Dystopia the opposite of Utopia.

 

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from dys-‘bad’ + Utopia. An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.

Commonly extrapolating elements of current society dystopian fiction explores the darker side of possible worlds. In recent years a new crop of authors have emerged. Discover them and some of our favourites in this special category. image copyright Dylan Glynn H.G. Wells was the first popular dystopian writer with the Time Machine (1895) in which the future doesn’t bring continuous improvements in human kind, rather its demise to the baser darker side of our nature. Through Metamorphosis (1915) by Franz Kafka, Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell and on to The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood dystopian fiction continues to probe the darker areas of the human condition.   Perhaps all the end of world prophecies have fueled the demand, never the less the contemporary dystopian offerings are proving popular reading – especially among a younger audience. One of the most popular, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins has been made into a movie taking over $500 Million at the box office. Here are a selection of books you'll find, we hope you enjoy them.
The Afrika Reich  Guy Saville A brilliant thriller with a modern sensibility and super-fast pace and suspense that will delight fans of classic thrillers and films. Carrying on the tradition of ‘what if’ history novels... Format: Paperback - Released: 15/09/2011
 
The Passage  Justin Cronin One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011. It’s the end of the world, but not as we know it. The rise of a zombie plague, and life in the aftermath, but a real cut above the usual... Format: Paperback - Released: 12/05/2011
 
The Road  Cormac Mccarthy January 2012 Guest Editor Simon Lelic selects The Road... Technically and philosophically, this is probably not McCarthy’s best book. His masterpiece, probably, is Blood Meridian – although I also love Child of God. And Outer Dark. And... Format: Paperback - Released: 01/06/2007
 
The Knife of Never Letting Go  Patrick Ness Shortlisted for the 2009 Branford Boase Best Debut Novel Award. Shortlisted for the Carnegie Award 2009. Winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2008 and Booktrust Teenage Prize 2008. The electrifying and unflinching young adult debut novel about the impossible choices of... Format: Paperback - Released: 14/10/2008
 
Legend  Marie Lu Los Angeles, California Republic of America. He is Day. The boy who walks in the light. She is June. The girl who seeks her brother's killer. On the run and undercover, they meet by chance. Irresistably drawn together, neither knows... Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
 
Momentum  Saci Lloyd One of the 8 titles longlisted for the Guardian Children's Book Prize 2011. Momentum is an action-packed thriller with a warm heart but a disturbing message of what can happen in a broken society. The setting is a disintegrating London in... Format: Paperback - Released: 02/06/2011
The Declaration  Gemma Malley A powerful, gripping and tense futuristic novel about a world which has gone mad, a world where life is forever except for the likes of Peter and Anna (who shouldn’t be there at all according to the declaration) who are... Format: Paperback - Released: 05/05/2008