Inside: Our pick of the best YA dystopian books series for teens.

If your teen is new to dystopian fiction, or even if they have already discovered the genre through popular books like The Hunger Games or Divergent, then these thrilling book suggestions will propel them straight into the strange new worlds of dystopia.

65+ YA dystopian books for teens

What is dystopian fiction?

For those new to the genre, books within the genre of dystopian fiction offer readers a vision into the future where life is worse off than we are now, with characters battling elements such as environmental ruin, dangers caused by technological advancement, and oppressive government control. Information, independent thought and freedom are often restricted, and the primary characters fight for survival within the setting of a potential future life on Earth.

As with all of the lists in our Cool Chapter Books collection, each title in this list of YA dystopian fiction links to an Amazon and/or Book Depository page (these are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you) where you can find more information and reviews for titles you might not be personally familiar with.

21 Thrilling YA Dystopian Books Series for Teens

The Sky So Heavy by Claire Zorn The Sky So Heavy
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?
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Read more about Fin and Max’s adventure in the gripping sequel, When We Are Invisible: Amazon | The Book Depository
The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble The Dog Runner
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 in 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.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
The Giver (book 1 of the series) by Lois Lowry The Giver dystopian fiction

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. 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. And 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.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Read the entire quartet: Amazon | The Book Depository

Flawed by Cecilia Ahern Flawed dystopian fiction for teens
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.  But 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 her society perfection is paramount, and flaws lead to punishment.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Read the stunning conclusion in Perfect: Amazon | The Book Depository

YA Dystopian Books list continues below.

The Darkest Minds (book 1 of the series) by Alexandra Bracken The Darkest Minds dystopian fiction for teens
On Ruby’s tenth birthday something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that got her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government rehabilitation camp. She might have survived the mysterious disease that killed most of America’s children, but she and the others emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control. Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones. But when the truth about Ruby’s abilities comes out, she barely escape with her life. On the run, she joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp and they journey together in the hope of locating the one safe haven left for kids like them—East River. With danger all around, Ruby must learn who she can trust, and if she can actually trust herself!
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository

Continue following Ruby and her friends’ dangerous journey in the four book series: Amazon | The Book Depository
Shatter Me (book 1 of the series) by Tahereh Mafi Shatter Me: Dystopian YA
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.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Grab the entire six book Shatter Me series: Amazon | The Book Depository
A Thousand Pieces of You (book 1 of the Firebird trilogy) by Claudia Gray A THousand Pieces of You
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.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Continue reading the Firebird trilogy with Ten Thousand Skies Above You and A Million Worlds With You: Amazon
The Selection (book 1 of the series) by Keira Cass The Selection by Kiera 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.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Read the entire 5 book series of The Selection: Amazon | The Book Depository
Whisper by Lynette Noni Whisper Lynette Noni
For two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes Subject Six-Eight-Four, ‘Jane Doe’, has been locked away and experimented upon…without uttering 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. 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.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Find out more about the dangerous world Jane is trying to outrun in the exciting conclusion, Weapon
: Amazon
Matched (book 1 of the series) by Ally Condie Matched: YA dystopian novels for teens
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 another face flash for an instant before 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 ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Follow Cassia’s adventure through this stunning trilogy: Amazon | The Book Depository

YA Dystopian Books list continues below.

Imposters (book 1 of the series) by Scott Westerfield Imposters: Teen dystopian fiction
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 while 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.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Continue reading the thrilling Imposters series: Amazon | The Book Depository
Cinder (book 1 of The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyers YA dystopian books for teens: Cinder
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 place Cinder in the centre in a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen. Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal as she uncovers the secrets of her mysterious past, which may just be the key to protecting Earth’s future.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Dive into the complete series six book series: Amazon | The Book Depository
Wakers (book 1 of the trilogy) by Orson Scott Card Wakers: Teen dystopian fiction
Laz is a side-stepper: a teen with the incredible power to jump his consciousness to alternate 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 happened to the vibrant and bustling world he remembers, and he struggles to survive in the barren wasteland he’s now trapped in. There’s only a single bright spot in Laz’s new life: one other clone appears to still 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 up, she’ll be trapped in this hellscape with him.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Stay tuned for the remaining titles in this newly released trilogy.
Uglies (book 1 of the series) by Scott Westerfield Uglies dystopian book series 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 new 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.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Read more of Tally’s adventure in the four book series of Uglies: Amazon | The Book Depository
The Last 8 (book 1 of a duology) by Laura Pohl The Last 8
Clover Martinez has always been a survivor, which is the only reason she isn’t among the dead when aliens invade and destroy Earth as she knows it. When Clover hears an inexplicable radio message, she’s shocked to learn there are other survivors. When she arrives at Area 51 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 then she finds a hidden spaceship within the compound, and she doesn’t know what to believe, or who to trust.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Read the awesome conclusion in the sequel, The First 7: Amazon | The Book Depository
Gone (first book in the series) by Michael Grant Gone dystopian fiction YA
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!
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Continue reading this page turning, six book series: Amazon | The Book Depository

YA Dystopian Books list continues below.

The 100 (book 1 of the series) by Kass Morgan The 100 dystopian fiction for teens
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!
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Grab all four novels in this thrilling series: Amazon | The Book Depository
The Maze Runner (book 1 of the series) by James Dashner The Maze Runner
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 limitless, 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.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Continue reading the thrilling five book dystopian series: Amazon | The Book Depository
Read the book and then watch the movie! For great teen reads, like The Maze Runner, that have been turned into movies, check out our list – 50 Teen Books Made Into Movies.
Divergent (book 1 of the series) by Veronica Roth Divergent book series review
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian world, 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, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is. She knows that she can’t have both, and her choice surprises everyone, including herself. But the danger isn’t over yet. 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. As the growing conflict between the factions forces her to take action and make a choice – reveal her power or let everyone be destroyed?
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Continue reading this captivating dystopian novel series: Amazon | The Book Depository
The Hunger Games (book 1 of the series) by Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games dystopian fiction YA
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen lives in Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve starving districts, and regards the Hunger Games – a deadly competition between one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and 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 her second nature, and soon, without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. 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 that choice.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Read the entire series with a four book box set: Amazon | The Book Depository
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline Ready Player One
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.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Continue exploring Wade’s adventures in the OASIS in the sequel, Ready Player Two: Amazon | The Book Depository





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