25 Thrilling YA Dystopian Books for Teens
Environmental ruin. Dangerous technological advances. Oppressive governments. Extraterrestrial invasion. Dystopian fiction throws teens into high-pressure futures where survival is never guaranteed, and where the odds are usually stacked against them.
It’s no surprise these stories are so compelling. In many dystopian worlds, information is controlled, freedom is limited, and independent thought is discouraged – constraints that push characters to question, resist, and fight back. For teens, experiencing a life stage characterised by intense emotions and the development of personal views on issues such as justice, fairness, loyalty and authority, these stories offer more than escape—they offer recognition, challenge, and a space to consider what those values really mean.
Our teenager loves dystopian fiction – as do I as both a teacher and a book lover – and we’ve worked together to collate this collection of 25 YA dystopian books (and book series for extra reading hours!) for teens.
25 Thrilling YA Dystopian Books for Teens
As with all of the lists in our Chapter Books collection, each title in this list of YA dystopian fiction links to an Amazon page where you can find more information about titles you might not be personally familiar with (these are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you).
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It is the future. And in the future there is no war, no hunger, no pain. No one in the community wants for anything. Everything needed is provided. And at twelve years old, each member of the community has their profession carefully chosen for them by the Committee of Elders.
Jonas has never thought there was anything wrong with his world. But from the moment he is selected as the Receiver of Memory, Jonas discovers that their community is not as perfect as it might seen. He begins to question the very heart of how the community lives. It is only with the help of the Giver, that Jonas can find what has been lost. And it is only through his personal courage that Jonas finds the strength to do what is right.
The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble
An ugly red fungus has killed all of the plant food sources in Australia in a future where climate change has devastated the natural environment. Ella and her brother are alone in a city that’s starving to death. If they are going to survive, they must get away, upcountry, to find Emery’s mum. But how can two kids travel such big distances across a dry, barren and dangerous landscape? The answer lays with their beloved big dogs and a dog sled.
But when Emery is injured, Elle finds herself suddenly responsible for safely navigating the wheeled dog-sled through rough terrain, and even rougher encounters with desperate people.
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can’t wait. In just a few weeks she’ll have the operation that will turn her from a repellent ugly into a stunning pretty. And as a pretty, she’ll be catapulted into a high-tech paradise where her only job is to have fun.
But Tally’s new friend Shay isn’t sure she wants to become a pretty. And when Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole other side of the pretty world—and it isn’t very pretty. The authorities offer Tally a choice: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. Tally’s choice will change her world forever.
Cinder by Marissa Meyers
Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series transforms classic fairy tales into dystopian tales, starting with Cinderella. Cinder is a gifted mechanic in New Beijing. She is also a cyborg. Reviled by her stepmother and blamed when her stepsister is infected with the deadly virus sweeping the city, her life is forever changed when a chance meeting with the handsome Prince Kai places Cinder in a violent struggle with an evil queen.
Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal as she uncovers the secrets of her own mysterious past, which may just be the key to protecting the Earth’s future.
The Sky So Heavy by Claire Zorn
Fin’s day started like any other. Only it’s not like any other day because, on the other side of the world, nuclear missiles are being detonated. When Fin wakes up the next morning, it’s dark, bitterly cold, and snow is falling. There’s no internet, no phone, no TV, no power, and no parents. Nothing Fin’s learned in school could have prepared him for this.
With his parents missing and dwindling food and water supplies, Fin and his younger brother Max must find a way to survive all on their own. When things are at their most desperate, where can you go for help?
The Selection by Keira Cass
For thirty-five girls, The Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth, to be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels, to live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.
But for America Singer being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, a boy in the caste below her. But then America meets Prince Maxon, and gradually, she starts to question all of the plans she’s made for herself, and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to the future she never imagined.
Whisper by Lynette Noni
For two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes, Subject Six-Eight-Four, known as ‘Jane Doe’, has been locked away and experimented upon…and she hasn’t uttered a single word.
Life at Lengard follows a strict, torturous routine that has never changed. Until now. When Jane is assigned a new -and unexpectedly kind – evaluator, her resolve to remain mute begins to crack. But as she uncovers the truth about Lengard’s mysterious ‘program’, Jane discovers that her own secret is at the heart of a sinister plot, and one wrong move, one wrong word, could change the entire world.
Matched by Ally Condie
In The Society, officials decide everything: who you love; where you work; when you die. Cassia has always trusted their choices, it’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job and the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one, until she sees the flash of another face for just an instant as the screen fades to black.
Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has dared follow – between perfection and passion.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The YA book game was changed forever in 2008 when The Hunger Games was first published! In the first book of the series, we meet sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen and her family who live in the twelfth district of Panem, the country comprising of a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve starving districts. Children in the districts regard the Hunger Games – a fight to the death between one boy and one girl aged twelve to eighteen from each of the districts – as a death sentence.
So it’s a surprise to everyone when Katniss volunteers to take her younger sister’s place in the 74th Hunger Games. But Katniss has come close to death before and survival is second nature to her, and soon, without really meaning to, she becomes a real contender to win the Games. But if she wants to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity, and she’s not sure if she can live with those choices.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone. Outside the towering stone walls that surround their encampment, known as The Glade, is a terrifying, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—but no one’s ever made it through alive.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying, because she marks the beginning of the end!
Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
Considered a classic of Australian YA fiction, Tomorrow, When the War Began is a compelling, realistic story of courage, friendship and loyalty.
Returning from a bush camping trip with a group of friends, Ellie discovers that everyone in her small, country town has disappeared, their homes stand empty, pets and livestock dead. The friends find out that Australia has been invaded, and in their town, all of the residents – parents, siblings and friends – have been taken captive.
The seven friends face a life and death decision – return to bush and hide, hand themselves over to be with their families, or fight back and try to make a difference.
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
On Ruby’s tenth birthday something changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that saw her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government rehabilitation camp.
Ruby might have survived the mysterious disease that killed most of America’s children, but she and the others held at the camp emerged with something far worse – frightening abilities they cannot control. Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the most dangerous, and when the truth about her abilities is exposed, she barely escapes with her life. On the run, she joins a group of other kids who have escaped the camps, and they journey together in the hope of locating the one safe haven left for kids like them – a place called East River. With danger all around, Ruby must learn whom she can trust, and if she can actually trust herself!
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
In 2091 Portland, Maine, society classifies love as a deadly disease, with a mandatory, government mandated cure is required once you turn eighteen.
Seventeen year old Lena Holloway believes in the cure. She knows that a life without love is a life without pain. She welcomes the promise of a future that is predictable and safe. And then, ninety five days before her treatment, the unthinkable happens.
Lena Holloway falls in love.
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did – it was an accident – but that didn’t stop The Reestablishment from locking her up for murder!
No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal, and the world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. The Reestablishment say their way is the only way to fix things, so they throw Juliette in a cell. Now, so many people are dead that the survivors are beginning to whisper about a revolution, and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
The Road to Winter by Mark Smith
Finn and his dog Rowdy are the only inhabitants left in the coastal town of Angowrie since a mysterious virus (and the violence that followed) ravaged communities across the world.
Finn survives by being resourceful and keeping out of sight of the Wilders, an armed and dangerous gang. When a girl runs onto his beach, fleeing enslavement by the Wilders, Finn makes a split second decision to help her. Rose is sick, injured and desperate to find her younger sister, Kas, after the pair became separated whilst trying to escape. As Rose is too ill to search for Kas herself, Finn makes a plan to draw the Wilder’s out in an attempt to find the missing girl. It’s a dangerous mission and Finn must navigate
Exploring themes of social justice, including basic human rights and the plight of refugees, against the background of a postapocalyptic Australian landscape, Smith has created a story of hope, heroism and heartbreak.
Flawed by Cecilia Ahern
Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan. Then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found FLAWED.
Because in Celestine’s society perfection is paramount, and flaws lead to punishment.
A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their ground breaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into different universes and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite’s father is murdered, and the killer, her parent’s handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul, escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.
Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free, so she races after Paul through the universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul’s guilt—as well as her own heart. And discovers the truth behind her father’s death is far more sinister than she expected
Imposters by Scott Westerfield
Frey and Rafi are inseparable but very few people have ever seen them together, because Frey is Rafi’s twin sister and body double. Frey only exists to protect her sister, and where Rafi has been taught to charm, Frey has been taught to kill. Frey has never been out in the world on her own – until their rich and powerful father sends her in Rafi’s place to act as collateral in a dangerous deal.
Everyone thinks she’s her sister – but Col, the son of a rival leader, is starting to get close enough to tell the difference. As the stakes grow higher, Frey must decide whether she can trust him – or indeed, anyone in her life.
Wakers by Orson Scott Card
Laz is a side-stepper: a teen with the incredible power to alter his consciousness to inhabit alternative versions of himself in parallel worlds. All his life, there was no mistake that a little side-stepping couldn’t fix. Until Laz wakes up one day in a cloning facility on a seemingly abandoned Earth and finds himself surrounded by hundreds of other clones, all dead, and realizes that he is not the original Laz, he is a clone.
Laz has no idea what has happened to the vibrant and bustling world he remembers, and he struggles to survive in the barren wasteland he now finds himself in. There’s only one bright spot in Laz’s new life: one other clone appears to be alive, although she remains asleep. Deep down, Laz believes that this girl holds the key to the questions plaguing him, but if he wakes her, she’ll be trapped in this hellscape with him.
The Last 8 by Laura Pohl
Clover Martinez has always been a survivor, which is probably the only reason she isn’t among the dead when aliens invade Earth! Then Clover hears an inexplicable radio message and is she shocked to learn there are other survivors.
Clover travels to Area 51 where she’s greeted by a band of misfits who call themselves The Last Teenagers on Earth. Unfortunately, they aren’t the group of heroes Clover was expecting, and seem more interested in hiding than fighting back. Clover soon starts to wonder if she was better off alone! But when she finds a hidden spaceship within the compound, and she doesn’t know what to believe, or who to trust.
Gone by Michael Grant
In the blink of an eye, the adults all disappear. Gone. Just the young remain. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No answers. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what’s happened.
Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents – unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers that grow stronger by the day. It’s a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, and a fight is coming – townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: because on your 15th birthday, you disappear just like everyone else!
Divergent by Veronica Roth
In Roth’s hugely popular dystopian series, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). One day each year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives.
For Beatrice, this decision is between staying with her family and being true to who she really is. She knows that she can’t have both. During her initiation Tris must undergo extreme physical tests and simulations designed to target her every weakness, and she soon realises that she must determine who is really on her side, because Tris has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone in order to stay alive. Soon a growing conflict between the factions forces her to make another choice – reveal her power or let everyone be destroyed?
One great way to engage reluctant readers with new genres is to invite them to read the book before watching the movie. There are so many great teen reads, like The Maze Runner and Divergent, that have been turned into movies, and you can find my pick of the top 50 in this list, 50 Teen Books Made Into Movies.
This Savage Song by V.E.Schwab
In a dark dystopian future, in the war-torn city of Verity, acts of violence create actual monsters! A tenuous treaty has divided the city into halves. Kate Harker is the daughter of a ruthless crime boss who rules one side, charging the residents for protection against the army of monsters he’s recruited. August Flynn is from the other side of town. The adopted son of a more moderate leader who wants to honour the terms of the treaty and keep his citizens safe. August is also a monster…who longs to be human.
When August is sent to pose as a student at Kate’s school (in case she’s needed as leverage against her father), the two become unlikely allies when August is framed for an attack that would threaten the fragile peace of V-City. August must be careful though because if Kate finds out the truth of what he really is, there will be no better way for her to prove herself to father then by capturing one of the Flynn’s monsters!
The 100 by Kass Morgan
Ever since a devastating nuclear war, the remains of humanity have survived on spaceships far above Earth’s radioactive surface.
Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents – considered expendable by society – are being sent on a dangerous mission to re-colonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life, or it could be a suicide mission!
The story is narrated by four of the teenagers as they adjust to their new surroundings and fight for survival on an unpopulated and dangerous planet Earth.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within the confines of the amazing digital world, puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
But when Wade stumbles upon the solution to the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win—and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
As a genre, dystopian has proven extremely popular with teens, engaging all types and levels of readers. I would encourage you to incorporate dystopian books into your classroom library for independent reading, use in literary circles or as a whole class novel.
For more great books for teens, check out these collections;
- 15 Murder Mysteries for Teens
- 21 Star Wars Novels for Teens
- 13 Classics Adapted to Graphic Novels for Teens
- 10 YA Medical Fiction Novels
