,

Smart Apocalyptic and Dystopian Fiction

Thinking of those books in these genres that are thoughtful, avoidant of cliche, speak to our humanity and examine who we become when the world is wrong. (Please no more books with rating inflated review schemes. If you bought or bartered for positive reviews for your book then I'm talking about you.)
1

by
4.20 avg rating — 5,281,649 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.15 avg rating — 2,347,025 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
3.97 avg rating — 2,745,864 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,009,645 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
3.88 avg rating — 1,260,531 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
3.70 avg rating — 3,136,354 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.01 avg rating — 4,401,322 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.09 avg rating — 499,780 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 757,290 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 283,245 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.29 avg rating — 1,584,396 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.07 avg rating — 595,852 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
3.85 avg rating — 823,776 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.35 avg rating — 819,062 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,749,864 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.05 avg rating — 148,797 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
3.99 avg rating — 117,323 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.23 avg rating — 1,274,664 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.07 avg rating — 131,486 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.02 avg rating — 559,137 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.18 avg rating — 328,187 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.15 avg rating — 430,505 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
3.83 avg rating — 342,853 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.99 avg rating — 876,597 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
3.88 avg rating — 108,984 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.16 avg rating — 1,250,179 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.62 avg rating — 12,624 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.20 avg rating — 245,180 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.95 avg rating — 115 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
3.80 avg rating — 112 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.75 avg rating — 77,549 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.02 avg rating — 303,673 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.98 avg rating — 48,538 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.09 avg rating — 48,016 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.85 avg rating — 61,047 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
3.69 avg rating — 403,817 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.05 avg rating — 1,646,172 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.02 avg rating — 81,452 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.89 avg rating — 356,608 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.89 avg rating — 12,487 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 135,375 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.68 avg rating — 29,882 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.95 avg rating — 70,369 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.95 avg rating — 20,187 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.27 avg rating — 683,086 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.88 avg rating — 141,263 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
4.01 avg rating — 294,526 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.14 avg rating — 177,857 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.98 avg rating — 74,413 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.61 avg rating — 164,875 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.92 avg rating — 17,658 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.01 avg rating — 263,936 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.26 avg rating — 145,093 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.75 avg rating — 44,780 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.25 avg rating — 26,762 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 45,119 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.39 avg rating — 2,819,203 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.69 avg rating — 7,496 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
4.23 avg rating — 266,727 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.26 avg rating — 83,733 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
4.01 avg rating — 242,868 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
4.11 avg rating — 149,423 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
4.01 avg rating — 115,711 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.80 avg rating — 253 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.99 avg rating — 9,368 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.73 avg rating — 132,439 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.84 avg rating — 10,900 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.96 avg rating — 16,749 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
3.84 avg rating — 5,521 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.89 avg rating — 37,077 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 123,372 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
4.17 avg rating — 245,754 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.84 avg rating — 34,204 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.05 avg rating — 220,997 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
4.23 avg rating — 4,580 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.67 avg rating — 122 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.42 avg rating — 38 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.28 avg rating — 29 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.55 avg rating — 31 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
4.05 avg rating — 8,119 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
3.59 avg rating — 230,786 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.30 avg rating — 212,416 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.75 avg rating — 11,645 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.70 avg rating — 10,080 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.69 avg rating — 16 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.04 avg rating — 113,323 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.88 avg rating — 1,000,100 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.64 avg rating — 12,745 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
3.68 avg rating — 251 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.64 avg rating — 22 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
3.97 avg rating — 7,143 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.52 avg rating — 1,107 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.64 avg rating — 28 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.01 avg rating — 97 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.82 avg rating — 785 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.15 avg rating — 558,029 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
3.91 avg rating — 15,621 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
3.85 avg rating — 27,763 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
4.10 avg rating — 27,245 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.95 avg rating — 33,310 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
528 books · 724 voters · list created December 16th, 2012 by Tamhas (votes) .
244 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Tamhas 6213 books
35 friends
Lee 317 books
4 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3384 books
853 friends
Bettie 15668 books
19 friends
Sambaloelek 2164 books
7 friends
Shanna_redwind 6002 books
40 friends
Robin 162 books
11 friends
Nathan 26112 books
72 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-9 of 9 (9 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by [deleted user] (new)


message 2: by Daniel (new)

Daniel Mala Hey there,

Like your list. I have been building a similar list (Dark Days Dystopian for the Not So Young Adult) with the same concept that there is some great and smart literature in this genre that is filled with a lot of not so hot YA stories. Thanks, you've alread added to my to read list.

Dan...


message 3: by Ufuk (new)

Ufuk Okay,who the heck put The Book Thief?


message 4: by Karen M (last edited Sep 30, 2015 03:38PM) (new)

Karen M Pride & Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities, etc. I understand war would be apocalyptic but I'm not sure that was what the creator of this list was looking for. Then again maybe I'm wrong.


message 5: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Dec 15, 2016 11:00AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) I noticed Catch-22 (#27) on this list. Now I know it's been quite a while since I've read it, but I would never have put it on this list... But like Karen M said: 'Then again maybe I'm wrong.' I would never have put Pride and Prejudice or A Tale of Two Cities on this list either, by the way.


message 6: by William (new)

William Stephens Great list. I just discovered lists and am always looking for smart books. I added a couple by an unknown writer, Soul Source and Right of Passage, that I really liked.


message 7: by Mark (new)

Mark Kloss How is Harry Potter dystopian or apocalyptic??

Love the list otherwise though!


message 8: by Scott (new)

Scott Fisher Mark wrote: "How is Harry Potter dystopian or apocalyptic??

Love the list otherwise though!"


Ha ha. I had the same thought.


message 9: by Scott (new)

Scott Fisher I think Steven Amsterdam's "Things we didn't see coming" should be on this list https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...


back to top



Related News

  Bouncing off our collection of Readers’ Most Anticipated Fall Books, we’re taking a peek into the very near future to spotlight upcoming...

Anyone can add books to this list.