Dystopian Fiction

Cautionary tales of altered realities and alternate societies...

Updated November 15, 2025
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
The dream hotel
Lalami, Laila
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ● READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY ● From Laila Lalami--the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a "maestra of literary fiction" (NPR)--comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman's fight for freedom, set in...
Awake in the floating city
Kwan, Susanna
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE * An utterly transporting debut novel about the unexpected relationship between an artist and the 130-year-old woman she cares for--two of the last people living in a flooded San Francisco of the future, the home neither is ready...
What we can know
McEwan, Ian.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the Booker prize-winning, bestselling author of Atonement and Saturday, a genre-bending new novel full of secrets and surprises; an immersive exploration, across time and history, of what can ever be truly known. "It gave me so...
The compound
Rawle, Aisling
Paper Book
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Winner takes all. "Every bit as addictive as your favorite guilty pleasure binge-watch, but with all the substance of a literary classic."--Oprah Daily ...
The last murder at the end of the world
Turton, Stuart
Paper Book
"A gripping tale that reads like a Sherlock Holmes novel set in a broken future...Turton is an exciting writer with a knack for strange tales that push the envelope, and this strange story of murder, survival, and the importance of memory might be his best work yet." --Gabino Iglesias for NPR ...
You're safe here
Stephens, Leslie (Novelist)
Paper Book
Wellness, motherhood, and technology converge in a near future California, as three women's seemingly innocuous decisions have further-reaching consequences than any of them could imagine in this timely, clever, and white-knuckled thriller. In 2060, the WellPod is the latest...
Toward eternity : a novel
Hur, Anton
Paper Book
"A love story spanning multiple millenniums, life-forms and variations on immortality, the book posits Victorian poetry as a weapon of empire, insists on nature's resilience in the face of genocide, and manipulates prose into something like a new language....Toward Eternity...
Burn : a novel
Heller, Peter
Paper Book
From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars and The Last Ranger, a novel about two men-friends since boyhood-who emerge from the woods of rural Maine to a dystopian country racked by bewildering violence Every year, Jess and Storey have made an annual pilgrimage...
Gliff
Smith, Ali
Paper Book
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE * From a literary master, a moving and genre-bending story about our era-spanning search for meaning and knowing An uncertain near-future. A story of new boundaries drawn between people daily. A not-very brave new world....
Hum
Phillips, Helen
Paper Book
A Most Anticipated Book for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Goodreads, LitHub, and Book Riot A Best Book of the Summer for Esquire, Electric Lit, and Town & Country A People Book of the...
The Morningside
Obreht, Téa
Paper Book
"A touching, inventive novel about belonging and loss" (People) from the critically beloved, New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger's Wife and Inland "I marveled at the subtle beauty and precision of Obreht's prose. . . Read in the context of...
The lost cause
Doctorow, Cory
Paper Book
It's thirty years from now. We're making progress, mitigating climate change, slowly but surely. But what about all the angry old people who can't let go? For young Americans a generation from now, climate change isn't controversial. It's just an overwhelming fact of life. And so are...
The deluge
Markley, Stephen
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book "This book is, simply put, a modern classic. If you read it, you'll never forget it. Prophetic, terrifying, uplifting." --Stephen King From the bestselling author of Ohio, a masterful American epic charting a near future...
The ferryman : a novel
Cronin, Justin
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying."--STEPHEN KING   From the author of The Passage comes a riveting standalone novel about a group of survivors on a hidden island utopia--where...
Camp zero
Sterling, Michelle Min
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick Libby Book Award Winner for Best Diverse Author In a near-future northern settlement, the fates of a young woman, a professor, and a mysterious...
The drift
Tudor, C. J.
Paper Book
Three ordinary people risk everything for a chance at redemption in this audacious, utterly gripping novel of catastrophe and survival at the end of the world, from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man. "The wildest thriller of the year is three thrillers in one....
The Marriage Act
Marrs, John, (Freelance journalist)
Paper Book
What if marriage was the law? Dare you disobey? Black Mirror meets thriller with a dash of Naomi Alderman's The Power in this dark, high-concept novel by the bestselling author of The One. Britain. The near-future. A right-wing government believes it has the answer to...
Arch-conspirator
Roth, Veronica
Paper Book
In this gripping and atmospheric reimagining of Antigone, #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth reaches back to the root of legend and delivers a world of tomorrow both timeless and unexpected. "I'm cursed, haven't you heard?"
Chain-Gang All-Stars
Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR * FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION * A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from...
Titanium noir
Harkaway, Nick
Paper Book
A virtuosic mashup of Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler by way of Marvel--the story of a detective investigating the murder of a Titan, one of society's most powerful, medically-enhanced elites. * "Cross-genre brilliance from the superbly talented Nick Harkaway." --William Gibson, New...
Prophet song
Lynch, Paul
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023 * INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER Winner of the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist for the 2024 Kirkus Prize Shortlisted for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award One of The Irish Times's 100 Best Books of...
Julia
Newman, Sandra
Paper Book
A PEOPLE Magazine Must-Read Book for Fall 2023 | An Esquire Best Book of Fall 2023 | A Guardian Biggest New Book of 2023 | A LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2023 An imaginative, feminist, and brilliantly relevant-to-today retelling of Orwell's 1984, from the...
Our missing hearts
Ng, Celeste
Paper Book
An instant New York Times bestseller * A New York Times Notable Book * Named a Best Book of the Year by People, TIME Magazine, The Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, Los Angeles Times, and Oprah Daily, and more * A Reese's Book Club Pick * New York Times...
The measure
Erlick, Nikki
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! "A story of love and hope as interweaving characters display: how all moments, big and small, can measure a life. If you want joy, love, romance, and hope--read with us." --Jenna Bush Hager ...
Aurora
Koepp, David
Paper Book
SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM NETFLIX AND ACADEMY AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR KATHRYN BIGELOW "Fantastic story, a real page-turner. Impossible to put down." - Stephen King From the author of Cold Storage comes a riveting, eerily plausible thriller, told with the menace and flair...
The immortal King Rao
Vara, Vauhini
Paper Book
Finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction * One of The New York Times 100 Notable books of 2022 * One of NPR's Books We Love in 2022 * Named a Best Book of the Year by Esquire, Vox, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Literary Hub Shortlisted for the...
The last white man
Hamid, Mohsin
Paper Book
A NEW YORKER "ESSENTIAL READ" A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER, VOGUE, AND NPR "Perhaps Hamid's most remarkable work yet ... an extraordinary vision of human possibility." -Ayad Akhtar, author...
Liberation Day
Saunders, George
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "One of our most inventive purveyors of the form returns with pitch-perfect, genre-bending stories that stare into the abyss of our national character. . . . An exquisite work from a writer whose reach is galactic."--Oprah Daily  
Poster girl
Roth, Veronica
Paper Book
"Poster Girl is a captivating story full of twists and turns--and no easy answers. I couldn't put this book down." --Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of Girl, Forgotten  From #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth, a...
The school for good mothers
Chan, Jessamine
Paper Book
Longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence | Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize | Selected as One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year! In this New York Times...
To paradise
Yanagihara, Hanya
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * From the award-winning, best-selling author of the classic A Little Life--a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.
Machinehood
Divya, S. B.
Paper Book
From the Hugo Award nominee S.B. Divya, Zero Dark Thirty meets The Social Network in this science fiction thriller about artificial intelligence, sentience, and labor rights in a near future dominated by the gig economy. Welga Ramirez, executive bodyguard and ex...
The last wild horses
Lunde, Maja.
Paper Book
Translated into 40 languages, winner of the Norwegian Bookseller's Prize, and the most successful Norwegian author of her generation, Maja Lunde returns with a heart-wrenching tale, set in the distant past and the dystopian future, about extinction and survival, family and hope. ...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.