ranking teen dystopians on how ridiculous their futuristic societies are

[@TheBookLeo]

Want more? A few months ago I made a comprehensive retrospective on the YA dystopian book era! Watch here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eGOkd5ZuhrSBn9E

[@nobodyatall6814]

Can you read the Legend of the Galactic Heroes book novel?

[@abbygottesman9292]

@@nobodyatall6814. Oooook I. I Oo o. Ok Oo. I’m😊I.😊 j j no j😊 I’m😊o😊😊k😊 n😊😊😊 Oo

[@Introvert-forced-Extrovert1515]

Toe ek tiener was, het ek 'n wêreld opgemaak waarin ek 'n Pa was, wat 'n skool moes veilig hou. Die wêreld was gesit in 'n Zombie Apokaliptiese Wêreld waarin ek en my fiktiewe gesin moet oorleef. Dit was altyd rof gewees.

[@kyledeeter1903]

You forgot about "The Testing" series

[@Woodlandelves]

BABE! IM A SCORPIO… NAMED LEO!

[@psychedbypat]

being a scientist has ruined so many dystopian stories for me like where is your pretest? did you not have this preregistered and peer-reviewed? HOW DID THIS PASS THE ETHICS COMMISSION???

[@TabooTalz]

As another scientist, I completely agree, but it makes more sense to me now that I see the "science" Elon Musk is doing lol

[@thepoetesskhansaa]

​@@TabooTalzthe beginning of this year I actually wrote a 2 page parody story for my brother where the world is a tyrannical AI-run dystopia and the protag looking for the "kill code" finds an old Elon Musk living in a cabin on a mountain somewhere and proceeds to go on the classic monologue about how he knew that AI was becoming evil but he couldn't stop it because it was his greatest creation etc etc complete with staring regretfully into the middle distance

[@jiriz0r]

And who's funding all this weird fringe research, where did they get their grants and how can I apply for them?

[@drakkonscythe]

The real dystopia is the fact that the ethics committee got disbanded

[@vaibhavgaur5268]

​@@thepoetesskhansaaDamn I feel sorry for your poor brother

[@Nattegoya]

I think the real magic of The Giver is *how* it reveals the world’s lack of color. The protagonist of the book has a difficult time explaining *why* he’s seeing things differently, why an apple suddenly “changes” in ways he can’t describe, before eventually being told: “this is *red.* this is a *color.”* It’s something we as readers don’t even consider at first; books being an inherently non-visual medium means our imagination fills in the gaps, and the images we create in our minds are close approximations of our perception of the world and how we sense it, which naturally includes color. Lowry specifically preys on this intuition by revealing that a visual element intrinsically linked to the world around us has been missing the whole time. It’s an honestly brilliant twist, something that can only be properly conveyed through a text-only medium.

[@joshualavender]

That's very insightful.

[@kate_6436]

Yeah it’s why the movie didn’t work. The Giver is a story that really only works as a textual medium

[@budgetcommander4849]

My friend spoiled it for me. No hate or nothing he could just be uncharacteristically dumb at times

[@domi-no1826]

“THEY’RE COLORBLIND!?” -me

[@ishathakor]

frrr i was thinking it was some platos allegory of the cave type shit and the protagonist was seeing into the world of forms or something and then the reveal happened and i genuinely felt like my entire world had been rocked to its core.

[@Brasswatchman]

3:13 Re: Divergent - so it's a world ruled by the people who make those "which Disney Princess are you" personality quizzes on the Internet?

[@emeraldknight22]

💀💀💀💀💀

[@safsren]

the parents started it hundreds of years before by genetically engineering their children

[@shrekiscool4743]

Pretty much yeah

[@totally_not_traumatized]

That's probably my fav oversimplification of the books 😂

[@chewieinthahouse]

It reads like a parodic take on those ppl who make their MBTI results or Hogwarts House their whole personality

[@valta2760]

When i was 13 i wrote a story literally titled "utopia" (because it was a dystopia and i thought i was sooo smart) where people weren't allowed to talk to eachother because the people would start to think and learn and reach the conclusion that the government was bad???? Anyways my protagonist was only allowed to talk to her virtual assistant but then one day she says fuck it and doesn't go to work and finds a guy near a lake and (oh my god!) they talk to eachother and the government kills them instantly. The end.

[@edisonlima4647]

Oh, I died. Lol But that COULD work as a short story with.

[@emilycaballero6052]

Ngl that could work as a short story about how atomized our society is getting.

[@lizlizlizoo207]

I think you should keep writing it

[@mayfallz]

unironically more compelling of a premise than most YA dystopias

[@imawakemymindisalive13]

kinda reminds me of the giver 😂 (their rule was no emotions)

[@bellasartcoven]

I know that the black parade story was ridiculous, but the line “there were four mattresses, three girls, and one corpse,” is metal as hell. English student approved.

[@nightlythoughts4701]

no fr. That line hits

[@BAC3150]

It feels almost Dickensian.

[@rebecca0799]

No I was literally gagged

[@emily-tristancresswell1863]

Most definitely a compelling opening.

[@ImThylacine]

Seriously!! It’s a dang good hook!!

[@ianhall557]

When I saw the My Chemical Romance album art and then you started talking about ranking your personal fanfic, I thought that we might finally get to learn the identity of the author of My Immortal.

[@leobekindagay]

Ah yes, the famous beloved dystopian ya novel: my immortal

[@romantisizingdemons85]

"Long ago the world fought in a terrible war against the vampires. When humanity won, every vampire was sent to a special school aimed at neutralizing the darkness inside of them. Every vampire has been placid... everyone except for ME. my name is Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, and I'm one of the rebels. I scoff at those human preps who want to change me. I'm proud to be different, to be goffic. I put my middle fingers up at them!!"

[@camila-qj9ch]

I love that writing your own dystopian book after reading The Hunger Games was an integral part of girlhood for so many teenage girls

[@b4tman_and_Rob1n]

When I was was a teenage girl I legit read Brave New World and 1984 but never the hunger games XD no wonder gifted kids are messed up TwT

[@dinos.on.ice123]

In 6th grade I wrote a 176 page Hunger Games fanfic. 176. 😭😭

[@tantalum_lady]

Dang, I must have arrived at girlhood too late.

[@user-l6k2o]

​@b4tman_and_Rob1n I mean... some can be messed up, but so far from what I've seen extremely gifted ones, that stand out from even the smarter ones, are fine- actually more positive and outgoing than average based on my personal experience. If you think about it most are born from smart parents and intelligence means getting high paying jobs. Money means better quality of life. Therefore their children generally don't have to suffer f'ed up living conditions like living in cold, mouldy slums or having jobless and drunk abusive parents. I think this means gifted kids from a wealthy upbringing gets a general bare minimum of 'messed up'. A lot of children suffer greatly, living through unimaginable pain every day. I'm not preaching at ALL but it sounds like it suddenly lmao. Sorry. Also that idk if it's just in my culture but people prefer positivity over sulking so smart ones build their image PURPOSEFULLY as a positive one. I've seen one very quick-witted girl use her sexuality and practice a bubbly personality, almost erring to a dumb blonde, because usually she was so cunning, calculative and logic based that with that image people would go crazy with jealousy and hatred. She excelled in mathematics and literature.

[@user-l6k2o]

​@@b4tman_and_Rob1n whoop oh lol i just ranted i gotta get some sleep lmao

[@nightlythoughts4701]

I think a lot of dystopians fell flat because they stopped being a comment on how bad modern day society can get. Like the hunger games was a commentary of how humans choose not to pay attention to the atrocities going on around them, especially if it doesn't impact you personally. The Uglies series comments on beauty standards and even touches on things like eating disorders and self harm. The Giver comments on how becoming disconnected from emotions and each other leads to a fake utopia where everyone gets along and is numb, therefore "happy." But then you have newer dystopias like Divergent that have really no true meaning behind it. It's about a 16 year old girl who is special in a futuristic world for no reason than she has to be in order to drive the plot forward.

[@gisela_oliveira]

I mean... the selection is like the hunger games meets the bachelor, when I read i was really interested in the class system, mostly because i felt real, the idea that you are born into this class and there is very little chance to move up to a better condition. the selection itself is a reality show to entertain the people and give them hope. i think americans didn't like that much because it doesn' resonate that much with the US society, but i can see my country in that, i can see that reality happening

[@nightlythoughts4701]

@@gisela_oliveira I never read that series so I don't really have any comment on it.

[@joyc.e.7511]

​@@gisela_oliveirathe premise sounds interesting, but based on the reviews and summaries I've watched, does it really give that premise the attention and development it needs, or is it mostly focused on the romance? Like, and tbh I don't remember the reviews much lol, the MC marries the king at the end and nothing changes about the society?

[@gisela_oliveira]

@@joyc.e.7511 If you want the spoiler... Yes, things change, they decide to end the cast system and they make peace with the rebels. The sequel follow their daughter, the next heir, and she also makes changes in the end, ending the monarchy.

[@lexipeanut1674]

i feel like the author wrote divergent because she just wanted to hop on the dystopia bandwagon cuz dystopia was starting to trend. though i did enjoy the series, it didn't have the same kick as the hunger games.

[@lyricalcarpenter]

In YA dystopias exclusively set in the US, I like to believe that the rest of the world is just completely fine and is observing us like “bro… chill the fuck out”

[@baronvonjo1929]

I feel like this is somewhat common in many countries. It's just easier to only focus on one area of the world.

[@Terrencetheterrible]

Basically the same way the west looks at the middle east

[@meatysheep]

to be fair... we people not from the US already look at US and think its a dystopian nightmare about to happen lol

[@sarahhayes6073]

I think that is about half of the sequel to the Handmaid's Tale

[@Lady_Amelia-Eloise]

@@meatysheepuncool

[@limeparticle]

Someone do a PhD thesis on YA dystopias vs 80s high school movies and the way categorizing people (particularly oneself) is an essential part of growing up.

[@MusclesandBooks]

OH MY GOD YES. As a GenX-er who grew up on the John Hughes movies AND reads 2010s YA Dystopia as a guilty pleasure, I WOULD READ THE HECK OUT OF THIS.

[@MusclesandBooks]

"'80's Coming of Age Movies and 2010 YA Dystopias: Finding belonging through self-categorization throughout the years"

[@Fluff_Noodles]

Someone PLEASE let me know if/when this is written!! I NEED IT

[@miacmiacmia]

omg please let me know when this is written

[@reysterlightwood4127]

If I wasn't busy with my work, I would do this. I already have the outline. . You just wait.

[@texasred8424]

i find it kind of funny how in divergent actually the reason why people have a singular personality trait is because they were the results of a failed genetic experiment and the divergents are normal people but in execution the twist manages to make the story make less sense

[@animeotaku307]

It’s the Voodoo Shark in action

[@ranciti7467]

this drove me crazy in the last book! like in theory it’s a really interesting and unique idea, but the whole thing was written so poorly that by the time you get to the reveal, it just feels so stupid

[@benamisai-kham5892]

I remember I got maybe a quarter through the third book before just dropping the book. The first 2 books had me hooked and I just blew through them, but the third book I just put down so much that I quit trying. Never tried to go back to it either.

[@fangirl365]

I was actually fascinated by it as an autistic person and I’d like to see the story analyzed from the perspective of understanding how neurodivergent people are treated by society.

[@emmalottie3346]

I always thought it was based on which personality trait ("flaw") they wanted to avoid. I.e. dishonesty, selfishness, cowardice and the factions were supposed to be defined by the absence. That's why the test may show where you best fit based on actions, it's a simulated personality test but it was still up to them at the end to chose where to go. While the divergent didn't nicely fit into the boxes I thought the bigger issue was that the simulations didn't seem to work on them as effectively, which links back to the gene thing though I couldn't read the third book. Always thought it was more like healing and rebuilding missing sequences over generations. But the problem was the lack of control because we found out there were other divergents amongst the factions because the simulations were how they controlled people

[@NickAndriadze]

*0:35* ''In a future world, and with the world we mean the United States, everyone is FORCED to wear MAKEUP! But our main character doesn't like MAKEUP, she likes reading books! And she starts a rebellion by building an army of young men who are all so enamoured by her cause she's _not like other girls''_ One of the best slanderous parody descriptions of ANYTHING I have ever heard, it's so funny. Barely being able to hold laughter back really shows the sheer hilarious absurdity of it.

[@atsukana1704]

What is even funnier is that this is basically the plot of uglies

[@arunimasanthoshkumar3297]

@@atsukana1704 i literally thought that's what she was making fun of and got confused when she said she hasn't read it

[@susannewhitney3735]

'four mattresses, three girls, and one corpse' as an opening line is actually great.

[@임소영-h3x]

Now come one, come all to this tragic affair.

[@hedgehogshill3522]

I really want to know what is going on there XD

[@Justanotherconsumer]

@@hedgehogshill3522three girls have a spare bed for a friend to come over and there’s a body in the window seat.

[@hedgehogshill3522]

@@Justanotherconsumer That's that's not what I expected

[@lolitaku7229]

There was this book i read in high school called Unwind . It was a trip. Dont like your kid? Give them to the government to recycle their body parts. Orphan never got adopted and not yet 18? Recycle them. So needless to say, the main character runs away when his parents try to put him out to the curb for recycling, and then he meets all these other run aways in hopes of escaping their fate. There was this one scene where one of the teens got captured and the book explained how the harvesting is completed via the teens POV.

[@samanthasinger7235]

yoooo i remember that!!!! and there was this like urban legend that the parents of a kid who got unwound were trying to get all the pieces of their son back together and the sons name was Humphrey Dunfee. that shit was WILD.

[@niallblack2794]

Unwind was so much darker than I expected. It went so hard and that recycling chapter from the teen's perspective was absolutely horrific. It just was nowhere near as light as most of these stories end up being. Something awful would come up and the story would just lean into it. I enjoyed it but it was a genuinely rough read.

[@ezdispenser]

yeah it was DISTURBING i do have some critiques about certain aspects of the plot but i love how there was such a clear message about government propaganda in media and how they manipulated people into being fine with this obviously horrific thing, or at least not caring enough to do anything about it. i've seen some people say it's supposedly about abortion but i always saw it as more like... a commentary on how we as a society justify "necessary evils" for the "greater good" of everyone (who is priviledged enough that they don't need to worry about being a target of those evils), and how thoroughly the media can be used to control what people see and believe

[@reriykan]

@@ezdispenser i understand and agree with your interpretation, but i do wanna quickly correct that it absolutely IS about abortion- a war between pro-lifers and pro-choicers is how the "unwinding" system was put into place. it was the compromise/agreement from both sides, and it somewhat covers some of the main points you hear about abortions? for example, you often hear "what if the fetus grows up to cure cancer!!!" from pro-lifers. the book incorporates that by making the age range for being unwound to be between 13 and 17, where it could be argued that you know by then what kind of person that kid will grow up to become. delinquent children and foster children who weren't "skilled" enough in something would be unwound, and that plot point/world building leads into a commentary on capitalism and what your place in society is if it doesn't deem you "useful" enough. there is way more i can say but i'll leave it here for now lol. as dark as it is, i really enjoyed reading it and it brought up such interesting critiques/commentary about our society

[@sophiap7298]

I really enjoyed the books

[@stardust1815]

What I found interesting about Delirium is that love was not just outlawed, it was believed to be a disease and all of the things that we in our society associate with normal signs of love, "rapid heart beats, irrational thought etc." are now believed to be symptoms of a disease. That and the fact that this idea extended to all kinds of love and not just romantic love made the world feel more developed than it would've been otherwise.

[@BadgerOfTheSea]

She doesn't like reading books, she likes reading one specific book simply titled "BOOK" while everyone else puts on make up like the slaves they are!

[@Soyboyanarchy]

Now I want to make a make-up palette that looks like a book and print the word BOOK on it really big just to come full circle

[@saranonino4926]

Tbh BOOK is the best, plot, characters, would read again before wearing any makeup and being like other girls

[@SlayerNinaFriki]

Or it is something from another century because clearly this is what 16 yos enjoy reading in their free time

[@sanchitagolder]

i don’t understand, are you guys talking about a real book

[@sammie.x3]

​@sanchitagolder no, they're talking about a really sexist "meme" from the early 2010's that depicts a "woman factory" that is creating ""perfect women"", with one woman in the middle being labeled "defective" and she's reading a book and wearing more conservative clothing and not wearing makeup. basically just making fun of women that enjoy clothing and makeup.

[@violetpinkpanda]

The fact that Extras (A book set within the universe of Uglies) was able to surprisingly accurately represent modern influencer culture despite being released in 2007 makes up for some of the weirder/bad aspects of the Uglies series. It's a society where everyone constantly has to post about and livestream their entire life in order to increase their popularity in order to make enough money to survive, which is surprisingly relevant in 2023. I also enjoyed the fact that, while Uglies is set in the states, Extras gives us a look at what another area of the world is up to.

[@Squirmychair]

Tbh I feel like the books in that series get better as they go on

[@memyself599194]

It's a book series that should truly be more known!

[@oximoron613]

I also appreciate that the author acknowledged that taking down the big bad government wasn't going to end with sunshine and rainbows. It trusts the world into a lot of chaos where people were scrambling to build a new power system from the ground up.

[@glodoolally]

I read Uglies because my friend loved it. I never really liked the main story or characters, but this comment reminded how much I loved Extras. Reading that in 2013, with the rise of social media beginning consume everything, was really profound to me.

[@HmmBearGrr]

The next 4 books in the series after Extras are all about the impacts of complete transhumanism on the way governments function and about how tally youngblood really was just kind of fucking around

[@etienneporras7252]

I am entirely convinced someone saw a Rat Maze and thought "What if they were people?" And thus, Maze Runner.

[@SummarizingtheClassics]

'Whenever I see someone believe that the Hunger Games is just a stupid Young Adult dystopian novel with a love triangle, I instantly no longer take any of their opinions seriously'. 🙌Yes! Let's put some respect on Suzanne Collins' name, she's a genius author who deserves so much more credit!

[@smol-one]

Maybe it was because I was an adult when I read Hunger Games, but...that trilogy was butt. Just because other books/series are way worse, doesn't mean HG was spectacular. It's more like HG had good ideas and with a better author could have been actually great. But the publishing houses think teens are as dumb as a box of hair, so they publish whatever unhinged nonsense, usually.

[@Harudodo]

@@smol-one That’s fair, not everyone has the same opinions. Personally I’m a fan of the world itself but not so much the plot. Same with Harry Potter, actually. Both are worlds I love to insert OCs into, but not so much the plots of the stories themselves. I do still absolutely love the first Hunger Games book though

[@squidgetthemidget7986]

⁠@@smol-one I agree. I used to be obsessed with Hunger Games when I was a teenager but then I read/watched Battle Royale by Koushun Takami and I realised The Hunger Games was just a knock-off of that. Especially in Catching Fire when it had that clock system where something would happen every hour, I just thought it was a copy of the Danger Zone concept in Battle Royale.

[@Catmom-gl5nt]

Not to rain on the hunger games parade, but comparing the capital’s relationship to the districts with the relationship between China and to a lesser extent the rest of Asia and the West, is spurious at best. The districts would have been able to survive just fine without the capital. China and Asia cannot survive financially without both trade and aid from the West. Not because the West is inherently superior, but because Asia stifles capitalism, which rather than the evil juggernaut people like to claim, allows for trade and development as Socialism and Communism do not. Europe before the Black Death was basically early communism, most of society were serfs who communally did all labor and pooled their resources. Innovation stagnated, the Black Death allowed serfs to leave their lands and to instead place a value on their labor. Freed from collective labor they could diversify and specialize. It’s largely why Russia was so backwards before Tsar Peter dragged them into the present day, it was a society almost entirely comprised of serfs. Anyone who asked in Asia will tell you the inherent difficulties arising from a society that places no import on the individual. I have lived and worked now in every continent save Antarctica and I promise you, capitalism with protections in place is flawed but still the best we’ve got.

[@min0uet]

I grew up reading the Underland Chronicles, which was Suzanne Collins' other series, which is about a boy who falls into an underground society that immediately declares him their prophesied war hero. If anyone thinks Collins can't write just because Hunger Games took inspiration from Battle Royale and featured a significant romance subplot, they should read Underland Chronicles. The vocabulary is simpler and the protagonist is younger, but she was NOT shy about focusing on the horrors of war and what being a child soldier does to you.

[@snufkn4]

I've only read the first few chapters of The Giver, but it was like the creepiest dystopia I've ever read about. Parents get selected to be together by the government, and they raise 2 randomly selected children that they don't get to name themselves that are given birth to by randomly selected women. The government also spies on you your entire childhood so they can give you a mandated job when you become an adult, which in this world is at like 13, which is also the age that most kids there have to start taking a pill to repress all attraction. Also, if you screw up bad enough and break one of the 'rules', you get exiled forever.

[@estenslop]

spoilers below and by ”exiled” they mean killed

[@ripoffflowey4884]

the giver is so great but reading the other books in the quartet makes it even better. (somehow lol)

[@edymac2883]

@@ripoffflowey4884Yes! A lot of people don’t even know about the other three books, and I wish they did, especially since the end of the first one is so unresolved.

[@justarandompersoniguess]

⁠@@ripoffflowey4884wait there’s more to the giver’s world? Damn I got stuff to dig for

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

@@edymac2883I read the second book and regreted it. The Giver has one of those better open endings where the point isn’t lost by the open ending.

[@rach71923]

I actually screamed when you put Legend in slay. That book CONSUMED me when I first read it, pulled an all nighter to finish legend and then got up the next morning and drove to B&N since I had just gotten my license and picked up Prodigy and Champion and binged those before finally sleeping 😅

[@MycenAnimates]

SAMEEE

[@alexamar9134]

me too!!

[@Chary89]

Samee I remember reading legend years ago and it was so good

[@mossygeese]

i remember reading "legend" in middle school with my best friend at the time. we finished it in less than a week. summer break was rapidly approaching so we tried to finish "prodigy" but we weren't able to. i asked my dad to buy my the series and he did. i finished them very quickly. i remember when marie lu released the fourth book for the "legend" series. it's so good

[@GraceeJade]

ok but the family being reaped and either them or the district having to choose which member has to compete would totally work as a quarter quell

[@elizaleorowe8384]

Kinda reminds me of that short story “The Lottery” sooo good

[@nohintshere]

putting that in my fanfic ideas box and letting it rotate in my brain like a rotisserie chicken

[@analeticia645]

I think I remember in one of the hunger games books they said the 25th Quarter Quell had the two children from each district reaped based on voting rather than a random draw, so kind of similar to this idea!

[@ingeborg418]

@@elizaleorowe8384omg yeah

[@silveny8354]

@@analeticia645imagine being that hated/useless that ur voted to go to the games 💀

[@adrianpillai6645]

We all know that the biggest threat to any dystopian world ruled with an iron-fist, is the tumultuous love affair of a chosen one and their first love.

[@25thHourDay]

It's on the Evil Overlord Rules list as one of the dangers to watch out for.

[@JeantheSecond-ip7qm]

@@25thHourDayBlast from the past! Great list.

[@londonsummers]

I really like the fact that so much of your focus is on this books being actual YA books, and how that explains the absurdity of many of these novels works so well for teenagers.

[@hedgehogshill3522]

OMG I just now think about it! With child book it can be even worse lol. I have seen such horrible nonsense it isn't even funny anymore

[@raerohan4241]

​@@hedgehogshill3522 But it makes sense to kids. And a lot of the things that make sense to adults, kids don't get at all.

[@hedgehogshill3522]

@@raerohan4241 Yeah probably. I still think there is a huge differnce between finding easy ways to explain something (so kids can understand it) and pure nonsense. I mean, u got actual nonsens literature for that. I guess I should have red the books as a kid to be able to really understand the way of writing XD

[@matteomallia8471]

I'm really loving the fact that everyone is going back to their early 2010s interests these days

[@kseni_vely]

I've read the Shatter me series for the first time last year at 29yo 😅 ngl those dystopian arcs and the end of the world stakes still hit pretty hard.

[@nohintshere]

i'm coming back to my 5th grade hunger games phase and with even more intensity than the last time. hell im writing a fanfic for it rn

[@esiole_poiu]

I will now only refer to the tween dystopia novel sensations of the early 2010s as “wacky dystopian societies” its just too good 💀

[@tessaA6102]

The Lunar Chronologicals was literally fantasy stories in a sci-fi setting so I never thought it was dystopian.

[@LoraK31]

Unfortunately, the Matched concept you described was way better than the actual one in the book. If I remember correctly, the guy she's in love with who isn't her "perfect match" actually would have been her match if he wasn't living outside the system. The only reason she even notices him is because there's a glitch and he comes up as her match first for a second before switching to the other guy. So it doesn't actually address anything about following your heart vs logic

[@maritta2504]

That's not how I remember it. Because she always felt drawn to Kyle after the matching and actively seeks out his company as a result. She would never have done this without the glitch. I think this is very much "following the heart instead of the logic" because in her kind of society, Kyle would be unavailable for her. Ironically though, throughout the book, it really does seem like Kyle is a better match for her than Xander, as Xander is really deep in the friend zone 😂. But also, in later book, the romance doesn't take center stage anymore, they are kinda busy overthrowing the system 😄

[@salsa4641]

there's an anime series with that exact same thing happening

[@dan.dandan]

@@salsa4641 wait I know which one you're talking about but I don't remember the name only the opening

[@salsa4641]

@@dan.dandan because its a bop, i dont remember the name either lol

[@ThisOneCassie]

well i mean, there wasn't a glitch. it was done on purpose by the society as a form of human experimentation, they also cut down her food sizes, and analyzed her dreams. In the second and third books, she goes off to find the boy who wasn't her match after escaping from a prison-type labour camp, and joining a rebellion and in the third she joins and an underground marketplace for artwork and artifacts, and leves the capital to try and escape the society. the series ends with her and her 'match' realizing they love other people (when they began dating they did develop feelings for one another, its not like she never liked him), him and his partner leave the society to try and goto the outside world, and Cassia and Ky stay in the boarder village and vote on if they should continue working with the rebellion or to work with the new heads of the society. if all you read was the first book... yeah its bad, but the story as a whole with all three books is one of my favorite YA stories of all time. It might not have the negligence and violence of the hungers game's government, but the total control of the society is striking (you don't need to kill people if you can make them take a pill and forget), and a very fun concept that gets explored in a way i wasn't expecting from the book.

[@Xingyi_ni]

Have you read Scythe by Neal Shusterman? It's about a society where we have overcome death. To prevent overpopulation, there are people called scythes who have the power to kill and who basically play god. The two main characters are chosen to be apprentices to a scythe and to become a scythe they would have to kill one another. It's a really great trilogy.

[@JBFJBFJBF]

That sounds sounds super interesting!

[@dij357]

I ADORED the first two books but the third one was honestly pretty terrible so I dnf-ed it around 60% through and I just skipped to the end💀 THE ONLY TIME IVE EVER DONE THAT TO A BOOK

[@halfgodfairy8654]

​@@dij357Yes!! The first two books were 5 Star reads, absolutely amazing works of Fiction, i loved them so much and then the third book.... like wtf was that. That was the most disappointed I ever was in a series tbh. But I would recommend book one and two every day

[@lightlawliet3526]

loved scythe and thunderhead.

[@TheLiteraryLifeofBeans]

I am in love with this series! One of my faves!

[@Milkymalk]

"There was one room with four mattresses, three girls, and one corpse" - That is unironically a GREAT first line. Because it paints a strong picture, throws the reader straight into the plot and evokes questions.

[@BrainyBlonde21]

Yeah. Agreed. That is a spectacular hook!

[@Witchy_Cheree1982]

What book is this?

[@atramentova]

When it comes to "Selection" if you read the book it's actually the opposite of what you said. The main character (America Singer) didn't even want to participate in the selection, her mother made her do it. When she came to the palace the prince fell for her pretty fast but she wanted to get away as soon as possible as she had a boy at home who she loved. America and the Prince come to the agreement that she will stay until some part of the competition as her family was getting money for the time when she was in the competition. She just wanted them to be able to live, the prince wanted to help her as much as possible. America didn't really like living in the palace, it's kinda like with Katniss in the Capitol. Later in the series she does actually fall for the prince and stays at the competition for him, but only after getting to know him and his story. She does become royality but not for the sake of being rich and a queen. She does want to help people by the position she is in and she was the one to suggest that they should remove the casts, the prince was the one who did it as (obviously) he becomes the ruler and he makes the important decisions not her. The cast system was very interesting to me and is explored further in the books, why are certain people in certain casts etc. How people fall to lowest casts as punishment or are unable to work anymore. How marriage can get you in to the higher or a lower class depending where your husband is. How it's forbidden to have children outside of marriage and pregnant woman went to jail for that. How the rebels who fight the system are not nececarlly the good guys. You made it sound like it was a gold digger kind of story but really it was an interesting series where we see kind of what hapens in reality vs what people are shown in TV, darker side of the royality and being in the competition like this (a girl fell in love with a guard while being on the competition and they sentenced them to death as a betrayal of the prince).

[@maritta2504]

Agree, and your comment should definetely be getting more likes! I don't blame her for not reading it (you can't possibly read all books, there is only so much time). But whatever she read about the book, it definetely didn't brought the real vibes of it across. The books are just nothing like she described it here.

[@carebear6036]

This^^^ Honestly, it's pretty clear she didn't read the books herself bc a main plot point is exactly the political intrigue she talks about, & makes rating it a bit unfair

[@weeb_books6242]

That's exactly what I was thinking

[@lukeheitmann4929]

Thanks for this comment haha the selection def deserves higher

[@b4tman_and_Rob1n]

@@carebear6036 To be fair I think she did say when she hadn't read any of the books, but yeah. Is there a Sparknotes for this? XD

[@e443productions9]

Not gonna lie, I actually like the idea of a full family being chosen to go on a deadly game and then only one is allowed to move forward

[@luavizinho]

Agree!! I feel like you could have interesting points and discussion about who is whorth to life or who has more skills to survive

[@alma3468]

have you read the Lottery by Shirley Jackson? not really like this but similar

[@kseni_vely]

Isn't there a recent Shyamalan movie that explores this theme of self sacrifice for your loved ones in the face of crazy stakes? 🤔

[@staywithchuu]

They were laughing about a tiktok w this idea idea on twitter last week

[@folded_pizza]

And the fact the person competing has to be voted (I assume from the public). It's a brilliant idea, I can realistically imagine how sometimes there would be sickening choices

[@krankarvolund7771]

The selection books is really "let's criticize the cast system, but look, the class system is super cool when you're in the highest class" XD

[@SomeThingOrMaybeAnother]

One of the worst tropes is when the protagonist is an underdog poo-person, struggles through adversity and prejudice, but actually they are a secret child of the highest caste or whatever. Completely kills the revolutionary momentum and undermines the whole point, because now that they are high status, they aren't going to tear up the shitty system anymore. Maybe make some incremental changes.

[@kirbear9239]

Please actually read the series. She describes it in a completely opposite way then how it actually is written. And your points don’t even make sense when actually given then context of the book

[@lasvina3610]

​@kirbear9239 yeah I thought after 'The One' Maxon had a plan to destroy it and they do? He shows her the plan after the final Rebel Attack and then he proposes to America?

[@nbkarkat]

omg i reread the hunger games earlier this year and was BLOWN AWAY by how fantastic the books still are. i wholeheartedly agree that the hunger games is S tier

[@orange_turtle3412]

Premise is kinda out there. But the story is easily one of the most well written in the entire genre, if not THE most well written

[@Kayla_Sandoval]

Frr

[@TheTorturedTributesDepartment]

It is the best book I’ve ever read, the first one is my favorite but the second and third are good too.

[@AllyEmReads]

I don’t know if zombie stories count as dystopians but I definitely “wrote” (as in plotted the whole thing in my head, wrote a single chapter, and then never touched it again) a zombie story starring me and all of my friends, where the infection happened because one of my friends left a science experiment in her locker for like, years, and it mutated and on graduation day the locker was opened for the first time and the virus broke out, and it ended with all of us jumping in a volcano 😂😂😂

[@b4tman_and_Rob1n]

I would read that XD Do you still have that first chapter?

[@livmashupmansen191]

There is a Zombie-dystopian romance book called “Warm Bodies,” so yes, I think many zombie stories could be counted as dystopian.

[@imageez]

Funny way to name the lunch you left in the locker for years a science experiment.

[@qarljohnson4971]

Oh yes, Zombie movies are simply a leading trope to invoke dystopia. Like how it's other surviving humans that are the worst monsters to deal with in the Zombie genre.

[@northeastgirl100]

I think this would be the apocalyptic genre! Such a funny plot you came up with as a kid! 😂

[@crazyloverofcats]

The Giver is such a good book!! When I first read it as a tween, it rather scared me. But reading it as a late teen/young adult, I understood the world better and realized the reasons behind the 'sameness'. Definitely worth the read!

[@N_IRL]

I wasn't cringing at all at your teen dystopias and I thought I was unshakable until you brough up the vaccine thing 😭 people would've been using the hashtag "blackparade" instead of "diedsuddenly" if you'd published that, that's what you'd be KNOWN FOR

[@riverwyvern]

A major aspect of why Cinder is categorized as dystopian is because a big part of the plot is that a world-wide deadly pandemic is causing societal unrest (pre-2020 if you read a book with a world-wide pandemic plot point it would get labeled as "dystopian." Now it's just... normal). I remembered enjoying it a lot when I was younger and when I wanted a "comfort/fluff" read at the beginning of the pandemic I made the mistake of choosing this particular book to re-read because I had conveniently forgot the whole pandemic part of the plot. Re-reading it while living mid-world-wide pandemic gave me a totally different lens and every time Cinder disregarded quarantine regulations in the story it made me so angry. But also I definitely agree with the other comments saying that the magic and basis of the series as classic fairytale retellings makes the vibe lean more fantasy than sci-fi. The lunar gene causing magic abilities doesn't make much practical sense and feels more like fantasy than science fiction.

[@Michaelalovespandas]

Looking back, it’s pretty dystopian how they don’t do that much about the plague besides test cures on cyborgs and quarantine the sick and abandon their houses. The disease was contagious, so it would have made more sense to reduce crowds. They had all those androids, so it should have been the norm to shop online instead of going to big markets. The androids were basically as smart as humans, they could do the majority of customer-service jobs, so that most people could work from home.

[@SheWhoWalksSilently]

Your profile pic is top tier hahaha🤣🤣🤣

[@atomicspartan131]

I thought it was considered dystopia because it was post-World War 4? I totally forgot about a whole pandemic plot point if it was ever mentioned in the first book

[@riverwyvern]

@@atomicspartan131 lol I totally forgot about it too after my first read but the plague is actually really important to the plot in the first book (like multiple important character deaths caused by it) which was why re-reading it was such a surprise and different experience from my first read.

[@thesandwich5321]

As a concept, Matched sounds like it could have been a really good allegory for closeted kids like me as a teenager. Society tells you that you should love one person, but you just don't feel what they say you have to.

[@ashleydeibel6319]

If only it hadn't been written by a Mormon

[@dcgsbreath]

ive never felt more seen when you started sharing your old stories like its nice to know i'm not the only one mortified about the stuff i used to write in middle school😭😭 ur much braver than me bc you literally could not waterboard the plots of the stories i made at 13 out of me

[@b4tman_and_Rob1n]

Same TwT I didn't even write original stories I just wrote awful fanfic. The plot was ok it was just the writing that was awful

[@caseyovermyer4586]

Same girlie. I wrote a Hunger Games fanfic where Katniss died at the beginning of the book so it was just Peeta and their daughter (named Prim, obviously). Naturally the book centered around the Games since the Capital took over again with no pushback immediately after Katniss died. The scene I was most proud of was where Prim was in the Games and encountered a cute baby deer ("the first genuinely sweet thing she'd seen in the arena") that ended up being able to travel at hyperspeed and had razor-sharp teeth. 14-year-old me thought it was a truly genius jumpscare. I still have the notebook and dang were my melodramatic writing skills atrocious. 😅😳☠️

[@hedgehogshill3522]

@@b4tman_and_Rob1n Ok hear me out. I have been writing sooo much better at that age than I write now. I just wrote weird crap and all of it expect one wild ff is never to be seen again because of that.

[@marystrobel5436]

It is truly a tragedy you put Cinder so low. That series was one of my favorites growing up. I was obsessed with it for so many years. I will say that I never considered dystopian, it was more in the genre of Sci-Fi Fantasy for me.

[@urmom-sy4tv]

i wouldve put it in the perks of being a cyborg tier for sure. it isnt a dystopia but ig it could pass as one since its a technologically advanced post-war society with a teenage girl leading a rebellion lol

[@overcastart5769]

i ADORE the lunar chronicles! but youre right, it is seriously just sci fi fantasy rather than a true dystopia novel- i never thought of it as a dystopia despite that being my fav genre at the time i read it

[@sylve2474]

I literally thought "perks of being a cyborg" was a tier made essentially for the lunar chronicles,,, it's so good, I love it. Another one I'd say, she didnt include it in this video,, but The Darkest Minds is great,,, it takes a step away from the dystopia aspect to add powers, which I'm a sucker for, so I was fine with that,, but it's also one of my favourites,, so if yall like the lunar chronicles,, I'd totally recommend it

[@ahassett37]

in terms of dystopia I’d put it about the same level tbh lol BUT if i was just picking favorite worldbuilding it would be wayyyyy up high on the list for me

[@mayomuse5007]

thats literally what she said in the video? also these aren't tiers from best to worst, they're more like categories

[@strangeduckling]

I think a great book that fits into this is "Among the Hidden" (it's actually a series but I only read the first couple books). It's set in a dystopian USA where families have a two child limit, and it has some nice "1984" vibes (such as how the government makes everyone think that they're under 24/7 surveillance) and class commentary. The protagonist is a forbidden third child (and a boy, to shake things up a bit in the dystopian genre), and the ending of the first book was honestly really heart-wrenching.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

Dystopian Novel: "And nobody is allowed to step out of line!" Me, an American: "Aw! How cute! Now if you'd excuse me, I need to pack my stuff because I got fired for unionizing."

[@allthenewsordeath5772]

Yeah I think most people by this point have realized that we’re basically going into the cyberpunk dystopia. With a very healthy dose of brave New World thrown in for hedonistic flavoring.

[@MeatbagSlayer]

​@allthenewsordeath5772 We're already in a dystopia, and it's expensive and boring as hell to live in.

[@yippieyay]

wishing for a new dystopian book era edit: omfg lay off, EMPHASIS ON THE WORD "BOOK" trust me I too see and know whats going on in the real world geez

[@nayas6157]

Read Red Rising. It’s basically the hunger games x100

[@rachaels742]

i think we’re just living it 😭

[@colbyreader]

Just read the news

[@fae7y]

you know whats more dystopian than the red rising series? Its author supporting the actions of the real life capital lol

[@kseni_vely]

I don't need new dystopias to distract me, now I have romantasy 😂 because our world is one big freaking dystopia 🥲

[@Haley_Alexis99]

Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles are futuristic retellings of Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, and Cinderella. I really liked that aspect of mixing classic fairytales with future dystopian fiction!

[@jacforswear18]

I haven’t read them since I was in my late teens, but the Uglies series had me in a chokehold as a pre-teen. I remember those books being pretty brutal and the main character went through so much emotional and physical trauma throughout the series. I don’t know that it was on par with how brutal The Hunger Games was/is (books that as an adult have honestly only gotten more difficult to read realizing how young the characters actually were) but it was pretty good! Also the fact that Cinder didn’t get into “the perks of being a Cyborg” was cruel 😅

[@Hyzentley]

Also sad that Uglies didn't get "the perks of being a Cyborg", since you know, Tallys fate at the end. But yeah, agree about the trauma aspect. Heard lots of criticism on how the self-harm part was handled, fair, probably, but I related so much to Tally and her messed up friendship with Shay as a mentally ill autistic queer woman.

[@dysmissme7343]

Uglies doesn’t get the recognition it deserves imo- it’s a really, brutal but moving take on friendships And the world they’re set in actually has WEIGHT to it

[@i_am_supernowa]

My toxic trait is that I still think that my cringe dystopian stories could be published as a book

[@fictional_Ardy]

Because you’re proposing right xD

[@randompromises1038]

Do it. I'm writing one to deconstruct common romance tropes and how they don't mesh well if you actually think about them.

[@novastar6112]

Considering that people still buy crap, I don't see why not :D It's an oddly gratifying and comforting fact that, no matter how bad your story is, at least SOMEONE is going to like it!

[@YoruStrauss]

Other people's cringe dystopian stories get published, why not yours? Dang, even straight up fanfiction gets published sometimes if they change the names, so I can't see why not 😁

[@brentdunlop8760]

The ending of the Maze Runner series is also just completely ridiculous. There was literally no world building to even suggest the sci-fi shenanigans that happens at the end. It still makes me mad thinking about it!

[@khanolval9848]

I've only read book 1 so far what happens at the end of the series???

[@Idekjustyeah]

Just read it, do you want spoilers like what

[@user-ln2go4xp6d]

@@Idekjustyeahno duh obviously they’re asking for the end of the book in order to not find out what happens.

[@NerdFamVlogs]

@@Idekjustyeah Obviously they want spoilers. Otherwise they wouldn't have asked!🤣

[@notglory7160]

Are you talking about The Death Cure, or later books?

[@Space.Panda1805]

The most ridiculous dystopian sociaty is the one we're living on💀 I was so happy when I was little and watch movies like The hunger games until I realized😅😅🤣

[@Thewraith13]

No but that’s true, all through my history classes I am constantly thinking “yeah but isn’t that exactly what happened in Panem…?” And that helps out into perspective how screwed up people can be, I don’t think the hunger games is really that unrealistic, and if it happened I’m sure some people would be happy to play the role of the ignorant capitol aristocracy.

[@francescamazzonelli1670]

@@Thewraith13 Well... as the Latins used to say, "Panem et circensem" (Bread and circus).The way you distract people form the decadence of the empire.. richness and entertainment

[@Lonovavir]

I no longer consider Blade Runner a dystopia, sure replicants are hunted for sport, but they've got flying cars, off world colonies and umbrellas that glow!!!! A big improvement from 2024.

[@magamen2433]

One of my dear old story ideas was a dystopia where children were raised fully blindfolded from a certain age. It was this way, because there was an enormous dark cave/abyss that had to be explored, but there was something sinister down there and machines wouldn't work. So they trained these kids to be able to navigate pretty well in darkness. I honestly had no other plans for the cave, but I had this whole ceremony thing, where late-teens would be paired up by quotes they chose that match up and stuff like that, and they would see each other for the first time after the ceremony. I thought that a lot of drama could come out of people being thorn between their ceremony matches and previous relationships. It was very dumb and pointless, but I remember having a lot of fun with coming up with ideas.

[@newtscamander9370]

I really like this idea tho !!!! Sounds like sth i would read or watch hihi🖤

[@yura2258]

I actually like the blindfolded thing

[@xbreezee]

I would totally read that if you ever wrote it. So interesting!!!

[@b4tman_and_Rob1n]

Respectfully, I cannot believe you came up with a BRILLIANT dystopian story idea like that (the blindfold idea was so good! so creepy! I want to know what's in the cave!) and then the main plot of your story was going to revolve around teenage relationship drama XD Was the link to Plato's "allegory of the cave" intentional? Cause if it was then that is GENIUS.

[@magamen2433]

You guys are all so nice! The preteen inside me is screeching! Answering the respectful comment haha, I had two very good reasons for that. I was like 11-12, so I think that point explains itself. Other than that I was also very intrigued by the cave, that was the main thing, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what to put in there. I'll let you guys know if I ever figure it out! You think so highly of 12-year-old me for thinking she would have used Plato's allegory intentionally XD

[@pyronuke4768]

I created my own dystopian teen drama when I was in high school where basically everyone was living on a colony starship. It was either an overpopulation issue or a supplies issue, but when you came of age you had to take a test to not get tossed out an airlock, and depending if you were in first second or third class determined how easy the test was (third class needed to get like an 80%, second class was 65%, and first class was 40%). Anyway there were three leads: a boy from fist, a boy from second, and a girl from third. The two boys pass pretty easily, but oh no the girl didn't, so the two boys have to hide her from the ship's cyborg security crew. It was honestly just an excuse to write a "love triangle but in spaaaaace!" The characters were pretty steryotypical and one-dimensional (first class boy was "chivalrous knight in shinning armor", second class boy was "too smart for his own good", and third class girl was just "shy blonde bimbo") and I didn't get much further than the first draft.

[@aetheria7767]

I’ve read Delirium (and this is just my take on the story) but I think it is less about “banning love” and more controlling the general population because I doesn’t just ban romantic love but also platonic or familial love. Most people who get cured become sort of a shell of themselves that doesn't experience real connection with others and the reason they banned love is because love ,of any kind, causes people to do irrational things as proven throughout history. As someone who doesn’t really experience romantic love I found personally that tbh it didn’t have much to do with romance but instead trying to stop all types of relationships with others not just romantically. A big part of the story is about the main characters relationship with her mother and how she committed suicide because she didn’t want to stop loving her daughter. A lot of people think of love as just a romantic thing but the story kind of reminds you that love is everywhere and essential to everyone’s life. I agree that it doesn’t really belong in the slay category but I feel it should have more credit :)

[@pink-roses-and-scarlet-skies]

I always thought it was interesting how strongly that book emphasized the way the cure took away *all* forms of love (not just romantic love). I distinctly remember the protagonist commenting that sometimes parents would accidentally kill their own children via neglect. And they felt *nothing* afterwards. I don't think I got far enough into the series to find out the government's actual motivation for doing this (and their officially stated reason was very obviously BS), but anything that can override human emotions to that level must be very powerful indeed.

[@Abby-jc2hp]

I ate UP the uglies series when I was younger! It's super underrated in the dystopian category imo

[@marysnyder9405]

Same! I was really worried she was gonna trash it 🫣 I think because it came out before The Hunger Games, so before the new dystopian genre really caught fire, it didn't get as much momentum as the books that came after.

[@Abby-jc2hp]

@@marysnyder9405 that is such a good point! I definitely read these in middle school before the hunger games really caught fire (no pun intended lol)

[@Hyzentley]

Its incredibly good. Hope it gets the fame it deserves after the movie in development, that was meant to come out this year but didn't, actually comes out. But yeah, pretty sure it's not as famous because it came out before Hunger Games

[@animeotaku307]

@@marysnyder9405Someone theorized that another reason why it didn’t catch on was a lack of adaptation. Which happened because the books’ themes would have made some things like casting even more difficult.

[@suyareads]

I read it back then and it was so bad imo 😢

[@ViktoriaMagrey]

I still hold the opinion that The Hunger Games will eventually become a literary classic.

[@nekrataali]

_cries in Battle Royale_

[@yizzardpalmero]

Not gonna lie the idea of a whole family being reaped and then people voting on which member gets sent into the hunger games sounds pretty legit.

[@lary_uwu6027]

Agreed id be really interested if i read smth with that

[@seon_njang]

⁠@@lary_uwu6027You should read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. It's a short story with this exact premise

[@seon_njang]

@@lary_uwu6027I think you would enjoy "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. It's a short story with a similar premise.

[@belenayerza5578]

is that not kind of like the lottery?

[@iseydelmar]

​@@belenayerza5578my thoughts exactly 👍

[@s.k.1603]

Idk if it is dystopia exactly, but the Unwind series by Neal Shusterman. Where parents can make decisions to have their kid "unwound" (basically organ donor to the max) or those that are orphans can be unwound, or there was one character that was born into a cult just to be unwound when they turned a certain age. It is a real creepy concept imo but I remember liking the books. Or, there is The Program, where basically you cannot feel depressed or you will be put in the program to eradicate that feeling. I don't remember much of it, but thought it fit in with the dystopian genre

[@niko-jg5uc]

neal shusterman being one of the only authors whos actually good at writing dystopian societies >>>>>>

[@kseni_vely]

The premise of "The Program" is realistic to a point. It actually kinda sorta existed in the USSR and there were forced treatments for people who manifested signs of depression or any other chemical imbalance that prevented them from "being a normal working cog in the well oiled machine" 😅 People were forcibly medicated, sometimes without knowing it and there are still anxiety medications that are sold over the counter in a lot of Eastern European countries that people just feed to their children, not really fully realising what those are.

[@Ashley-gq9xy]

The unwind series was an absolute slay, I ate that shit up

[@animeotaku307]

While Unwind is decent, it takes a very simplistic stance on abortion and ignores so much of the pro-choice side of the argument. Mainly, because if the book actually did, it would make people on that side accepting the compromise feel very unrealistic. This aspect also aged like milk after the repeal of Roe v Wade and the fallout that’s ensued. Granted, I’ve only read the first book and this was my takeaway. If the other books did address this issue, I would like to know.

[@azelmamortlake4471]

I also love the Scythe series by the same author!

[@judedoodle]

I dont see a lot of people talking about the Legend series here but I’m so glad you knew about it and liked it! I still reread it every year and the MULTIPLE twists had me in a chokehold as a middle schooler! And I still think about that ending all of the time uhg so good!

[@elettramelodia8990]

Uglies reminded me of a sci-fi short story I read years ago. In it, there is an operation that stopped you from being able to tell how beautiful a human face is. The main character is a teenage girl who has had this modification since birth, as is common practice in her community. She had a romantic relationship with another boy her age, but they split amicably after high school. The college she goes to accepts students with the operation and without, and, as a legal adult, she's allowed to get the operation reversed if she chooses to. She initially doesn't want to, but then she shows a picture of her high school sweetheart to her new friend who doesn't have the operation, who is scandalized that the boy made the decision to break off the relationship. The friend says she needs to be able to see beauty to understand why it doesn't make sense. So she has the operation undone. And realizes that she is beautiful. And her high school boyfriend is, if not ugly, at most average and unimpressive. She initially revels in the knowledge that she is beautiful, but then she feels grief that she would never have known her high school boyfriend, who was kind and caring and giving and all the rest of it, if she had only judged him initially based on how handsome he was. I liked the musings on how beauty standards affect the people we get close to in our lives, and the damage it can cause to our ability to relate to other people when we make snap judgments about how worthwhile it is to get close to them based on skin deep measurements of the other person. Also, hey! Why wasn't City of Ember on this list?

[@RobinClower]

For those interested, the story is "Liking What You See: A Documentary" by Ted Chiang, who was the author behind Arrival. He has some incredible short stories.

[@elettramelodia8990]

@@RobinClower Thank you! No wonder I couldn't remember the title, though. I haven't read my Stories of Your Life anthology since college. Then I look it up, and Uglies lists Liking What You See as a primary influence. Such a comedy of errors.

[@jaz6507]

Omg the CHOKEHOLD city of ember had on preteen me

[@MattBellzminion]

"Uglies" sounds like it was inspired by the classic "Twilight Zone" episode "Number 12 Looks Just Like You", adapted from Charles Beaumont's story "The Beautiful People". Upon even a cursory examination, its premise falls apart like a heavily-used tissue, but it's an effective story because it's serious about its characters and how they interact around a troubled 18-yo girl who initially resists getting her operation.

[@sheersternfeld1914]

Love what you see by Ted Chiang?

[@ed3nhaz4rdous]

I had a Hunger Games au idea, that had Gale and Madge be reaped instead of Katniss and Peeta, and with Madge being the mockingay, even though Gale was the violent one and Madge was the one witht he powerful words. Narrated from Gale's perspective, the books started with, "when I wake up, the other side of the bed is warm." cuz he was sharing the bed, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

[@plasmakitten4261]

I think along side "why are your scientists so incompetent?" there needs to be a "why are your *politicians* so incompetent?" tier exclusively for the Hunger Games. Because even by the atrocious standards of real politicians and authoritarian leaders, Panem's leaders are spectacularly, astoundingly stupid. The Hunger Games is an awful idea and it's shocking that it took 75 years for another rebellion to break out. The only thing that could possibly have happened was exactly what happened.

[@thehighwizard]

i think the threat about that wasn't the outright "oh we're taking your kids" it's the knowledge that this government can and will do so much worse below-board. a revelation of the later books is the victors talking about how president snow has killed many of their family members for things much less than outright rebellion so imagine what he could do if there was open interest. if your government is open about killing children for sport, imagine what they're hiding, right?

[@sovietunion7643]

I think hunger games had the harry potter issue of being really well written on the small personal scale, but just kinda breaking down logically and thematically if you zoom out literally at all

[@mellowa]

The irony is that history itself also demonstrates such atrocious events and policies being withhold and done by leaders and other powerful communities, yet were bound to be doomed because the oppressed would retaliate even though the oppressors knew. A prime example of this was the slavery era in the US, the slave owners knew that the slaves were bound to rebel against them and try to kill as many of them as they could, hence their fear of a “slavery uprising”, yet in order to prevent that from happening they would enact harsher punishments and patrol them in order to instill the fear of retaliation so that they could maintain their control. So the idea of the “Hunger Games” isn’t actually that far-fetched pertaining to human nature and how humans themselves inherently want to maintain their own control over others if you reflect upon the past.

[@plasmakitten4261]

@mellowa Yeah. I mean the attitude of the dominant group digging itself deeper into the hole is definitely real, it's the idea of making televised entertainment out of it that's completely insane. Like, the Games was never a "this might happen to you if you rebel", because that's not how they work. It's literally just "we're going to be cruel to you for the sake of it, and force you to watch." Accomplishes nothing but stoking resentment.

[@mellowa]

@@plasmakitten4261 Although the hunger games greatly does stoke resentment, it was also systematically created to create resentment between the districts as well. The people in the districts did not have the opportunity to connect with other districts, thus the only thing they see from the other people in the districts are just the other tributes killing their own people which results a further polarization and separation between them. This effectively reduces the chance of them unionizing for a revolution, which goes to show that the hunger games was largely promoting the notion of detachment and hopelessness across the people of the districts. It also did this effectively by having a potential winner for a district, which would allow them to profit off from the winner’s rewards and reputation, furthering the sense of detachment and resentment between the other districts. This is seen from the career districts not initially supporting the idea of the hunger games even in the second book and how they weren’t even approached with the idea of it, which is crazy if you think about it because you’d think that victors themselves would understand how cruel it was, but they wouldn’t because of the systematic profit they’d gain from it. Now I do agree that it was going to fall regardless of how they’d manage to still make it work, but honestly I think the capitol was not anticipating that the act of empathy and respect in the hunger games would be able to spark the idea to the districts that they were able to rebel and unionize, that they were all the same and treated the same. After all, from all the games you’re just seeing everyone after their own throats and all the evils that lie within their own hearts as well, that they’re the monsters too which the capitol feeds off of, so the capitol probably just assumed that it would continue on like that. It’s more like “we’re going to be cruel by making you guys cruel too and watch you guys kill each other in order to repress the thought of unionizing and fighting against us”. This is why Katniss’ speech of President Snow being the real enemy with the people from district 2 was crucial, for them to understand that the hunger games were meant to polarize them and distract their perception of who the real villain really was, which was the Capitol. Sorry for my ramble lol

[@crimsoneclipse0618]

My dystopia setting was kinda like Delirium where love was banned, but with monsters somehow. Like there were beings that fed on love and that was why they have to ban and purge it in the first place, and the monsters have their own form of like a ranch, but it's an idealized castle with balls and courts and romance so they can feed more on love.

[@mariesabine2385]

That is CLEVER! I like it a lot!

[@dan.dandan]

I would be obsessed with a story like this actually

[@kl3321]

That sounds interesting especially the last part! I love the idea of a court with glamorous masked balls and such, where the only reason it's so glamorous is that it's a farm for people's emotions.

[@MissMisnomer_]

Wait tho this concept actually slaps. Like, Death Eaters, but for joy instead of fear.

[@asgrimurhartmannsson]

"A selection of girls allowed to die" is both hilariously campy and weirdly compelling: Three girls and a corpse... This just keeps getting better.

[@madmagdelena]

Not gonna lie, she had me at three girls and a corpse

[@callistified]

18:11 it's not that she feels more, it was a glitch. her match's face glitched out and showed this other boy instead, a boy who was deemed "unsuitable" and thus wasnt going to be matched with anyone. the girl meets him and learns of his low status, starts thinking that he WAS her perfect match before he got taken out of the system, which lead her into a spiral of confusion throughout the first book. if i remember correctly, the matchers admitted it was an intentional experiment just to see what she would do, how she would react. because of that i'd probably put it "why are the scientists so incompetent"

[@chasserole9550]

The giver is SUCH a wonderful series, there are 3 other books (gathering blue, messenger, and son) that are all interconnected and they all have such beautiful messages about love and the sacrifices we make for each other. I’m gonna be so honest the 4th book messed me UP, it Hurt but in such a good way.

[@stemwaffle]

SAMMEEEE only book I've ever cried for lol

[@fancyoil216]

Giver is seriously my favorite book ever but I’ve been avoiding reading the sequels despite owning them (I’ve had them since I was a kid) because I’m so scared it’ll mess up the story. It’s actually really nice to hear they’re good, I might just read them. Question: is the movie good? I’m avoiding it for the same reason, I don’t want it to ruin my perception of the story.

[@seineevee]

@@fancyoil216the movie is horrid. The sequels are great though!

[@XanderMatthews-nv9zf]

Honestly I hated The Giver, ending was so abrupt and it felt like a waste of time

[@stemwaffle]

@@XanderMatthews-nv9zf The end of the giver book, or the end of the series?

[@Grey_3438]

The chokehold all these YA dystopian novels had on us in the early 2010s can NOT be overstated

[@Foggust]

MAZE RUNNER MENTIONED!!!!! Also why’d you have to hit us with a “some of them are not” and a pic of newt 😭

[@Mej111]

Cinder/The Lunar Chronicles is one of my fav books/series and while I agree with your ranking this was a missed opportunity to put the book with an actual cyborg into the perks of being a cyborg category 😂

[@hannahbananathedansa2183]

When she talked abt maze runner and then said “some of them are immune some of them are not” as the video playing showed Newtie I wanted to cry 17:16

[@redmasquerade13]

Highly, HIGHLY recommend Uglies, and Scott Westerfeld as an author in general. He is such a kind person, and genuinely shows so much love and care for his characters in all of his books, and Tally and Shay’s journey in Uglies was genuinely life-changing for me as a teen. Still affects me to this day! Plus there’s a film adaptation going to be released on Netflix soon! Doubt it will be as good as I hope but STILL! Hyped!!

[@Hyzentley]

You said exactly what I would have said. Such a good and underrated series, hope the movie does it justice. Tally and Shays messed up relationship was my favorite part

[@ryanhand5036]

Lol I definitely thought you were going the other way with Angelfall when you said, "It's so refreshing to see the angels...be the bad guys!" That's definitely what I've come to EXPECT in any modern work! See an angel in a movie or book? They're the twist bad guys. The Devil? Always a misunderstood hottie. I guess my expectations have been subverted so many times that they've totally flipped.

[@n.hauser6438]

I think it would be the most refreshing if both parties were the bad guys, in their own respective ways, or both were in a way the good guys.

[@ss-cp2uy]

@@n.hauser6438 good omens

[@moonbunnygw8342]

​@@n.hauser6438I feel like this is the dynamic of atleast s1 of good omens,both sides want to end the world and stuff

[@MrInitialMan]

Angels being the bad guys is almost as subversive as having dads be bumbling idiots. That was subversive a long time ago. As in "before I was born, and I'm Generation X" long time ago. It's a cliche now.

[@dan.dandan]

@@n.hauser6438 I always suck up the concept of angels are actually dangerous and demons more down 'human' like BUT I'd like more of 'angels and demons are equally dangerous and not to mess with in general (as a human) or u'll get cooked' concept instead, like they're supposedly otherworldly creatures I want to see more stories of both sides only caring for their own values idk 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@oximoron613]

One thing I really liked about the Uglies series is how its evil government actually makes sense. The world was ravaged by war and ecological disasters, so they found a way to keep people happy while maintaining peace and healing the environment. They do partake in dubious practices, but nothing close to the comical evil of other dystopians. The protagonist actually struggles if freedom is more destructive than the current system, and ends the trilogy as a human weapon standing guard to make sure the new world doesn't fuck everything up.

[@mechengr1731]

And Extras actually goes even further with this.

[@Hyzentley]

YES. It is so good, and so refreshing too. I love how there are so many moments where you as the reader are so close to agreeing with Dr. Cable... until she goes just the slightest bit too far again

[@AGoofyJester]

The Giver was the first actual dystopian book I read and it was recommended to me by a librarian when I asked for books where it seems like something is wrong. I genuinely enjoy the book and the off feeling of everything that happens is amazing

[@reysterlightwood4127]

I just finished book 1 of Neal Shusterman's Arc of a Scythe series, and I'd put it in the SLAY category since the whole concept of a world without hunger, sickness, conflict, or sorrow is amazing. Humanity has mastered all of these things, including death. Scythes are now the only ones who can terminate life-and they are told to do it in order to keep the population under control, which was such a fantastic notion. I can't wait to read the next two volumes in the series.

[@stefaniacampos4992]

Me too! Just finished it yeterday

[@laurelizabeth269]

I just finished the series a few days ago, and I LOVED it. I hope you enjoy them❤️ they've got me on a sci-fi/dystopian kick now

[@baxterbruce9827]

I love those books...

[@pinkmarkercat]

​@@laurelizabeth269 literally same lol

[@Patchouliprince]

The Uglies series was so great- I haven’t read it since middle school but as a young teen I felt really seen and I also felt like the story was a lot bigger than just the interpersonal relationships which I really liked! I also remember that being the first book I read that really pushed the main character to darken up before her arch came full circle and I loved that too

[@dysmissme7343]

YO! I highly recommend you reread it!! I reread it as an adult on a whim but it’s so different from what I remember! I thought the books were centered around Tally’s live interests but they actually subtly focus around her friendship with Shae in a really fascinating way

[@Tink2k]

Matched was a pretty good start. But the rest of the series went off into the desert and fighting and a place where samples of everyone's blood was kept. And I can't even remember the details!

[@just-trying-my-best-everyday]

Not gonna lie, the line about the four mattresses SLAYS.

[@JulesIsWatchingStuff]

Hey, the Black Parade's first sentence is not that bad... When I was 12 to 15 probably, I used to write fantasy stories that began with phrases like "[Insert English girl name because I already loved the English language] woke up on the first day of school with the impression that today was gonna be special." Aaaand then she would find out about her magical powers on her first day at her new school. Original, I know.

[@aroacebigenderdude7920]

The Giver is a phenomenal book because the dystopia seems like a dystopia to us because of our cultural context, but it is actually an example of a child attempting to upend his entire society because of teenage emotions, but the society is actually highly functioning and people don't ever want for anything.

[@phabiorules]

Plus it was pretty cool that his goal wasn’t to lead a revolution that overthrows the government, but just to save a baby he knew would be put to death.

[@mirandomkitty6772]

I clicked on this video and almost immediately left when I saw Divergent in the upper tiers but then noticed Allegient was ranked seperately. That is the most correct way to rank that distopian world

[@nayas6157]

Please rank all the vampire series next

[@Space.Panda1805]

I'll would love that 🧛🖤

[@kseni_vely]

There are too many! 😂

[@Mia_M]

@@kseni_vely there really were. Us late 2000s early 2010s tweens/teens ate up vampires and dystopian societies.

[@Space.Panda1805]

@@Mia_M and more older too, like Anne rice's vampires

[@thecaptain291]

omg yes!!!

[@meghandicou501]

I do recommend giving the Matched series a read. The author does a good job exploring different types of relationships and how each of them is meaningful. I also liked how she explored the importance of art in the humanity of people (the dystopian setting is a big part of how she explores it).

[@cuddleee]

The Giver oh my god, I haven't thought about that book for ages!! It was probably the first dystopian story that I've read, I was maybe like 10-12? In Hungarian (which is my mother tongue) the title is The Guardian of Memories, and I remember telling all about it to my mom because I was so fascinated by the concept of a world without colour and what it would be like to experience seeing colour for the first time... Thank you for this trip to memory lane! :D I should read that book again, see what it's like as an adult.

[@oliviabarron8615]

There are actually 3 other books in the series that are worth a read too!

[@cuddleee]

@@oliviabarron8615 I had no idea, that's amazing! Thanks for the info :)

[@justarandompersoniguess]

@@oliviabarron8615discovering the giver isn’t a one off book and there are more in that world in this comment section is wild How have I never heard of this until now???? I can’t believe I never heard of this

[@bookbrain1557]

Omg, I remember being like 11 reading ONLY distopias. Confession: I still adore dystopias/distopian subplots in my books❤❤❤

[@thealyssac27]

The Host and The 5th Wave would have been good to include here. I'll have to check out the retrospective. 🙂

[@byeguyssry]

As a teen I made up a couple of dystopian settings but they were mostly derivative of something else. Like: - a future where robots have taken over, with two MCs that have lost part of their memories, with one MC remembering about the fear of a robot takeover. They don't know where they are but think they've been captured by robots, until they finally fail to sneak around a robot and learn they're peaceful, but one of the MCs ends up blowing them up out of fear, which leads to the two MCs breaking ties, and in the sequel (could you imagine thinking up a sequel) one of the MCs finds a hideout of remaining humans that confirms his fears of a robot takeover, while the other MC finds the robots' headquarters and confirms her fears of robots trying to help humans but still being massacred. - top students in villages worldwide (or well, countrywide would be more appropriate) get sent to the City where they get promoted to being a citizen instead of just village scum, and work for the government in science and tech etc., with a plot twist that was not at all related to that idea) - MC wakes up with no memories into "the Cube", a place where your intellect and physical prowess is tested and you die if you fail a floor. It's later revealed that it's all just a simulation, where the dead people are still alive, just booted out of the simulation with no real harm, and that it was a program to see who were the best to put into a mecha-armor suit to fight a war. The suits were hella expensive but, obviously, incredibly strong. The theme of the story though was that the MC was put under too much pressure, obviously from the threat of death in the sim, and in the real war, as well as just being forced to train a lot and being pressured into not leaving. (As a side note, this is literally the only story I have that has a name.)

[@triscaliston7447]

You have no idea how happy I am that Legend was even mentioned! The series was my personality throughout the whole of my high school exxperience lol

[@GavinMcCollom]

Actually, the hunger games is inspired by that concept of entertainment. The name of the country, Panem comes from the ancient Latin phrase “ Panem et circenses” or bread and circuses. It refers to how the government and people in power will feed and entertain the people to take the intention away from their oppression.

[@lizbarr724]

Can’t believe you didn’t put Cinder, the book with an actual cyborg, into the tier titled “the perks of being a cyborg”

[@tjlewis5035]

I deeply appreciate how you can laugh at your angst as a young writer. But hearing you describe your last novel made me scream laugh in my room. I fully appreciate the unhingedness!🤣

[@gayfish493]

"I do not for a second believe there would be a future where we outlaw love." Tell me you're straight without telling me you're straight lol

[@akiumzeno]

My two cents as a demisexual/demiromantic. Okay, I'm not quite sure how having the view that love can't be outlawed is strictly a straight thing. Because, correct me if I'm wrong, that's literally what lesbians, gays, bis, and pans are trying to stand for (at least in cultures and countries where LGBT isn't accepted). They want to be able to love anyone they want whether they're lesbian and want to be with a girl, pan and don't want to be restricted to loving only a certain gender, etc. Sure, it's a certain case of love but still trying to say "you can't outlaw/silence my love for x". And even as someone who's on the ace spectrum and doesn't believe love is everything, I'm still not sure for what reasons it would be outlawed. Sure, some ace people are repulsed but I would like to think that ace people aren't going to put a ban on love for everyone just because they don't feel it. For what reasons would love be such a bad thing that it would need to get outlawed? Humans are inherently social creatures, of course they're going to fall in love, why would would we be fighting against that instinct?

[@gayfish493]

@@akiumzeno the joke is that queer love HAS been outlawed in the past, and is still outlawed in many places around the world, and only a straight person who hasn't ever had to think about that kind of thing wouldn't be able to imagine a future where love is outlawed. Beyond even just queer issues, it wasn't very long ago in the USA that interracial couples were criminalized for their love. Of course people are still going to love, but it takes a remarkable amount of privilege to not realize that love can, has, and is subject to marginalization and criminalization by society and governing bodies. It's that privilege I was poking fun at when I said "tell me you're straight without telling me you're straight."

[@akiumzeno]

@@gayfish493 Ah, okay. I get it now.

[@logsday]

yeah I was coming here to comment something similar.

[@exovelvet]

also haven't read it but I think the 'Matched' book based on your description would work better as a "dystopia" if the love triangle dilemma wasnt between two guys but instead between a boy and a girl - it would have been an interesting discussion into heteronormativity & comp het esp if the protag was sapphic!

[@AliaHafen]

Yes! I always thought about that!

[@andreeacat7071]

That remknds me of a soulmate original work I found on Wattpad a while back. Basically one of the protagonists had like, a male soulmate but she loved a woman and society ostracized her for being gay and not following the protocol.

[@AliaHafen]

@@andreeacat7071 Do you remember the name of it?

[@andreeacat7071]

@@AliaHafen Nope, sorry

[@dan.dandan]

@@andreeacat7071 I feel like I've read this OR rather a fic adaptation of this somewhere... it was m|m instead though

[@nusaornik9541]

I died at the "Hufflepuff+", where can I subscribe to that??

[@AwakenedAvocado]

Hufflepuffs are so overrated

[@thederpypikachu9873]

​@@AwakenedAvocado Harry Potter period is insanely overrated for a number of reasons

[@bathbomber]

I would love to hear a dramatic reading of your unhinged teenage dystopia stories

[@rinnsbinns]

I remember my friends wanting me to read divergent so badly because I LOVED the Hunger Games. I read one chapter and put it down forever. I dont think they ever forgave me for disliking it lol

[@tochterchenfrost4784]

yea, i really don't understand where this comparison comes from. they may both fall under 'dystopia with teenage protagonists' but that's about it. although i like the thought experiment of 'what might gene-tweaking eventually do to humanity', the divergent series is just flat and illogical most of the time.

[@LadyVenVen]

I think the books are very different. I loved divergent when I was younger and really disliked hunger games. I didn’t have an issue with the story in hunger games, I just couldn’t get past all the descriptions, I was soo bored. I think hunger games fits readers that are more sensory and Divergent fits readers that are more intuitive and are fascinated by people’s personalities as a whole and the psychology behind it. Divergent gives you a world that is so open you can make your own rules and become a character in it.

[@trixiasharmaine]

the chokehold that these books had on me as a teenager 😭 especially the hunger games, shatter me, the selection, and i am number four!!

[@outerdimentionalspinach7789]

"I don't think there would be a futuristic world where we outlaw love." Gay people: It might be crazy what I'm about to say

[@khanolval9848]

😂😂😂

[@mariomario761]

I've read most of these and yeah, The Hunger Games and The Giver are definitely top tier for me. I really like some of the others but those two are trascendental to the whole genre.

[@vide0lover]

Just wanted to see where you put Uglies. this was my first introduction into dystopian as a teen and 15 years later, i still think about how amazing it is. 1000/10. it made Scott Westerfeld one of my favorite authors.

[@ariane2809]

“I do not for a second believe there would be a futuristic world where we outlawed love” Well maybe not straight love… but