It’s time for my annual addendum to my roundup list of The 110 Best Dystopian Novels. Here are the best dystopian books of 2019 based on curated lists from Book Riot, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly and more, suggestions from readers on Goodreads, and ratings on Goodreads and Amazon.
To complement these rankings, I have created two pieces of bonus content:
- Recommendations for the best dystopian books from sixteen contemporary dystopian authors like Rohith S. Katbamna (author of the number five book on this year’s list), Neal Shusterman (author of the number three book) and Lois Lowry.
- A one-page PDF shopping guide to the complete list of The Best Dystopian Novels.
You can access both of these free resources using the form below. And now, on with The Best Dystopian Books of 2019!
5. Down and Rising by Rohith S. Katbamna
Katbamna’s debut novel is set in a near-future England where ten survivors of mass conflict and chaos join together in pursuit of truth as a malicious foe threatens to destroy them and all other life.
Click here to download dystopian fiction recommendations from Rohith S. Katbamna and several other dystopian authors.4. The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
Told they have the power to tempt men and ruin women, sixteen-year-old girls are banished to the dangerous wilderness for one year. The Grace Year was a semifinalist in the Young Adult Fiction category of the Goodreads Choice Awards and was named one of the best Teen and Young Adult books of the year by Amazon’s editors.
3. The Toll by Neal Shusterman
The final installment in Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe trilogy showcases the culminating battle between humanity and the “scythes” trained to cull the population. Like the first two installments in the series, The Toll was a finalist in the Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy category of the Goodreads Choice Awards and was named one of the best Teen and Young Adult books of the year by Amazon’s editors.
Click here to download dystopian fiction recommendations from Neal Shusterman and several other dystopian authors.2. Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
All across a collapsing America under threat from a violent militia, some people fall into an uncommunicative sleepwalking state while their friends and family follow them to their unknown destination and attempt to unravel the mystery behind the sleepwalking epidemic. Book Riot listed Wanderers as one of the twenty best post-apocalyptic books of 2019, and Publishers Weekly and The Washington Post named it one of the best books of the year.
1. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Atwood’s long-awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale continues the saga of the theocratic Republic of Gilead and follows three women as they work to undermine the weakening regime. The Testaments shared the 2019 Man Booker Prize and was named the best book of the year by Amazon editors and the best fiction book in the Goodreads Choice Awards.
Given its critical and popular reception, The Testaments is not only one of the best dystopian books of 2019. It would have also ranked seventy-third on my original list of The 110 Best Dystopian Novels (ahead of Partials and behind Snow Crash).