SF CORE Best Lists
- Top 25 Best Science Fiction
- The 'Alternative' Top 25 SF
- Top 100 Best Science Fiction
- Top 50 Best SF Movies
- Best SF Movies of the 21st Century
- Best SF TV Shows
- Best SF Graphic Novels
- Best Science Fiction Series
- Best Stand Alone SF
- Best Modern Classic SF
- Underrated Science Fiction
- Best SF by Women
- Best YA Science Fiction
- Best Kids' Science Fiction
SF ERA Best Lists
- Best Science Fiction of 2014
- Best Contemporary SF (2000's)
- Best Modern SF (80's-90's)
- Best New Wave SF (60's-70's)
- Best Classic SF (40's-60's)
- Best Early SF (1890-1930's)
- Best Proto SF (pre-1890)
SF GENRE Best Lists
- Best Hard SF Books
- Best Cyberpunk Books
- Best Space Opera Books
- Best SF Mystery Books
- Best SF Books about Mars
- Best Moon SF Books about Moon
- Best Dystopian Books
- Best Post Apocalyptic SF Books
- Best Alternate History Books
- Best Time Travel Books
- Best Robot Books
- Best A.I. Books
- Best Post-Human Books
- Best Literary SF Books
- Best Books ABOUT SF
OTHER Best Lists
SF Subgenre Guides
- Space Opera
- Hard Science Fiction
- Soft Science Fiction
- Firm Science SF
- Mundane Science Fiction
- Social Science Fiction
- Near-Future Science Fiction
- Age Regression Science Fiction
- Immortality Science Fiction
- Mind Transfer Science Fiction
- Transhumanism Science Fiction
- Robot Science Fiction
- Cybernetic Revolt Science Fiction
- Synthetic Biology Science Fiction
- Cyberpunk
- Nanopunk
- Biopunk
- Wetware
- Steampunk
- Retro Futurism
- Dying Astronaut Science Fiction
- First Landings Science Fiction
- First Contact Science Fiction
- Alien Invasion Science Fiction
- Alien Conspiracy Science Fiction
- Shapeshifting Science Fiction
- Xenofiction
- Dystopian Science Fiction
- Utopian Science Fiction
- World Government Science Fiction
- Alternate History Science Fiction
- Parallel Worlds Science Fiction
- Multiverse Science Fiction
- Time Travel
- Gothic Science Fiction
- Literary Science Fiction
- Recursive Science Fiction
- Slipstream
- Comic Science Fiction
- Political Science Fiction
- Religious Science Fiction
- Christian Science Fiction
- Clerical Science Fiction
- Mythological Science Fiction
- Cozy Catastrophe Science Fiction
- Restored Eden Science Fiction
- Dying Earth
- Apocalyptic Science Fiction
- Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction
- ESP Science Fiction
- Sports Science Fiction
- Zombie Fiction
- Sci-Fi Horror
- Sci Fi
- Science Fantasy
- Speculative Fiction
- Media Tie-In Science Fiction
- Detective Science Fiction
- Hard Boiled Science Fiction
- SpyFi
- Pulp Science Fiction
- Space Western Science Fiction
- Scientific Romance
- Sword and Planet Science Fiction
- Planetary Romance
- Lost Worlds
- Bigger Than Worlds
- Voyages Extraordinaires
- Hollow Earth Science Fiction
- Exotic Ecosystems Science Fiction
- Undersea Science Fiction
- Microbiology Science Fiction
- Astrobiology SF
- Astrosociobiology SF
- Ecological Science Fiction
- Frontier Science Fiction
- Generation Ship Science Fiction
- Colonization Science Fiction
- Terraforming Science Fiction
- World Building Science Fiction
- Hyperspace Science Fiction
- Spunky Heroine
- Erotica Science Fiction
- Gay Science Fiction
Dystopian Science Fiction
What is Dystopian Science Fiction?
Dystopian Science Fiction can be summed up as the opposite of Utopia—imperfect societies in the near-future. In actuality, Dystopian Sci Fi stories often include Utopian elements like deep social control. These measures of control are taken to the extreme in Dystopian Sci Fi. Often, Dystopian stories deal with political issues like police states and repression. The value of Dystopian Sci Fi is not that it predicts what will happen, but what we fear will happen and investigates whether these fears are valid or destructive in of themselves.
Notice: Undefined variable: siteurl in /home/best/public_html/dystopian-science-fiction.php on line 120
Warning: include(templates/static_content_ad_intro_in_text.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/best/public_html/dystopian-science-fiction.php on line 120
Warning: include(): Failed opening 'templates/static_content_ad_intro_in_text.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/opt/cpanel/ea-php56/root/usr/share/pear') in /home/best/public_html/dystopian-science-fiction.php on line 120
You can view the crowd-ranked "Popular" Dystopian books list and vote and/submit entries to it.
Also take a look at our Top 25 Best Dystopian Book list ever.

Your Text Link Book Ad
This could be your text link book advertisment here, shown on every page. Contact us
www.yourbookadhere.com
Sample Book Ad
Get pulled into the world of Av'lor and fly with Sir Lanclor to defend the portal to Earth. Armor is optional.
www.asamplebookadhere.com
Visit our Forum
Want to talk fantasy? Visit our awesome fantasy forum to find out what's what in the fantasy world and to meet other cool fantasy lovers.
Other Features of Dystopian Science Fiction

- Level of Real Science
Low. Dystopian stories often feature advanced technology because they take place in a speculative future. However, the focus is rarely on these technologies and more on the social and political aspects of the dystopian society.
- Level of Grand Ideas/Social Implications
High. This sub-genre is a way for authors to explore their fears, or current fears in their society, about society, politics, environmentalism, religion, psychology, or technology. As a result, social and political commentary abound.
- Level of Characterization
High. Dystopian Sci Fi is often told through the perspective of a single protagonist who questions or acts against the social or political order. As the reader experiences the dystopia through the protagonists' point of view the reader gets to know the protagonist and so the character has to be pretty flushed out. Main characters are often complex because they are combating grand ideas and going against the social and political order.
- Level of Plot Complexity
Sometimes unfulfilling. Plot is key to Dystopian stories: the protagonist, sometimes a group, rebel against the dystopia and this conflict can make for a complex and interesting plot. However, in much the same way Dystopian Sci Fi deals with the imperfect, the acts of protagonists often fail—it is a narrative arc of hopelessness.
- Level of Violence
Moderate to High. Plots of Dystopian Sci Fi necessitate high conflict because rebelling against the system is a big deal. Frequently, but not always, these conflicts result in violence. In addition, violence is often present in the dystopian society, as in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange where youth gangs are descriptively violent.
Related Science Fiction subgenres

-
Utopian Science Fiction is the most obvious relation because Utopia and Dystopia are opposites and yet are also defined against each other.
-
Social Sci Fi is another obvious relation because Dystopian Sci Fi is very much concerned with what is happening in the future society.
-
Post-Apocalyptic Sci Fi is also connected with Dystopian Sci Fi. Many Dystopian stories are set in a future that has survived some kind of apocalyptic event and the dystopia is one way society has coped with the event.
Dystopian Science Fiction isn't for you if...
You like stories with happy endings and re-assert the status quo. Dystopian Sci Fi is a literature about questioning and challenging what has become the norm in its world and it is a literature that will make the reader re-evaluate their own lives.
- 1 The Iron Heel
By Jack London. Considered by some to be the earliest modern Dystopian literature as well as soft science fiction because its emphasis is on future social and political changes rather than technological. - 2 Fahrenheit 451
By Ray Bradbury. Another iconic science fiction story that embodies the Dystopia themes of rising up and fighting against the system. A unique story in that its protagonist does have succeed in fleeing the dystopian society. - 3 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
By Philip K. Dick. The inspiration for the hit Sci Fi film Blade Runner. Showcases a constant and oppressive threat to life and explores the significance of life—both organic and android. - 4 Eight Against Utopia
By Douglas R. Mason. A great example of a protagonist who fights to be free from a so-called Utopia and its constraints. - 5 A Clockwork Orange
By Anthony Burgess. Another famous Sci Fi novel made into a popular movie. A take on a future Britain in which behaviour modification is taken to an extreme in the quest for social order. Unique because the dystopia is still forming and is seen through the eyes of an adolescent protagonist. - 6 1984
By George Orwell. Quite possibly the most famous example of Dystopian Sci Fi and focuses around a totalitarian super state and the big brother theme. - 7 Brave New World
By Aldous Huxley Written by Huxley as a parody of other Utopian stories' hopeful visions of the future. Unique in Dystopian literature because the protagonist is an outsider. - 8 Logan's Run
By William F. Nolan and George Clayton. Embodies the utopia idea of a life of pleasure and youth; the dystopia is introduced in the population control measures because no one is allowed to live past age 21. - 9 The Marching Morons
By Cyril Kornbluth. An example of Utopian elements in Dystopian Sci Fi—a society filled with pampered workers who are not exactly intelligent. - 10 The Hunger Games
By Suzanne Collins. A trilogy geared toward young adult readers and has been made into movies. Noteworthy because of its status in popular culture.
- 1
- 1984 (George Orwell)
-
687
- 3
- Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
-
4411
- 9
- The Handmaid's Tale ()
-
2110
- 10
- The Road (Cormac McCarthy)
-
2110
- 11
- The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
-
3528
- 14
- We (Yevgeny Zamyatin)
-
126
- 15
- The Running Man (Stephen King)
-
137
- 16
- The Maze Runner (James Dashner)
-
117
- 18
- Oryx And Crake (Margaret Atwood)
-
129
- 19
- Neuromancer (William Gibson)
-
129
- 20
- The Giver (Lois Lowry)
-
96
- 21
- Delirium (Lauren Oliver)
-
74
- 23
- Uglies (Scott Westerfeld)
-
119
- 24
- Logan's Run ()
-
64
- 27
- 1q84 (Haruki Murakami)
-
53
- 28
- Matched (Ally Condie)
-
76
- 30
- Red Ri ()
-
32
- 31
- Divergent (Veronica Roth)
-
1819
- 32
- Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
-
77
- 33
- Cat's Cradle ()
-
66
- 36
- The (Joel Goldman)
-
33
- 41
- Wild Marjoram (N. R. Grabe)
-
34
- 45
- Fifth Season (N. K. Jemisin)
-
23
- 46
- Long Walk (Brian Castner)
-
13
- 47
- The Female Man (Joanna Russ)
-
25
- 48
- Sex Positions (Markus Bach)
-
25
- 49
- Anthem (Ayn Rand)
-
48
- 51
- The Circle (Dave Eggers)
-
15
- 53
- Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
-
413
