Top Ten Books I’d Give To Readers Who Have Never Read YA Dystopian

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is “Top Ten Books I’d Give To Readers Who Have Never Read X”.

So, of course I would go with YA Dystopian. It is kind of my “home genre” if you will. The place I feel most comfortable, and the genre that got me back into reading again. I love it, okay? And maybe, if someone hadn’t read any yet, these books would make them love it too!

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Because obviously. It’s the book that led me to love the genre, and really, YA in general. Also, people who’ve never heard of THG confuse me. Where are they hiding?

2. The Giver by Lois Lowry. Confession time: I am only halfway done with this book, and yes, it is the first time reading it, even though I was very much alive and of reading age in 1993, and owned a huge collection of Lois Lowry books (Anastasia Krupnik, anyone?). How The Giver passed me by back in the day, I’ll still never know. But it is kind of the start of the trend, no? (And I don’t want to hear any guff about how it is probably technically Middle Grade. Shush.)

3. Delirium by Lauren Oliver. Really, everyone kind of needs a dystopian that is all about love.

4. Divergent by Veronica Roth. Because all your friends have read it, and you don’t know about Allegiant yet, and you want to see that chick from Secret Life and TFiOS in another movie.

5. Ashfall by Mike Mullin. Because it could happen. You can feel how it can happen. That is one of the most terrifying parts about this one. It isn’t set in some far away future, it is more post-apocalyptic, and the thought is terrifying.

6. Blood Red Road by Moira Young. This book will branch you out a bit. The dialect will throw you, but the story will hook you.

7. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi. This one is a little different, delving into a bit more sci-fi, futuristic stuff.

8. The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Because now that you’ve conquered all that dystopian humans have to offer, let’s throw in some aliens, ‘kay?

9. Angelfall by Susan Ee. Aliens were fun, so now you want dystopian angels, you say? Done and done.

10. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Because it’s Patrick Ness, and because this series is amazing. Plus, I feel like it is the first book that got me to broaden my horizons a bit with the stuff I was reading. And you’ve done aliens and angels and such, so you might as well move along to Spackle and Spaceships.

Congratulations, now you have read a whole bunch of YA dystopian featuring everything from humans to Manchee. And if you’re anything like me, life will never be the same!

Obviously, this is in no way a full list, just a little way to introduce a new reader to the genre bit by bit! Which books would you insist that a dystopian newbie read? 

Posted August 5, 2014 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Top Ten Tuesday / 26 Comments

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26 responses to “Top Ten Books I’d Give To Readers Who Have Never Read YA Dystopian

    • I finished it last night after I wrote this post! It was a very quick read, but disturbing. It was good, but left me with a horribly uneasy feeling. (Which, I guess makes sense considering the topic!)

  1. I haven’t read a dystopian in a while, of course Hunger Games was my first and I go through phases where it’s all I want to read, I just haven’t had one in a while. The last I read was Infinitude by Ruchi Banerjee and one I would recommend for newbies is Proxy by Alex London. Awesome list!

    • Ohh, I haven’t read those yet! Off to search Goodreads for them, I kind of love a dystopian 😉 Though I agree, I totally go through phases myself. Sometimes I need ALL the dystopians, and then I get kind of burned out.

    • It was good! And it is such a short book, I finished it in about 2 hours or so. I am still sorting out my feelings on it for a review, but I think it is most definitely worth reading.

  2. Hunger Games, Divergent, Angelfall, Under the Never Sky.. All amazing reads!! I STILL need to read The Host, but I’m nervous because I loved the movie a lot and I don’t want it to ruin the book. I also want to read The Giver and Ashfall. Great list! 🙂

    -Holly

    • No no, if you loved the movie, you will extra-love the book! I really liked the movie- it was quite true to the book- but it simply couldn’t encompass all the feels of the book. Seriously, the book is amazing. But beware- it does start off a bit slow. But then you are like, up for 10 hours straight, because you can’t stop reading!

  3. The Hunger Games is what got me into dystopian and young adult too. I haven’t heard of Ashfall before, I’m going to check it out next. I’d probably recommend Legend, after the Hunger Games of course.

  4. I do really, really need to read Patrick Ness. I didn’t know that the Knife of Letting Go was dystopian? That makes it better! I do like dystopian, but I tend to stick to fantasy more.

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