Top List of Distopia / Social Science Fiction Literature

[Marsa]

I'm a little bit afraid to read the following stories since it could ruin the fantasy I had already formed as a kid.

Yes, I know that feeling.
It happened already that I loved the book, was even recommending it, but after I re-read it nothing felt the same.
I couldn't really cope

I was expecting to find the typical detective tale but this one was way "darker".

This is one of those books I usually recommend to everyone who wants something light to read or relax a little with an interesting murder mystery. I don't see it as "darker" read.
It's interesting how we all experience things differently. :-)

[Incal]

This is one of those books I usually recommend to everyone who wants something light to read or relax a little with an interesting murder mystery. I don't see it as "darker" read.
It's interesting how we all experience things differently. :-)

Indeed. I think it has to do with the fact I was very young and at that point, all her books were about a crime, Poirot solves the mystery and the good guys win... Don't want to spoil the end to the others but the outcome here was quite different.

[Catnip]

I dont read much distopia, but here are some books I liked :

Stephen King - The Stand
His best work imo

Aldous Huxley - Brave New World

Colson Whitehead - Zone One

Kurt Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle

Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange

Cormac McCarthy - The Road

[Incal]

It's very interesting to note that most sci-fi literature —I'd say about 90%— is english, mostly by american authors or anglo in general. The remaining 10% is others, mostly russian or slav since soviet authors were really prolific back in the day. I have to admit that this situation was beneficial for me since I love to always read the original source (traduttore, traditore) and english is the only other language —besides my spanish— I master enough to read a book. That's probably why I just ordered this book:



It's Chinese science fiction. It's also the first Asian novel to ever win a Hugo award and it's quite recent (it's not easy to find good recent sci fi) so I'll give it a try. Since Spanish and English are equally foreign to Chinese, I ordered the Spanish translation.

[Manifest]

It's very interesting to note that most sci-fi literature —I'd say about 90%— is english, mostly by american authors or anglo in general. The remaining 10% is others, mostly russian or slav since soviet authors were really prolific back in the day. I have to admit that this situation was beneficial for me since I love to always read the original source (traduttore, traditore) and english is the only other language —besides my spanish— I master enough to read a book. That's probably why I just ordered this book:

It's Chinese science fiction. It's also the first Asian novel to ever win a Hugo award and it's quite recent (it's not easy to find good recent sci fi) so I'll give it a try. Since Spanish and English are equally foreign to Chinese, I ordered the Spanish translation.

You're right - which doesn't change the fact that one of my favorite dystopian / hard sci-fi writer is a Polish author, Janusz Zajdel. When it comes to modern sci-fi or rather, hard sci-fi, I rate "Exhalation: Stories" by Ted Chiang very well and I highly recommend this book!

[Incal]

You're right - which doesn't change the fact that one of my favorite dystopian / hard sci-fi writer is a Polish author, Janusz Zajdel. When it comes to modern sci-fi or rather, hard sci-fi, I rate "Exhalation: Stories" by Ted Chiang very well and I highly recommend this book!

I started to read this one:



Mostly because the movie Arrival was based on one of the stories.

[Jehan]

I think nobody talk about "Futu.re" written by Dmitry Glukhovsky.

The story is set in Europe in the 25th century when humanity has invented a way to stop aging. In order to keep Europe from overflowing, the government was forced to introduce a policy whereby if a couple decide to have a child either the mother or the father would have to give up their immortality. The story is built around a young man who is part of a squad in charge of stopping the overpopulation of Europe by punishing those who do not register their child.

[Incal]

Another classic piece of Sci-Fi I haven't seen on this list and I'd like to recommend is Ringworld. My favorite science fiction topic has always been alien races and I think Larry Niven vision on that regard is top class:

[Incal]

It's very interesting to note that most sci-fi literature —I'd say about 90%— is english, mostly by american authors or anglo in general. The remaining 10% is others, mostly russian or slav since soviet authors were really prolific back in the day. I have to admit that this situation was beneficial for me since I love to always read the original source (traduttore, traditore) and english is the only other language —besides my spanish— I master enough to read a book. That's probably why I just ordered this book:



It's Chinese science fiction. It's also the first Asian novel to ever win a Hugo award and it's quite recent (it's not easy to find good recent sci fi) so I'll give it a try. Since Spanish and English are equally foreign to Chinese, I ordered the Spanish translation.

UPDATE: I finished the book and I recommend it, not only for the story but also the POV, it's refreshing to see the behavior and morals of the characters who are chinese in opposition to the usual american ones (most sci-fi is US based). Nest year the story will have 2 adaptations: an american one (Netflix) which I'll skip and the chinese one which looks really good: