The most recommended dystopian books for teens

How can one not love a book about moving Traction Cities? In a magnificently imagined world where these Traction Cities fight for what is left of a destroyed future earth (left behind by us humans – from a stupid massive war to end all wars – go figure eh!).

Tom Natsworthy is aboard the traction city of London. London needs to feed and hunt for smaller cities to feed into its mighty jaws. Tom soon learns that London’s sinister hierarchy of scientists are building their own bomb – MEDUSA. Tom is thrown from London when he befriends a physically and emotionally scarred stow-away slave girl, Hester. 

The journey back to the ever-moving London to try and stop – MEDUSA is an amazing one – I must say. So well written, brilliant actually.

From the get-go the reader is introduced to Lauren Fielding, a teenager living with a condition that makes her believe everything she is told. When the opportunity for her to surgically correct this comes up, she takes it and sets much of the plot in motion. What I love is the narrative style; a set of journal entries, scenes, and supporting materials which serve to present the events as Lauren and the people around her see it. This is a classic coming-of-age speculative fiction story with sprinkles of a possibly unreliable narrator, leaving the reader to follow along with the events and create their own conclusions about what is happening. Laura and the pacing her story provides are both memorable and noteworthy.

Probably one of my favorite reads of all time; I have read it more than once, if that tells you anything about my love for it.

The fantasy elements in this story are subtle and have a mythical legend vibe more than outright powers. But the world and story is so richly built it’s perfect. Told from various POVs with layers of secrets, deception, and assassination attempts, I love how you don’t quite figure out who is who until the end.

All this combined with the thick romantic tension happening in this story and it was over far too soon for me.

As a gay person who is Latino, I’m thrilled to see both elements of my identity represented in a book. That’s part of why I fell in love with The First to Die at the End and They Both Die at the End (which was published first but comes later in the narrative timeline of that world). But identity alone doesn’t make a book.

In his leads, one who is fated for death and the other who knows this, Silvera provides a romance to root for (even if we know the clock is ticking for them.)

The book sprinkles in the stories of a raft of other characters whose fates are more entwined than they’ll ever know, showing how no life is ever lived alone.

When sixteen-year-old Leilani and her father traveled to O’ahu from Hilo to try a promising but experimental treatment for her epilepsy, they never expected to be stranded in the middle of a worldwide geomagnetic storm. With tsunamis striking randomly, all modern technology broken, and facing food shortages under martial law, Leilani and her father have to fight their way home. Along the way, Leilani discovers that the one thing that makes her different may be the one thing that saves us all. It’s an apocalyptic page-turner centered on Hawaii’s ecology and traditional cultural solutions.

This book has a unique take on the apocalyptic genre and the interest the story and characters offered.

In old New York, living in the tunnels of the ancient subway system, the book documents what might happen to those left to fend for themselves in a city whose social and political construct collapsed due to a violent strain of some virus. (Sound familiar?)

The way the female lead, Deuce, discovers this new world where the sun is a threat and the wide-open spaces, claustrophobic, is a testament to the way the author captured the character’s innocence. Aguirre expertly relates Deuce’s apprehension when discovering anything could be different from the darkness she’d grown up in.

Reading Anomaly made me grateful for my freedom to express my thoughts and emotions. McGee creates a fascinating yet chilling world where humans are genetically modified to be born incapable of feeling emotion. I grew compassionate for the main character, who has hidden the fact that she has felt emotions her entire life.

A suspenseful YA dystopian novel with well-written characters and intriguing questions about God and his true purpose for creation, Anomaly left me craving the next book in the series.

I love Cecelia Ahern’s earlier books and this was her first YA duology. The second book is called Perfect. This society also praises beauty and perfection, but mistakes are punishable offenses with a serious consequence of being branded, literally, are Flawed. The book is chilling in so many ways, but what I loved about it is that making mistakes is an inherently ‘human’ thing to do. Older generations have been taught to avoid making mistakes at all costs, or at least never own up to them. The younger ones are learning that it’s all part of life and we should all have a little more compassion. We’re all doing the best we can with what we have.

A beautifully told tale about a group of young girls who work the ‘line’ – squeezing into rock crevices to find the harvest for their community, which is a matriarchal society.

The girls must remain small, and go through years of training, but when Jenna, the leader of the line, moves a single stone, she makes a discovery that threatens all she knows to be true.

McKinlay's clever, understated writing in this YA novel provokes profound questions about how far the leaders will go to protect themselves and their ideals. And the focus on a matriarchal society offers opportunity for reflection on how we interpret and naturalise gender roles and identities. 

The blood-based hierarchy, royal power plays, and love triangle make this book one of my favorites, both earlier in my teen years and now in my twenties. I love to revisit this book because of the way it balances exciting action, enticing romance, and societal commentary. It’s a fun read that hits me hard every time!