17 Best YA Dystopian Novels for Teens

When it comes to dystopian novels, YA writers have actually written some of the best. From virtual reality universes to televised fights to the death, there’s a wealth of great books in this genre. If you’re looking for some of the best YA dystopian novels to read, this list is for you!

Dystopian YA novels have long been some of my favourite books to read. My obsession first started with one of the OG dystopian novels for teens – The Hunger Games – but soon grew to encompass many other shocking and disturbing dystopian universes.

Today, there are a tonne of dystopian young adult novels on the market, but which are the very best? Below, I’ve compiled a list of the best young adult dystopian novels published over the past 20 years as well as some classic dystopian books for teens to read.

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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is usually the first young adult dystopian novel that springs to mind when considering this genre.

This famous trilogy by Suzanne Collins sparked a wave of other teen dystopian novels, lots of which are very good, but none quite live up to the original. If you’re going to read just one YA dystopian novel, make sure it’s this one.

The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian North America called Panem made up of twelve districts surrounding its Capitol. The Capitol keeps control by forcing each district to select one boy and one girl each year to compete in the Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games is a televised fight to the death. The twenty-four young boys and girls are placed in an arena and forced to kill or be killed. Pretty brutal, huh?

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are the two District 12 tributes for the latest Hunger Games. Katniss is a skilled hunter with a strong survival instinct so she fights hard to stay alive to get back to her family who needs her.

But she unexpectedly finds love in the arena which throws her off guard. How far is she willing to go to stay alive and win the Hunger Games?

Buy The Hunger Games: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

RELATED: The Hunger Games Book Review

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Another YA dystopian book series like The Hunger Games is the Divergent series by Veronica Roth.

Divergent is set in a dystopian future where humanity has been split into 5 different ‘factions’. Each faction groups people with similar personality traits together in order to prevent the outbreak of war.

There’s Erudite, for the clever; Amity, for the peaceful; Candor, for the honest; Abnegation, for the selfless; and Dauntless, for the brave.

Children grow up in whichever faction their parents belong to. Then, at the age of 16 they undergo a sort of aptitude test which reveals which faction they belong to.

This is followed by a Choosing Ceremony where they must decide which path to choose for the rest of their lives. No biggie.

This series centres around Beatrice (Tris) Prior. Although Tris was born in Abnegation, at the Choosing Ceremony she opts to leave her family and join Dauntless.

However, during the aptitude test, she discovered a secret about herself that could change her life forever. If she lets the secret slip, there could be dire consequences for her.

This is an excellent dystopian book series for young adults that is all about a band of rebels fighting against the system and uncovering the truth about the strange, segregated world they live in.

Buy Divergent: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

RELATED: Divergent Book Review | Divergent Film Review

Want by Cindy Pon

Want by Cindy Pon is a diverse YA dystopian novel that you’ve probably never heard of. Indeed I’ve never seen anyone post about it on bookstagram or on their book blog. Which is a crying shame.

Set in a dystopian version of Taiwan, Want is a refreshing addition to the YA dystopia genre with a unique storyline and topical themes discussed. In this world, the earth is so polluted that you need to be wearing a special suit to protect yourself from the outside elements.

The problem is, these suits are incredibly expensive so only the rich are able to afford them. These lucky souls are called the yous. The poor suffer increasingly short lifespans and are often unable to pay for medical care when they become ill. These unlucky souls are called the meis.

Jason Zhou, a mei (i.e. poor), plots to infiltrate Jin Corporation, the company responsible for making protective suits for the rich. But the closer Jason and his friends get to the company, the more sinister they reveal its actions are. Matters are complicated when Jason starts to fall for Daiyu, the daughter of Jin Corporation’s CEO.

In Mandarin, méi yǒu, or 没有, means to not have. The yous are those who have everything and the meis are those who have nothing. As a half-Chinese reader, I adored this.

There are references to Taiwanese culture and Mandarin language throughout which only served to make me realise (again) how un-diverse YA literature can be.

The references are subtle enough that non-mandarin speakers will glance over them, but to someone who does understand them, each one is like a little Easter egg, a secret shared between the author and reader.

This is an original take on the classic trope of young rebels fighting rich corporations and I’d highly recommend it for fans of young adult dystopian novels.

If you’re bored of reading about dystopian America (often not so dystopian and worryingly close to reality), then pick up Want by Cindy Pon which is set in Taiwan instead. It’s refreshing to read a story that doesn’t rehash the typical Hunger Games tropes again and again!

Buy Want: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner is another popular dystopian YA series that was propelled to wider fame by a series of film adaptations.

The story begins when Thomas arrives at the Glade in a box. He has absolutely no recollection of who he is or where he comes from.

He is greeted by a group of teenage boys (there are no adults and no girls in the Glade!) and informed that there is only one way out of the Glade.

Outside the Glade’s tall concrete walls, there is an enormous maze that is crawling with Grievers, violent and dangerous creatures. Each day, one wall opens, giving the Gladers a chance to escape through the Maze.

It has been two years however the Gladers have never successfully exited the Maze. They have, however, lost lots of young boys in their escape attempts.

The young boys continue to fight for survival against what they assume is a system that adults created to test them. Why they are being tested though, they have no idea.

Buy The Maze Runner: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

RELATED: The Maze Runner Book Review

The 100 by Kass Morgan

The 100 is a young adult dystopian novel set in a future where the Earth is completely inhabitable. After a catastrophic nuclear war, the planet is seeping with toxic levels of radiation for all living beings.

The remainder of the human race lives in a large spaceship floating just about the Earth, waiting for the day when it is safe to return home. Resources are quickly running out on the ship and the governor’s are forced to try find a solution or return to Earth as quickly as possible.

As no one knows what state the Earth is in or whether the ground is still radioactive, the Chancellor of the ship doesn’t want to risk bringing everyone down to Earth. Instead, he chooses to send 100 teenage delinquents, whom he sees as expendable.

Each of these teenagers is given a monitoring bracelet (ahem cuff) that is designed to send their health status and vitals back to those on the spaceship.

If it looks like the teenagers are still healthy after their return to Earth then the Chancellor will bring the rest of the ship back down to Earth. If the teenagers’ health deteriorates or they know, the ship will remain in space for a while longer.

The teenagers have a bumpy ride from the spaceship back down to Earth and their ship makes a crash landing. During the crash, all communication with the mother ship is lost. The teenagers are left to fend for themselves on Earth with no idea what’s out there waiting for them.

The 100 is quite a short read but it packs a heck of a lot of action into its pages. You’ll race through this young adult dystopian novel in no time and be reaching for book two immediately!

If you like the sound of this, I’d also recommend checking out the TV adaptation of The 100, which is also excellent.

Buy The 100: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

RELATED: The 100 Book Review

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

If you’re looking for feminist dystopian teen novels that don’t just rehash the tropes that books like The Hunger Games made popular then this is the book for you.

Like other young adult dystopian novels, We Set the Dark on Fire still has underlying themes of class, privilege and political revolution. However, the characters and the story are a breath of fresh air.

In this dystopian world, upper-class girls are trained for one of only two possible roles in society: child-bearer or mistress of the household.

Our protagonist Daniela is at the top of her class at Medio School for Girls and looks like she’ll go on to be an exemplary woman.

However, she’s harbouring a secret about her identity that could take everything away. Her parents forged her birth certificate so that she could have a better life and her pedigree is a complete lie.

On the night of her graduation, Daniela must make a choice. She can either choose to continue on her path, marry well and have the privileged life her parents always wanted for her. Or she could become a spy for a resistance group fighting for equality in Medio.

If you liked Katniss Everdeen, then you’re going to love Daniela.

Buy We Set the Dark on Fire: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey mixes sci-fi and dystopia in this fantastic story about life on Earth after four ‘waves’ of an alien invasion.

During the 1st wave, the electricity supply was cut off and during the 2nd, a tsunami drowned most of the human population. During the 3rd wave, a deadly disease wiped out most of the survivors and during the 4th, the few remaining humans left all turned on each other.

The thing is, the extra-terrestrial life inflicting these ills on the human race are not little green men who came down in spaceships. They look just like humans. And the 5th wave is coming.

The story follows Cassie, who is separated from her father and younger brother when soldiers discover the refugee camp they had been hiding at. The soldiers are only interested in children under 15 and kill everyone else.

Cassie is 16 year old but manages to survive and escape. Her father is not so lucky.

Alone and desperate to find her baby brother, she embarks on a journey to find out where they took him. She meets another lone person, Evan, but when friend and enemy look just the same, how does she know she can trust him?

Buy The 5th Wave: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

RELATED: The 5th Wave Book Review

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard blends fantasy and dystopia in a world where your blood defines your status in society.

The “Reds” are lower-class commoners whilst “Silvers” make up the elite ruling class. What’s more, Silvers are all gifted with some sort of ability that no Red could ever possess.

Mare Barrow is a Red from the poverty-stricken Stilts and harbours no aspirations for an exciting or extraordinary life. She then finds herself working in the Silver Palace and surrounded by the people she hates most, Silvers.

It’s here that she discovers that, despite the fact her blood runs red, she can wield a deadly power. Reds with special powers are unheard of and his secret could completely destroy the balance of power in the world in which she lives.

When the Silvers discover her talent, they’re afraid and decide to try and play this to their own advantage. They turn Mare into an icon and puppet that they can control. Little do they know, Mare has been approached by an illicit resistance group to try and bring down the Silver regime from the inside.

Buy Red Queen: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

RELATED: Red Queen Book Review

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

The Host is a cross-over between dystopian literature and science fiction by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. It may surprise you to learn that Stephenie Meyer actually wrote another (far less popular) young adult book. And I personally think The Host is a much better piece of work.

In this story, the Earth has been invaded by a species that takes over the minds and bodies of their human hosts. “Wanderer” is the invading soul that has been put inside human Melanie Stryder but she struggles to fully control Melanie’s mind and body.

Wanderer hopes to find out about what remains of the human resistance from Melanie’s memories but Melanie is a fighter and instead pushes her memories to the forefront of their collective mind. She fills Wanderer’s thoughts with memories of Jared, a human man that Melanie was in love with, who is in hiding.

A chain of events forces Wanderer and Melanie to become allies and they set off to find the man they now both love.

The Host is a really gripping story about one human woman’s fight against an invading power and the persistence of love. It explores what it means to be truly human through a unique lens as the first-person perspective is warped by the fact there are two souls in one mind.

Honestly, you’ll be shocked that the author of Twilight also wrote this book as the style and content are so very different.

Buy The Host: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Legend by Marie Lu

Legend by Marie Lu is set in a dystopian America that is ruled by the military who are constantly fighting to hold back the rebels.

There’s a clear divide in society between the rich and poor and your place in it is determined by a test you sit as a child. If you show promise and pass the test, you can continue your education with the very best students gaining places in the military.

Meanwhile, the children who fail the test become the property of the state and end up in labour camps. Plagues regularly ravage the poorest areas of society where people cannot afford healthcare or cures. If you’re rich, you’re vaccinated each year.

This story focuses on two teenagers, June and Day. Whilst June is from one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts and pegged for great military success, Day is a wanted criminal.

Their paths cross when June’s brother is killed and June is named as the prime suspect. The teenagers hate each other at first but together they begin to unravel the secrets of the society they live in and begin to work with each other instead of against each other. No prizes for guessing that a romance begins to develop between the pair.

Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that this ya dystopian novel is written by a diverse author and contains racially diverse characters. Always a win!

Buy Legend: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

Noughts and Crosses is without a doubt the most powerful book on the list and an incredibly topical read in light of the recent focus on the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

What’s perhaps most shocking is the parallels between some events in this book and those that have taken place recently, even though Noughts and Crosses was published 20 years ago in 2001.

In this dystopian world, “Crosses” (black people) are the privileged and “Noughts” (white people) are seen as inferior.

The two main characters are Sephy and Callum, who grew up playing together and are the best of friends. But Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought.

Their relationship grows increasingly complicated as they grow older and hints of a romance develop between them. The prejudiced world they live in and their wildly different social statuses mean that the odds are stacked against them as a couple.

To make matters more difficult, Sephy’s dad is a top politician whilst Callum’s family is involved in an underground rebel movement.

With themes of love, rebellion, race, injustice, family and more, this dystopian young adult book is one that will stay with me forever.

Noughts and Crosses is a thought-provoking and heart-wrenching read that will leave you reeling long after you turn the last page.

Buy Noughts and Crosses: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld actually arrived on the scene years before either The Hunger Games or Divergent and is one of the OG young adult dystopian books.

In this world, society is split into Uglies and Pretties. Everyone is born an Ugly, but at the age of sixteen, all teenagers undergo surgery to transform them into a Pretty.

And main character Tally can’t wait.

She’s spent her whole life waiting for the moment she can walk across into Prettyville and participate in all the amazing parties she’s spied there in the distance.

After Tally’s only friend comes of age and leaves for Prettyville, Tally befriends a girl named Shay. Unlike Tally, Shay is rebellious and doesn’t want to become a Pretty.

She tells Tally of a rebel tribe who live away from the rest of society and never undergo the transformation to being Pretty. There, the Uglies live as they please. And Shay’s determined to find and join them.

Tally is reluctant so Shay takes off on her own, leaving Tally clues to help find her if she changes her mind. The problem is Shay’s disappearance and their close relationship draws the attention of the authorities who refuse to make Tally a Pretty until she leads them to the rebels.

This story is a slow burner but once it got going I loved it. It’s a classic young adult dystopian series about rebels fighting an authoritarian state and the focus on aesthetics and beauty is a nice touch.

Read this one now as there’s a film adaptation in the works starring Joey King (The Kissing Booth).

For an adult, classic dystopian novel of this story, try Facial Justice by L P Hartley.

Buy Uglies: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Matched by Ally Condie

Matched by Ally Condie is one of the most popular YA dystopian romance novels with all the dystopian tropes you’d expect.

Like many others on this list, the story centres around a teenager living in a regimented society who then realises that there might be another way to live.

In this world, teenagers’ lives are totally planned or “matched” by society. Their careers are chosen by society, their meals are prepped by society and their partners are chosen by society.

There is very little free will but the society uses algorithms to determine the best path for each individual. Less choice, less conflict, right?

On the day of Cassia’s matching, two strange things happen. The first is that she’s matched with her best friend, Xander, who she’s known since birth. It’s an incredibly rare occurrence for one one’s match to be from the same district and even rarer that they already know each other.

When you are matched, you are presented with a microcard containing all the information you need to know about your match. However, when Cassia opens her microcard, she does not see Xander’s face, but Ky’s, another boy from her neighbourhood.

She’s told that this was merely a glitch and that Xander is definitely the right match for her. But Cassia can’t get Ky out of her mind. She begins to question everything about the regimented world she has grown up in and she begins her small rebellion.

Buy Matched: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Now for a few classic dystopian novels for teens. These are often studied at school.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

In considering classic dystopian literature, 1984 is usually the first book that comes to mind. The story is set in a dystopian surveillance state where people are constantly watched and scrutinised by “Big Brother”, a symbolic head of state.

It tells the story of Winston Smith, in charge of rewriting the past to suit the dialogue the ruling party wish to present. However, Winston is tired of conforming and living under a totalitarian regime and begins to have rebellious thoughts. He begins an affair with another worker, Julia, but discovers that the price of freedom will be betrayal.

Nineteen Eight-Four is an incredibly thought-provoking novel and one of the top English classics to read. It is an incredibly powerful book and the fact it has been repeatedly banned over the years for its social and political commentary is testament to that.

In studying the dystopian world portrayed in Orwell’s masterpiece, you begin to see similarities with the world we live in today. And it’s worrying.

Buy Nineteen Eighty-Four: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies is a classic dystopian novel for teenagers that is most often introduced to readers at school. It begins when a plane crashes on an island leaving a group of young boys as the only survivors.

With no adults at all to tell them how to live, the boys try to create their own civilised society on the island whilst they wait to be rescued.

However, order and all sense of morality quickly break down and many of the boys become savages, focussed solely on hunting and meat rather than their rescue. It’s an interesting study of human nature and, according to Golding, what truly lies in man’s heart.

This novel is disturbing, even graphic at times, but nothing is more disturbing than the ending of this book when you realise that perhaps man in “civilised” society isn’t so different from the boys on this island. Their war-hungry actions are just dressed up differently.

If you loved books like The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner then you need to read Lord of the Flies. The classic by Golding came decades before these new YA novels but they share themes such as loss of humanity, loss of innocence, survival instinct and more.

James Dashner, the author of The Maze Runner, has often cited Lord of the Flies as a source of inspiration and the parallels are clear. Both stories involve a group of teenage boys, left to their own devices and fighting for survival. Whilst Dashner’s novel is less nuanced, it is more entertaining.

Lord of the Flies is a quick read with only around 200 or so pages and is well worth spending an afternoon getting stuck into.

Buy Lord of the Flies: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm is one of the best and most famous allegorical tales to date. It is about a group of animals who wrest control of their farm from the human farmer in search of equality and freedom. Instead, a dictatorship develops and one animal takes control of them all.

Orwell uses the animals as an extended metaphor to satirise humankind and this veiled story inspired by Stalin’s Russia is still relevant today. It is a brutish and harsh dystopian story about fear, conformity, dehumanisation and control.

The total freedom the animals sought is short-lived as the animals must follow a set of seven commandments, including restrictions like “no animal shall ever wear clothes” or “no animal shall kill any other animal”.

This is one of the OG dystopian stories and a classic example of where trying to create a “good” society can actually result in the creation of an even worse and more restrictive one.

Many of the ruling powers in the young adult dystopian books on this list believe that they are there to do good and that the society they’ve created is better when it is, in fact, much, much worse.

Buy Animal Farm: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

RELATED: Books Like The Little Prince for Adults

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale has earned the title of modern classic and is becoming an increasingly popular title in school curriculums. This classic dystopian novel has recently seen a resurgence in its popularity due to the story’s HBO TV adaptation, but this book has been wowing readers for decades.

The Handmaid’s Tale is set in the fictional Republic of Gilead where birth rates have reached an all-time low. In fact, a successful pregnancy is so rare that only wealthy households have babies. These households have “Handmaids” whose sole purpose is to produce a healthy baby for the rich family they live with.

Once a month, when she is most fertile, the Handmaid will spread her legs for the master of the house, praying that she becomes pregnant as she’s only useful if she conceives a baby for the family.

RELATED: Books Like The Handmaid’s Tale

The story focuses on Offred, a Handmaid at the Commander’s house. She often reminisces about what life was like before she became a Handmaid and was free to live a normal life.

She once had a husband, a daughter, a job, money of her own, things that most women today are privy to. But all that is gone now and the only valuable part of her is her womb.

What’s most disturbing about The Handmaid’s Tale, and one of the reasons it remains so popular, is that some elements of this dystopian existence are not so removed from the world we live in today. This powerful book sparked a wave of feminist dystopia literature and is a must-read.

Buy The Handmaid’s Tale: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

If you liked this post, check out these:
Feminist Dystopia Books Like The Handmaid’s Tale
YA Dystopian Novels Like The Hunger Games
17 Addicting Books to Read
26 Young Adult Fantasy Books to Read
Lord of the Flies Book Review

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Laura

Founder & Editor of What’s Hot?

Laura is an award-winning travel and book blogger based in the UK. She studied French literature at Oxford University and is now an IP lawyer at a top law firm in London. She was named UK Book Blogger of the Year in 2019 and loves to combine her passion for books and travel with literary travel.