not fitting in the list category:Jurassic Park
Good Omens
Found
The Pit Dragon Chronicles
Everlost
A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull
I also ran ..."
Yep, it's THE Frankenstein. I'll remove if it and The Dream Cycle if I can track it down in the list (things tend to get shifted around).
1984 deserves to be #1. It is the foundation and influence for many, many dystopian literature nowadays - for example, people who have read 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World can see that books such as Patterson's The Gift have copied off of these dystopian classics. Regardless, 1984 is the worst of dystopias - a society where the very humanity of a man is revoked, by his own choice. The Party empties people and fills them with themselves, and I believe 1984 provides an astoundingly accurate view of the future for mankind if we continue allowing these dictatorships to arise - a boot stamping on a human face, forever. You do not exist, Winston. Born human, raised a slave, Julia taught him and he loved and felt,even though they both were the dead. And Winston betrayed Julia, the woman who saved him. Winston betrayed his mother, the woman whom he owed his own life to. Betrayed and forgotten, with two gin-scented tears falling to the floor, reeking over the victory of the Party. The victory of totalitarianism over humanity. Period. - Luis Martinez, 5/2014. All true and real literature is beautiful, and I appreciate the people who took time to put this nice list together!
How could The Hunger Games possibly be better than 1984?
Peter wrote: "How could The Hunger Games possibly be better than 1984?"YES. So true! 1984 > every other dystopian novel.
The Orb of Truth by Brae Wyckoff is an epic fantasy.
thank you!