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Best Dystopian Novels Compared

The future is bleak and Jim loves it. Compare the greatest dystopian novels — from totalitarian nightmares to quiet apocalypses.

Book Rating
1984 1984
5/5
Brave New World Brave New World
4/5
Fahrenheit 451 Fahrenheit 451
4/5
The Handmaid's Tale The Handmaid's Tale
5/5
Station Eleven Station Eleven
4/5
The Road The Road
5/5

Jim's Quick Takes

1984

"Big Brother is watching — and Jim is reading. This book hit different in college when the professor connected it to real-world politics. Orwell wrote ..."

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Brave New World

"Jim has to admit — between this and 1984, the dystopian double feature keeps him up at night. But where Orwell feared the stick, Huxley feared the car..."

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Fahrenheit 451

"As a bookworm, Jim takes the premise of this novel VERY personally. A world where they burn books? That's basically a horror story for worms everywher..."

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The Handmaid's Tale

"Atwood wrote this in 1985 and it keeps getting more relevant, which is frankly terrifying. Jim squirmed through every page — and not the good kind of ..."

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Station Eleven

"Jim read this one pre-pandemic and then re-read it post-pandemic and honestly? It hits different both times. Mandel weaves timelines together like a m..."

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The Road

"McCarthy stripped language down to its bones and somehow made it more powerful than ever. Jim read this in one sitting — couldn't stop, even though ev..."

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