What does YA Dystopian Novels Mean?
When the society becomes highly controlled, when the people’s freedom is of no consequence and maintaining the society’s rules and regulations are the only thing that matters, that is a Dystopian Society. Dehumanization,totalitarian governments, environmental disaster,or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in the society. And one person challenges the status quo and leads towards a change.
These books are based in such dystopian societies and are written for young adults. These are trilogies, meaning each series has three books. Sometimes the author publishes a companion novel which has more details about the series, it could be based either before, between or after the actual series time frame.
After much research and reading, below are the best YA Dystopian Novels we could find. Enjoy!
1. Maze Runner
Book one: The Maze Runner: Thomas finds himself in an elevator with no memory of his past life. As the elevator stops, he finds himself surrounded by guys. Each guy has a specific job in the world, and Thomas joins the maze runners, who go in the maze and try to find a way out. The movie trailer for this is: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN8A4J32P1c
Book two: The Scorch Trials: The maze has been conquered, and Thomas and his friends are safe in the Dormitory. Or so they think. Thomas will have to decide who is trustworthy and who is not, all the while trying to stay alive.
Book three: The Death Cure: Everything that Thomas valued is now taken away from him, and now he has to face one final test. He discovers that every life has a price, and to some, he is more valuable dead.
Companion Novel: The Kill Order: This is a prequel to the Maze Runner Series, which deals more with the disease and its working of the society.
[schema type=”book” name=”Maze Runner Series 3 books Set Collection ” author=” James Dashner” publisher=”Scholastics” isbn=”9781908435583″ ebook=”yes” paperback=”yes” hardcover=”yes” ]
2. Matched
The perfect society, where the government match you to your perfect partner based on your brain analysis. It’s not necessary for people to go through with it, they can choose to be single, but then they are not allowed to have kids, and they cannot choose their partners on their own. But most of the people are happy with their matches, they all live in identical houses, having the number of kids within the government’s acceptable limits, all in all an equal society.
Book one: Matched: Cassia opts to be matched, but her matching ceremony does not go smoothly.But, because of the software glitch, she gets matched to two people! That almost never happens. The society tells her to be with the first and forget the second, but Cassia is now doubting the whole process.
Book two: Crossed: Cassie has made her choice. But will she be brave enough to stick with it? She finds herself in a tangled web of lies and double-crosses could destroy everything.
Book three: Reached: Cassie has left the society and is now in the wild. She knows what she wants, but can she pay the price for her freedom, if this freedom meant losing the very person this whole thing started in the first place?
[schema type=”book” name=”Matched Trilogy Box Set” author=”Ally Condie” publisher=”Dutton Juvenile” pubdate=”2012-11-13″ isbn=”0525426264″ ebook=”yes” paperback=”yes” hardcover=”yes” ]
3. Uglies
Set in the future,the society has been destroyed due to an oil bug that was released years ago. This led to major the death and destruction of almost the entire planet. Now, only a few cities remain and sustaining them is the only focus of the government. For peace and equality the government is ready to go to every length. Spread across seven continents, Uglies deals with the factor of how the pursuit of perfection at the cost of individuality is not the right way. And this is achieved through The Surge, a type of extreme cosmetic surgery that all citizens undergo at the age of 16, so all the citizens become perfect and have the most beautiful features, before 16, everybody is considered Ugly. And these beautiful people are transformed into another town in the middle, and are provided with free food, shelter, entertainment by the government.
Book one: Uglies: Tally is a 15-year-old girl, waiting for her 16th birthday, so that she can be turned “pretty”.But, things do not go as planned for Tally. Her best friend runs away and Tally is forced to consider if being pretty is the only thing she wants to be or is there some other options as well.
Book two: Pretties: Tally is now amongst the Pretties, her life is all about the “good” things, mingling with other pretties, attending parties and everything she ever wanted. And because of the secret surgery that is done on all Pretties, her thinking is now shallow and superficial, until she is thrown into a crisis and she remembers.
Book three: Specials: Ever since Tally was young and ugly, Tally had heard about the “Specials”, the frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong and breathtakingly fast people. The society was told to stay away from these, but now Tally was one of them. Her ‘Job’ is the keep Uglies down and the pretties stupid. But somewhere deep down something tells her this is wrong. Will she listen to the voice, or will she do what she is programmed to do? Either way, there will be huge consequences.
Companion Novel: Extras: Set after a few years post the trilogy, where without the strict rules, the world has fallen, and the book deals with it’s impact on the society as a whole.
[schema type=”book” name=”The Uglies Trilogy (Uglies #1-3)” author=”Scott Westerfeld” publisher=”Simon Pulse” pubdate=”2007-10-23″ isbn=”1416936408 ” ebook=”yes” paperback=”yes” hardcover=”yes” ]
4. Delirium
The story is set in Portland, Maine, in an alternate present. After heavy bombings in the past, only selected areas are suited for habitation. Electric walls separate the people from the outside world. Run by a totalitarian government that believes love is a disease named amor deliria nervosa, commonly referred to as “the deliria”. A surgical cure for love has been developed and all citizens over the age of 18 have to undergo this procedure mandatorily.
Book one: Delirium: Lena is just months away from the procedure, she is actually looking forward to it as the society has had her believe that in the olden times, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t. However her plans go haywire when she meets Alex who escaped the procedure and is now living in the wild. Watch the movie trailer here: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j51FvUbid_w
Book two: Pandemonium: Lena is now out in the wild on the other side of the electronic fence. But the wilds are not as she had imagined it to be. Free at last, she now wants freedom for everyone. And in her campaign for freedom, she gets kidnapped by other Invalids, called Scavengers.
Book three: Requiem: The title literally means the mass for the dead. The struggle continues and there is a massive thought process differences: those that believe in love and those who do not. The book has point of view of both the sides. So, which side wins?
[schema type=”book” name=”Delirium (Delirium #1-3)” author=”Lauren Oliver ” publisher=”HarperCollins” pubdate=”2012-02-07″ edition=”Second” isbn=”0061726834″ ebook=”yes” paperback=”yes” hardcover=”yes” ]
5. Divergent
Set in post-apocalyptic version of Chicago, the Divergent Universe is where the people are divided into five distinct factions. Each faction thinks one virtue is best: Dauntless think bravery is the best, Erudite loves knowledge, Abnegation is pro-self-sacrifice, Amity hearts friendship, and Candor is for the honest.
Book one: Divergent: Beatrice or as her friends call her “Tris”, grew up in an Abnegation family and when she turns sixteen, she finds out she is a divergent, meaning she cannot be slotted into any one particular faction. She chooses Dauntless and starts to compete for a place. Check out the movie trailer here: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutgWjz10sM
Book two: Insurgent: Tris has broken the law and is now on the run and hides in the Amity faction. But the battle between the factions has started. Insurgent starts almost immediately to the end of Divergent. Decisions need to be made: decisions that could make or break tris.
Book three: Allegiant: The war is now full fledged and some of the characters start leaving the city to figure out what lies outside.
Companion Novel: Four: This is a collection of four short stories written in Tobias “Four”’s point of view of all events mentioned in the Divergent trilogy.
[schema type=”book” name=”Divergent Series Box Set (Divergent 0.1-3)” author=”Veronica Roth” publisher=”HarperCollins” pubdate=”2014-07-31″ isbn=”000758850X” ebook=”yes” paperback=”yes” hardcover=”yes” ]
The Hunger Games Trilogy takes place in the post apocalyptic Panem, in an unspecified future. Years before the start of the series, there was 13th district, which rebelled against the Capitol, leading to the destruction of the 13th district. In order to avoid future revolts, the Capitol started a television show where they select one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to enter into a man made arena where there is only one rule: kill or be killed and the last one to survive is the winner.
Book one: The Hunger Games: District 12 is a coal miner’s home. Katniss, a coal miner’s daughter is struggling to feed her family after she loses her father to a blast in the coal mine. During reaping, when her 12 year old sister is selected as a female tribute to enter in the dreaded hunger games, she volunteers on her behalf. More detailed review here: http://thereandtheir.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/hunger-games-book-review/
Book two: Catching Fire: Katniss has miraculously survived the games, with many emotional scars, but still alive and relieved that she and her family will never have to face hunger or poverty again. But is it all well as it seems? Seems like her way of winning the last game has led to unrest amongst the people. Districts are starting to rebel and Capitol is willing to go to all lengths to stop it. Last year was a child’s play, this year it’s experienced Killers that Katniss will be facing in the games. More detailed review here: http://thereandtheir.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/catching-fire-book-review/
Book Three: Mockingjay: Most of the districts are now in open rebellion against the Capitol. Lat games have left horrible emotional scars on everyone involved, to an extent that real and unreal intermingle. Katniss is now the symbol of revolution, but does she really want to be included? The price of being the Mockingjay is just too high, is Katniss willing to pay the price? More detailed review here: http://thereandtheir.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/mokingjay-book-review/
[schema type=”book” name=”The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxset (The Hunger Games #1-3)” author=”Suzanne Collins” publisher=”Scholastic Press” pubdate=”2010-08-24″ isbn=”0545265355″ ebook=”yes” paperback=”yes” hardcover=”yes” ]
