13 Dystopian Novels That Hit A Little Too Close To Home RN
Ngl, it feels like we’re on the brink of an apocalypse.
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1. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - ₹1,480 for paperback and ₹236 for Kindle

This is probably one of the most popular book that everyone’s been raving about for the past few months. The novel, written in 2014, and based in North America, deals with a pandemic that hits civilisation, and the its aftermath as small remaining groups of survivors try to rebuild their lives. This book has received high praise from authors like George. R. R. Martin and Margaret Atwood and should definitely be on your quarantine reading list. Get it here.
2. Earth Abides by George R. Stewart - ₹502 for paperback and ₹353 for Kindle

The plot of this novel revolves around a plague that has destroyed a major part of the human race. The protagonist is a man names Isherwood Williams, who returns from a wilderness trip to his home in San Francisco to find that civilisation has been destroyed. He encounters a female survivor, and starts a small community with her, and they try to return to a simpler way of life, like our ancestors. Get it here.
3. The Book of M by Peng Shepherd - ₹332 for paperback and ₹307 for Kindle

4. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller - ₹1,406 for paperback and ₹355 for Kindle

The protagonist, Hig, believes he’s the sole survivor or a flu pandemic that destroyed everything and everyone he knows. Now, he lives in an airport with his dog and a mercurial misanthrope. However, when he hears a random transmission through the radio, he starts believing in a possibility of a better world outside and risks his life to leave and try to find it. Get it here.
6. The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman - ₹598 for paperback and ₹209 for Kindle

7. Find Me by Laura Van Den Berg - ₹340 for paperback and ₹323 for Kindle

The protagonist of this novel, Joy, is a lonely woman who spends her days working the graveyard shift at the grocery store in Boston, and simultaneously trying to deal with her troubled past through an unhealthy addiction to cough syrup. However, her life turns around when a sickness spreads through the city killing thousands of people, except Joy, who turns out to be immune to the disease. She submits herself herself to a hospital where she undergoes various peculiar treatments and forms bonds with the other hospital patients. Get it here.
8. The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen - ₹1,458 for paperback and ₹242 for Kindle

9. Blindness by José Sarajevo - ₹690 for paperback and ₹296 for Kindle

This chilly dystopian novel deals with an epidemic that blinds people. The authorities confine the affected people to a mental asylum guarded by blind guards. When a fire destroys the asylum, the blind people head towards the city and the rest of the novel deals with how the civilised society changes with the onset of the epidemic. Get it here.
10. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood - ₹1,101 for paperback and ₹315 for Kindle

This is another great dystopian novel from the award-winning author of novels like Alias Grace and The Handmaid’s Tale. In a world overwhelmed by a plague, a man named Jimmy who might just be the last remaining human, is mourning the loss of his closest friends, Crake and Oryx. The book follows his story, as he searches for answers and tries to make sense of the new reality. Get it here.
11. The Transmigration of Bodies by Yuri Herrera - ₹1,286 for paperback and ₹440 for Kindle

12. Severance by Ling Ma - ₹1,475

The protagonist, Candace Chen, works in a publishing house that produces novelty Bibles outsourced from a factory in China whose workers are affected with a fatal lung disease due to terrible working conditions. When the fever spreads to the rest of the world via mass produced jun from China, Candace and her group seek refuge in a mall where they rely on tips from Google on how to survive a zombie pandemic. This is a coming-of-age and intelligent take on our worlds capitalism and consumerism. Get it here.
13. The Last Man by Mary Shelley- ₹169
