I’ve always loved dystopian stories. When you strip everything away, when society crumbles and safety nets snap, humanity comes through. Not curated, propagandized humanity, but real humanity—timeless humanity. In dire situations, people band together and connect on a primal level. Shared experience is a powerful thing, and shared struggle is even stronger. Dystopian literature shows both this struggle and this strength. It puts flawed characters in tragic situations, and somehow, there is still hope. There is still love. There is still the wish for something greater, the dream for something more. And that’s magic to me. That’s why I read, and that’s why I write.
We all become monsters at the edge of the breach. In a post-apocalyptic world where season of birth determines power, interrealm war beckons two lost and fated souls.
Julian Kyder is the son of an abusive rape victim who copes with psychopathy. Sira Rune is a cancer survivor who dedicates her life to living free and fearless. Rune is the only one unafraid of Kyder, and that terrifies him, because he only knows how to function through fear. How much violence can she forgive? When is a person beyond redemption? While he struggles to control his demons and she struggles to find purpose, the gods drag the ruined world into war.
Red Rising is a visceral assault. Brown holds nothing back, and you relish each literary punch. There are twists, shocks, and many throw-the-book-across-the-room moments. It’s one of my favorite books in one of my favorite sagas of all time. Set in a futuristic dystopia, society is color-coded by role. Brown navigates issues such as class, race, rebellion, and rebuilding through the eyes of Darrow, a low-born Red who becomes an elite Gold. I can’t recommend it enough—as long as your stomach is iron and your mind is steel. There are elements of space opera, military warfare, and so many cry-yourself-to-sleep emotions that you’ll run out of tears.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, BUZZFEED, GOODREADS AND SHELF AWARENESS
Pierce Brown's heart-pounding debut is the first book in a spectacular series that combines the drama of Game of Thrones with the epic scope of Star Wars.
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'Pierce Brown's empire-crushing debut is a sprawling vision . . . Ender, Katniss, and now Darrow' - Scott Sigler, New York Times bestselling author of Pandemic
'[A] top-notch debut novel . . . Red Rising ascends above a crowded dystopian field' - USA Today
This Is How You Lose the Time War is such a stunning experience. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read. The worldbuilding is exquisite, and the prose is breathtaking. It’s an epistolary novella told in letters between our two main characters, Red and Blue. They’re soldiers on opposite sides of a war between the Agency, a tech dystopia, and the Garden, an organic hive mind. Gradually, they fall in forbidden love through letters and question the war to fight for each other. If you want painfully gorgeous descriptions and mind-blowing storytelling, then this is the perfect book for you.
WINNER OF The Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novella, the Reddit Stabby Award for Best Novella AND The British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novella
SHORTLISTED FOR 2020 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award The Ray Bradbury Prize Kitschies Red Tentacle Award Kitschies Inky Tentacle Brave New Words Award
'A fireworks display from two very talented storytellers' Madeline Miller, author of Circe
Co-written by two award-winning writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It…
Shadow & Claw is a titan of a story. It is dense and delicious and requires a caffeinated state. In the far future, Earth has returned to a medieval-esque society, the sun is dying, and technology is mostly forgotten. In this dystopia, the Guild of Torturers exiles apprentice Severian for showing his victim mercy. From there, Severian embarks on a rich journey that is part quest, part prophecy, and part adventure as he searches for his destiny and the meaning behind an ancient relic. This book is madly ambitious and deserves a slow clap for all it accomplishes.
“A major work of twentieth-century American literature...Wolfe creates a truly alien social order that the reader comes to experience from within...once into it, there is no stopping.” ―The New York Times on The Book of the New Sun
Gene Wolfe has been called "the finest writer the science fiction world has yet produced" by the Washington Post.
THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN is unanimously acclaimed as Wolfe’s most remarkable work, hailed as “a masterpiece of science fantasy comparable in importance to the major works of Tolkien and Lewis” by Publishers Weekly and “one of the most ambitious works of…
Oryx and Crake is a literary marvel. The narrative bounces back and forth between pre-apocalypse and post-apocalypse events with our main character, Jimmy. In flashbacks, he and his childhood friend, Crake, watch graphic videos about surgery, executions, and child pornography. One of the porn videos features a girl, Oryx, who becomes entangled in a love triangle with Jimmy and Crake. Because of the violence in these videos, Crake studies bioengineering and genetics to make humanity gentle and peaceful, but it all dissolves from there. Equal parts disturbing and insightful, Atwood paints a gritty picture with superb characters and arcs.
By the author of THE HANDMAID'S TALE and ALIAS GRACE
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Pigs might not fly but they are strangely altered. So, for that matter, are wolves and racoons. A man, once named Jimmy, lives in a tree, wrapped in old bedsheets, now calls himself Snowman. The voice of Oryx, the woman he loved, teasingly haunts him. And the green-eyed Children of Crake are, for some reason, his responsibility.
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Praise for Oryx and Crake:
'In Jimmy, Atwood has created a great character: a tragic-comic artist of the future, part buffoon, part Orpheus. An adman who's a sad man; a jealous…
The Moon Hunters is a masterpiece of dystopian literature. Told through flashbacks, journal entries, and a nautical rescue, we follow Leilani through post-apocalyptic, post-plague island life in a society with inhumane laws and toxic religious conditioning. There’s forbidden romance, ruthless royalty, thrilling action, and jaw-dropping prose. Leilani is strong and willful, and society punishes her for her strength. With universal themes of love, loss, revolution, and retribution, Pavelle hooked me from the start and possessed me till the end. I adored the characters, the world enchanted me, and the prose bewitched me. It’s truly a dystopian jewel.
For fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Gender Game comes a captivating new story like no other.
The Pestilence sweeps the globe with terrifying speed. A group of survivors finds an island sanctuary.
Three generations later, no one has heard from the outside world in years. The old radio only crackles with static. The Pestilence either finished its job or the world tore itself apart.
In the Village of Lehom, Leilani has been called to court as a Virtue by the King. Going to court means losing her independence and self-respect. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have a choice.
My book recommendations reflect an abiding passion for Japanese literature, which has unquestionably influenced my own writing. My latest literary interest involves Japanese poetry—I’ve recently started a project that combines haiku and prose narration to describe my experiences as a part-time resident in a 1300-year-old Japanese hot spring town that Bashō helped make famous in The Narrow Road to the Deep North. But as a writer, my main focus remains novels. In late 2023 the second in a planned series of novels set in Ishikawa prefecture will be published. I currently live in Kanazawa, but have also been lucky to call Sapporo, Akita, Tokyo, and Fukui home at different times.
Emmitt’s plans collapse when his wife, Mirai, suddenly backs out of purchasing their dream home. Disappointed, he’s surprised to discover her subtle pursuit of a life and career in Tokyo.
In his search for a meaningful life in Japan, and after quitting his job, he finds himself helping his mother-in-law translate Kanazawa’s most famous author, Izumi Kyoka, into English. He becomes drawn into the mysterious death of a friend of Mirai’s parents, leading him and his father-in-law to climb the mountain where the man died. There, he learns the somber truth and discovers what the future holds for him and his wife.
Packed with subtle literary allusion and closely observed nuance, Kanazawa reflects the mood of Japanese fiction in a fresh, modern incarnation.
In Kanazawa, the first literary novel in English to be set in this storied Japanese city, Emmitt's future plans collapse when his wife, Mirai, suddenly backs out of negotiations to purchase their dream home. Disappointed, he's surprised to discover Mirai's subtle pursuit of a life and career in Tokyo, a city he dislikes.
Harmony is further disrupted when Emmitt's search for a more meaningful life in Japan leads him to quit an unsatisfying job at a local university. In the fallout, he finds himself helping his mother-in-law translate Kanazawa's most famous author, Izumi Kyoka, into English.
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