I want a dystopian story, but I want one that’s more concerned with world building, not just high-concept taking one aspect of a society and blowing it ridiculously out of proportion. Something that will appeal to an adult with a social science degree. (I’ve already read Left Hand of Darkness).
by Snarky_McSnarkleton
5 Comments
Try Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. It’s an action heavy, character driven book; but at it’s core it’s about how society treats children and capitalism and the state of Japan at the time it was written.
I say this as someone who deeply enjoyed both Battle Royale and Left Hand of Darkness in a similar period. It’s hard to top the anthropological approach of LeGuinn in that one though.
Margaret Atwood? Either Oryx & Crake or The Handmaid’s tale depending on what you’re more interested in. Her language is so beautiful.
Station Eleven by Emily StJohn Mandel is very atmospheric, post-pandemic dystopia.
Maybe you’ve already read LeGuins other work? Otherwise I’d recommend The Dispossessed. Agree that it’s hard to top Le Guin.
Parable of the Sower (and the sequel, Parable of the Talents) by Octavia E Butler — they were scarily plausible
​
and maybe Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It’s a little more subtle but I thought it was really beautiful. I recommend going into it knowing as little as possible. All you need to know is that it’s set in a world extremely similar to reality and fairly present day—the differences will become apparent over time.
* The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
* A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
* Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. This one is really subtle and initially looks just like the real world.
* Leech by Hiron Ennes. There’s a lot going on worldbuilding-wise here, it’s a post apocalyptic gothic horror story. I find the characters to be well done and realistic, but the setting is quite fantastical and not very real.
* Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin. Warning: contains slurs, explicit gore and sex, and scenes of rape.
* I have a friend with a linguistic anthropology degree who’s a huge fan of The Knife of Never Letting Go, but I have not personally read it.
* I have a molecular biology degree so while you can tell the Oryx and Crake series has lots of real world inspirations, there’s a lot of stuff that bugs me about the worldbuilding. I did end up reading the whole trilogy, but it’s not without its flaws.
* The Rifters series by Peter Watts, starting with Starfish. The first book takes place in an undersea geothermal power plant, so you don’t get to see the dystopia of the rest of the world until later, but the worldbuilding in this series is really impressive in my opinion.
Ursula LeGuin: *The Dispossessed*.
Marge Piercy: *Woman on the Edge of Time*.
Pohl and Kornbluth: *The Space Merchants*.