The best dystopian novels to make you cling to your duvet and worship your walls

Call me an end-of-days junkie; I won’t deny it. 

I have a twelve-story climbing rope in my storeroom in case the building catches fire. There’s a fire blanket in there and a go-bag, too. Talking about bomb shelters does something to my blood. Preparations excite me; maybe it’s a competitive streak. When I come face-to-face with disaster, I want the groundwork taken care of so I can focus on what’s important, like grabbing my children, our passports, and snacks for the road.

Reading this book was like living through the nightmare of my dreams. Communities came together, scrounging for food and water. Disaster after disaster was ingeniously avoided with other people’s refuse, raw brain power, and the occasional bullet. Man was pitted against man, and the only prize was survival. It was everything I needed to get a true appreciation of the bricks and mortar surrounding me and the covers on my bed.   

Do not read this series if you have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). 

Coral is on vacation when her world lights up. It starts with a fire so intense that the ash entirely blocks out the sun, not for a season, but for years. The sky is perpetually grey, and her world goes seriously cold. She must survive the elements, but the real threat comes from the desperation of those left alive and fighting for their lives. This is a brutal world. 

As a paranoid survivalist, this book had me taking notes. Some books you read and forget, others teach you something. Most authors push a moral agenda, but this book teaches real-life skills, like how it’s a good idea to burrow into snow when it’s REALLY cold, or why hanging out in caves isn’t just for Neanderthals, and my personal favourite, how to spot a cannibal. 

This father and son duo set up residence in my heart.

I recall some scenes with such clarity that I still see them that way, even after subsequently watching the movie. Imagine having the sum of your possessions piled up in a shopping cart, and you’re on the road, excruciatingly aware that at any point, everything you have could be taken from you, including your loved ones.

If that thought doesn’t inspire a bout of enthusiastic wall-worshipping, then maybe you should read the book.  

Legends are made of powerful stuff, and nothing has greater power than a total flip in perspective. I still recall the gut-punch end to this book, though it’s been decades since I read it. 

Robert Neville is a vampire hunter by day and a tormented man by night. As seemingly the only living human in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, Robert faces depression, isolation, alcoholism, and his undead neighbor, Ben Cortman, who appears outside Robert’s front door each night chanting, "Come out, Neville."

But when Robert is finally captured, and the truth of his situation is revealed, he gets a good look at the world through the eyes of the undead and is forced to ask himself, who am I? What have I become? 

If there’s anyone left in the world who hasn’t already read Divergent, this book review is for you!

I really enjoyed the 1984 Orwellian undercurrent to this YA dystopian series: Governments colluding, suppressing information, and covering things up; it did something to rally my inner dissident. 

The premise of being tasked with training inside your fear landscape seemed undeniably original back then, and even the factions that people were forced to conform to were fascinatingly apt. 

Regardless of the above, it’s not the worst fictional universe to hang out in, given the pages dedicated to the mysterious Four, and maybe it doesn’t fit under the title for this article, but walls can serve more than one purpose, sometimes a girl just needs a little privacy to swoon.