The Best Dystopian Novels of 2018

In 2016, I published a roundup list of The 110 Best Dystopian Novels. Of course, many new dystopian novels came out during the remainder of 2016 and in the two years since. In order to keep my list updated over time, I am releasing annual rankings of the best dystopian novels published each year. Here are the best dystopian novels of 2018 based on curated lists from Book Bub, The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly and more, suggestions from readers on Goodreads and Reddit, and ratings on Goodreads and Amazon.

To complement these rankings, I have created two pieces of bonus content:

1. Dystopian fiction book recommendations from sixteen contemporary dystopian authors like Guillermo Stitch (author of the number four book on this list), Neal Shusterman and Lois Lowry.
2. 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 Novels of 2018!

5. Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi

The fourth novel in Mafi’s six-book Shatter Me series returns to a dystopian North America with lethal protagonist Juliette Ferrars holding power, that is, until a sudden tragedy threatens her control over her supernatural abilities. Restore Me was a finalist in the Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy category of the Goodreads Choice Awards, and the Shatter Me series is slated for a television adaptation beginning later this year.

4. Literature® by Guillermo Stitch

Stitch’s debut novel tracks a day in the life of Billy Stringer, a sports journalist living in a distant future where reading and writing fiction is illegal. When the only remaining approved fiction producer recruits Billy for a job, he must hide his supply of black-market books before his prospective employer kills him and seizes his contraband.

Click here to download dystopian fiction recommendations from Guillermo Stitch and several other dystopian authors.

3. Iron Gold by Pierce Brown

The first novel in a new trilogy that picks up ten years after the events of Brown’s Red Rising trilogy follows the rebels-turned-leaders of a burgeoning republic as they fight an ongoing interstellar war against enemies old and new. Amazon editors listed Iron Gold as one of the twenty best science fiction and fantasy books of 2018.

2. Red Clocks by Leni Zumas

In a future America, abortion and in vitro fertilization are illegal, and the Personhood Amendment gives every human embryo the right to life, liberty and property. As five women attempt to maneuver through these regulations, their stories come to a head when one of them is arrested and put on trial. The Washington Post named Red Clocks one of the five best fiction books of 2018.

1. Year One by Nora Roberts

A viral epidemic wipes out nearly 80% of Earth’s human population, electrical grids sputter, governments collapse and a large percentage of the surviving population develops magical abilities. Amidst the violence and chaos of a ravaged America, two witches join a group of travelers heading west to begin a new life. Roberts’ apocalyptic vision was named a finalist in the Fantasy category of the Goodreads Choice Awards.