Dystopian Books?
- Thread starter MonkeyNews
- Start date
Man of Honour
"an often futuristic society that has degraded into a repressive and controlled state"
Have you actually read the book? I'm not going to spoil the plot by citing the reasons it is dystopian.
"A Scanner Darkly is a BSFA Award winning[1] 1977 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The semi-autobiographical story is set in a dystopian Orange County, California, in the then-future of June 1994."
Oh I'm sure the OP has read it but just in case, 1984.
Have you actually read the book? I'm not going to spoil the plot by citing the reasons it is dystopian.
"A Scanner Darkly is a BSFA Award winning[1] 1977 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The semi-autobiographical story is set in a dystopian Orange County, California, in the then-future of June 1994."
Oh I'm sure the OP has read it but just in case, 1984.
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As good as PFH's early works are I'd not call them dystopian, Richard Morgan's Terminal world would be closer and very recent, it is kind of post apocalyptic at least in the zones where technology doesn't work. In the same vein, i.e kind of post apolcalyptic - Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space & Chasm city have societies that have had high tech, some of it failed or becoming dangerous to use and society fragmenting/regressing - I loved them.
Great shouts re Brave new world, & I am legend.
Man of Honour
Thanks, but yes, I've read it. Any dystopian aspects of the book are all but irrelevant. The aim of dystopian literature is to comment on aspects of society, usually by positing a greatly exaggerated version: something Dick really didn't care about, in that book, or generally in most others. The nearest he got was probably The Man in the High Castle, or maybe Martian Time-Slip.
M
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Permabanned
Pretty much anything Philip K. Dick.
Behave..
Soldato
Yevgeni Zamyatin's "We" is pretty much the starting point upon which Orwell et al picked up on and ran with in different ways.
Fantastic choice and I'd say it's better than 1984 and Brave New World.
Also who ever said "the Road" is overated...behave
Soldato
I will be honest here and say that I haven't read the book, yet... However the BBC radio production had me hooked within the first few minutes. 
I'd argue that Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand can be classed as dystopian. The picture that she paints of the world as rationalism leaves it is stark, and as disturbing as most dystopias that I have read.
Brave New World is also excellent and well worth a read. I though that 1984 was good, but didn't live up to its reputation.
Regarding Anthem, I'm a bit torn on it. On the one hand, it's a clever idea, and clearly paves the way for Rand's later work. On the other, it would have been a better novel (rather than philosophical manuscript, for example) had it set the dystopia out more fully. It felt a bit half baked.
Brave New World is also excellent and well worth a read. I though that 1984 was good, but didn't live up to its reputation.
Regarding Anthem, I'm a bit torn on it. On the one hand, it's a clever idea, and clearly paves the way for Rand's later work. On the other, it would have been a better novel (rather than philosophical manuscript, for example) had it set the dystopia out more fully. It felt a bit half baked.
I will be honest here and say that I haven't read the book, yet... However the BBC radio production had me hooked within the first few minutes.
Haha fair enough, it's really short and can be read in a few sittings so now excuses
I had to read it for one of my degree modules and loved it.