04-16-2023, 01:38 PM | #1 |
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Dystopic sci-fi suggestions?
Can anybody recommend books with a dystopic theme to them? Ideally with sci-fi leanings. Looking for some lesser-known and underrated gems.
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04-16-2023, 02:09 PM | #2 |
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Martha Wells' Murderbot series (starting with All Systems Red) takes place in a pretty terrible society (unfettered surveillance capitalism), but the mood is hopeful, with a protagonist who's doing their best to be a good person.
Jo Walton's Small Change series (starting with Farthing) is alternate history, in a Britain which made peace with Nazi Germany in 1941. This has a much more bleak mood, where the protagonists make compromises with their conscience, and things get gradually worse and worse. |
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04-16-2023, 10:57 PM | #3 |
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Read these and can confirm they're a fun series. I could definitely sympathise with a being that found others illogical and strange whilst wanting to retreat in solitude into media.
Great suggestion, I'll check them out. Last edited by neil_swann80; 04-16-2023 at 11:01 PM. |
04-16-2023, 11:37 PM | #4 |
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The Silo series by Hugh Howey is one of my favorites. Wool, Shift, and Dust.
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04-16-2023, 11:47 PM | #5 |
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04-17-2023, 12:02 AM | #6 |
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Greatwinter trilogy by Sean McMullen. Quite enjoyable, but not really space type scifi
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/..._Great_Machine The Day of the Triffids along with its two sequels - The Age of the Triffids and The Night of the Triffids (the better sequel) The Book of Ember... https://www.goodreads.com/series/40332-book-of-ember Flood and Ark, both by Stephen Baxter And Blade Runner and its three sequels which, in my opinion were not that great. Hmmm, I'm also thinking of The Host, but not sure if it is Utopian or Dystopian. Depends on your viewpoint - overrun by symbiotic aliens (dystopian) but brought peace and enlightenment to the world (utopian). |
04-17-2023, 01:48 AM | #7 |
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Not exactly lesser-known and underrated, but I liked the first Hunger Games book even though it's a youth novel. But after that, the sequels went downhill fast. The second book mostly stayed above the acceptable line, but after that it was a total nosedive IMHO.
Another one that few would call dystopian (although I would), is The Kite Runner. Not sci-fi based at all, but it's about life in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. IMHO, you can't get much more dystopian than that. It doesn't read like your typical dystopian novel, but it's a very good read. Dictionary lookup: "dystopian" - "relating to or denoting an imagined state or society where there is great suffering or injustice" OK, I guess it does fit the definition of dystopian. |
04-17-2023, 02:12 AM | #8 |
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Thanks both, some more great suggestions. Adding "Great winter" series and "The Kite Runner" to my reading list.
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04-17-2023, 04:05 AM | #9 | |
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Quote:
It was included in Anthony Burgess's Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English since 1939 — A Personal Choice. |
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04-17-2023, 05:17 AM | #10 |
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04-17-2023, 09:07 AM | #11 |
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I just finished re-reading the graphic novel Geiger (https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/geiger). It is a far-fetched and grim plot, but has its moments of humour.
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04-17-2023, 09:36 AM | #12 | |
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Quote:
What's your "go-to" device for graphic novels? PC, tablet, colour-eink etc? |
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04-17-2023, 08:31 PM | #13 |
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Paper. I have a 6" colour e-ink device and it's great for small-format stuff, but it is too small for full size graphic novels. I think there are plenty of people who read graphic novels on devices, so I'll leave it to them to give good advice on that.
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04-17-2023, 10:33 PM | #14 |
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Norman Spinrad's Agents of Chaos and The Iron Dream.
Alexei Panshin's Rite of Passage |
04-17-2023, 10:39 PM | #15 |
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