7 Dystopian Novels That Will Make You Question Everything

Set in the far north in a small Anishinaabe community, winter is slowly approaching. Gathering supplies and hunting has become difficult, and the general store quickly runs out of food and can’t get more in stock.

Soon, the weather gets so bad that the hydro needs to be rationed, and communal water supplies run dangerously low. This has never happened before. School is closed. Food is becoming increasingly scarce. People are starting to die during the night.

Chaos begins to build as no one knows what is going on; the council has lost control of the people, and everyone is blaming everyone else. Months of hardship and starvation have resulted in severe illness and the death of many. Despair is felt by everyone in the community, and yet there are still no answers as to what is happening, as all communication to the outside world has been lost.

But when bodies that were in storage for burial start to go missing, the community must come together to figure out what has happened to their loved ones . No amount of hunger or sadness could make them turn their backs on what they believe in.

Hig and his dog Jasper find themselves living in the hangar of an abandoned airport following a global pandemic that wiped out most of humankind. In almost complete isolation he has made a home there. With no friends or family around, his only companions are Jasper and Bangley, the only other person in existence who’s an incredibly unstable gun-loving cynic who makes every new day more interesting than the previous.

Hig’s talents as an aircraft pilot and Bangley’s love of shooting things have forged them into unlikely survival partners in a world where everyone seems to be an enemy. Their days are spent guarding the hangar, scavenging for food and resources, and living in misery.

Hig dreams of a mythical safe haven, a place he's searched for fruitlessly during his supply recon flights. After a hopeful encounter, he packs up his belongings, says goodbye to Bangley, and with Jasper by his side, he ventures off into the unknown in search of something or someone better. But will what he finds be worth what he left behind?

The repeat room is a literal room, home to a new, highly secretive form of the jury system. No one really knows or understands what goes on inside this room, not unless you have been specifically chosen to enter.

In the first half of the novel, we meet Abel, a menial worker who is called in for jury duty. Along with a handful of other chosen ones, he’s put through rigorous physical and mental testing. In the end, many people don’t make it through the trials, but Abel does, and he is the only candidate permitted to enter the repeat room.

In the second half of the novel, we join Abel inside the mind of the defendant as he relives the defendant's memories and traumas from his own point of view. Abel is tasked with judgment based on what he witnesses, and it’s up to him to decide the defendant’s fate.

In an alternate version of our present-day, teenage girls and women begin to wake up to sudden and immense physical power. After years of contact with pollutants, chemicals, and overconsumption of poorly regulated goods, women across the world have gained the ability to shock and kill anyone with a single touch. Like literally shock them with actual lightning!

As to be expected, the world is in a panic, and the way of life everyone was used to changes in a rapid and drastic way. This sudden awakening of deadly power leads to fear, riots, mass murder, and even more corrupt politics.

This story follows four seemingly ordinary people as their lives converge with devastating consequences. When any and every interaction between two humans could mean death, everyone is on edge, and no one is safe.

This is a story of female rage and revenge, and it will make you question everything you thought you knew.

In the middle of a spooky forest lies a tiny village surrounded by walls. The walls are in place to keep the townspeople in and the monsters out.

In this dystopian novel, we’re introduced to Mary on one of the worst days of her life. After the death of her mother, her older brother forcibly removes Mary from their home, and with no marriage prospects, she ends up homeless.

With no other options, she has to join the nuns of the Sisterhood, a group of older women who seemingly control the town folk from the shadows of their monastery. Soon, Mary’s every move is watched, her dreams are crushed, and she is forced to do whatever the Sisterhood tells her to.

That is until there is a breach in the wall and the monsters they have kept out for decades find their way in. As chaos strikes, Mary has two choices: run away or stay behind to protect the village. 

After a meteor hits the moon and knocks it too close for comfort, Earth is sent into pandemonium. The sun is gone, electricity is nonexistent, tsunamis destroy every coastal city, earthquakes create huge cracks across entire countries, and every volcano erupts at the same time, leaving the sky blackened by ash.

Miranda and her family decide to stay in their home instead of fleeing with the others from their town. Their sunroom seems to be the safest place in the house to wait out the disaster, and since trying to stay alive has replaced school, Miranda tracks all the events in her diary through journal entries.

Imagine you’re an angsty, depressed teenage girl with a bestie who is also angsty and depressed. Now, imagine yourself in a world where depression is seen as a global epidemic , and you and your bestie need to work together to hide your angsty-ness and depressiony-ness.

Sloane and James are just trying to get through school without The Program coming to take them away. Everything they do and say is being monitored and critiqued, and it’s getting harder to blend in and pretend things are fine.

After the death of Sloane’s brother, things get more intense at home, and any sign of the wrong emotion will bring the Handlers to her door. James has promised to protect Sloane, but can he keep her safe from the inevitable memory modification of The Program?