The books that show us how it could all go wrong – the best dystopian novels of all time (with no spoilers)!
This episode is sponsored by The Dawn series by Ray N. Kuili, which you can get on print, audiobook, or kindle here: https://amzn.to/4fc4spv
– Join the book club on discord: https://discord.gg/fHejh3PpR2
– To listen on the go search ‘Hugonauts’ on your podcast app of choice
We also have episodes that go a lot deeper on some of these dystopias – check them out if you haven’t yet:
– The Machine Stops: https://youtu.be/s5s_yrI1oSQ
– A Scanner Darkly: https://youtu.be/IeNY0O79n_E
– Fahrenheit 451: https://youtu.be/3iJTOYY9Vdg
– The Handmaid’s Tale: https://youtu.be/S8u-dZmWuH4
– Brave New World: https://youtu.be/zlS2zRUz3No
– 1984: https://youtu.be/OKdu-JlgVMY
– We: https://youtu.be/0wWnkplxZcc
Timestamps
00:00 Intro & Sponsor: The Dawn Series
1:56 Dystopia vs post-apocalypse
5:17 Why dystopia is so common in YA
7:06The Hunger Games
9:20 Red Rising
12:13 Ready Player One
13:07 The Giver
15:11 Never Let Me Go
17:19 The Children of Men
20:51 The Machine Stops
22:31 Clockwork Orange
25:16 The OG dystopian writers
26:16 Philip K. Dick
28:50 Kallocain
32:06 Fahrenheit 451
34:31 The Handmaid’s Tale
40:03 Brave New World
43:32 1984
47:06 We
50:57 Ranking our top 3 dystopias
#DystopianBooks #hugonauts #DystopianFuture #bookrecommendations #scifi #sciencefiction #PaoloBacigalupi #TheWindupGirl #OctaviaButler #ParableOfTheSower #booktube #TheHungerGames #RedRising #ReadyPlayerOne #TheGiver #NeverLetMeGo #ChildrenOfMen #TheMachineStops #clockworkorange #philipkdick #Kallocain #fahrenheit451 #handmaidstale #bravenewworld #1984 #WeYevgenyZamyatin
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Tender is the flesh
Almost every book that has interested me with positive recommendations online has been worth my time.. Almost all of them have been really enjoyable.. That said, I absolutely cannot stand Red Rising. I won’t bother going into why, but I will not be tricked into trying the next book because everyone says it’s better.. Nope.. lol
I found Red Rising unreadable too. Glad to know it's not just me.
Swan Song is the best by far. It's not close. You get a little more credibility with me for not having The Stand on here, which is the most overrated book of all time.
Red Rising series was sooo so good. You just gotta get to the wow factor of the first book first.
Do you guys review post apocalyptic books?
I'm happy to see Kallocain on this list!
Sweden was not subsumed during ww2.
Holy cow, such a bad list idk what to do with my hands
I loved “Swan Song” by Robert McCammon. I read it probably 20 years ago and it still sticks with me.
Alas Babylon by Pat Frank, 1959. It influenced John Lennon’s anti-war stance.
32:30 Farenheit 451 was a bore.
I enjoyed a few of the stories in The Martian Chronicles more
25:00 I read a clockwork orange in Spanish. Pretty challenging.
16:45 Am I the only one that didn't like Enders game?
In the last 25% of the book and I was thinking, where is this book going? When is something going to happen? You got all these kids doing their activities at the school and then bam!
The reveal to me was very, "meh."
I've been meaning to read the sequel.
16:30 I've never heard of this author.
Thank you
10:15 poor people doing the work for elites?
My first thought were the belters in the expanse that are mining, ice and minerals for the United Nations and Mars Republic.
Is there a point in science fiction or even plots in general where you hear a concept and you think, "oh yeah, it's just like <referencing another work>?"
8:18 "Kay-st" rhymes with "waste."
Waste is dystopia related.
So there's that.
3:00 hoping you covered the book, "We "
35:10 Woohoo!
Anthem is a really good short dystopian read
YouTube suggested this video. I like books. I like dystopian. But I am here in Aug 2025 so listening to the commentary on 1984 is crazy right now. As well as The Handmaids Tale.
I think you're totally right about the "found" element of diaries. It gives you the sensation of it being something real that happened, rather than obviously a story being told to you. It makes the whole thing a little more urgent. Like found footage movies. And it IS realistic in the sense that we do have real published diaries that have been found, Anne Frank, obviously,
Whoa. Bro. You haven't read Lord of the Rings yet? How can you sleep at night? ❤ And you've read first law, right? It's better than everything else on this list, hard stop.
Red Rising is not like the others on this list. I feel like most of these books take place on the earth or something equivalent and are mostly things that could happen, but Red Rising is a science fiction space opera. I think scifi dystopia is very different from literature dystopia.
Fine suggestions, thanks. Here's a 16th—a book called “Project Purple” by a writer named Greco where thirteen Americans volunteer to recreate America's early colonial experience for a worldwide on-line audience. Their ordeal, however, has been brutally altered by their organizers for 'entertainment value'. Gory, sometimes funny, fascinating reading and comments on the end of empire.
A dystopian I never hear talked about that’s sooo good is The Postman. Have you guys read that one? (Actually it might be more post apocalypse. I get those confused too 😂)
First-person does not equal “journal”. I think you’re misunderstanding what a journal is. Diary of Anne Frank is a journal. I can’t think of many others. It’s not actually a very common way to write a book.
None of the ones you mentioned are diaries that I’m aware of. Possibly sounds like Handmaids might be; I haven’t read that one. The others you mentioned are just first person. For example, 1984 mentions him writing and hiding a diary, but I’m pretty sure the narrative itself just a typical first-person, not a journal format.
41:30 I’m sorry, but if you think they didn’t have recreational drugs in the 20’s and 30’s, you’re sorely mistaken. Drugs are not a new invention. They’re as old as history itself. 😜
…and the Sheep look up. A little climate, a little dystopia. Brunner.
I wanna say get off your high horse and read Red Rising? 😂😂
Yeah, only dystopian sci-fi I've ever read was the Silo series. I loved it.
You need to read Jacqueline Harpman's "I Who Have Never Known Men". This dystopian novel changed my brain chemistry. I know it has a strong title, but its not as it seems. EVERYONE needs to read this, if you do please make an analysis video!
Do androids dream, is reflective of the characters own dream. The point, humans and androids both dream of sheep.
Each entities relates relative to their position, while unknown, would their be a difference? 🙂
Was Man in High Castle not dystopian? I did like Farenheit 451 film. Thanks for the Karin Boyle/Kallocain mention, was completely unfamiliar of her life/writing. The importance/popularity of diary in dystopian fiction may be traced to Anne Frank.
I know this suggestion isn’t fiction but if you read brave new world it is most worthwhile and interesting to follow it up with brave new world revisited where he goes into all the ways we are controlled and manipulated in moving towards the world of BNW.
Hadn’t heard of Kallocain so have picked up a copy in penguin edition. A Clockwork Orange is great. Burgess wrote another dystopia, The Wanting Seed, but it’s not as good as clockwork.
I am so happy to have found you guys. I just finished five semesters of "Science Fiction and Politics," a course on Open Culture that was originally taught by Courtney Brown out of Emory University in the early 2000s. I am familiar with many of the books you have reviewed, and am even more excited to dive into the books that you are introducing to us all. Your perspectives are medicine for me. I think it was Cody who commented about learning from fiction so much more than non-fiction and I deeply believe that observation is right on the mark. I can't wait to see more videos. Thank you for putting the time into these conversations and then sharing them with the rest of the world.
I’ve been looking for a book channel! So happy I found you guys!
Really good picks!!I just found you channel, i have recently been getting into fantasy but haven't really tried to venture out to sci fi (though i'm reading 11/22/63 right now). . Definitely adding some of the books in your discussion and going to catch up on your videos. Will definetly be checking out Never let me go
I just finished The Handmaid’s Tale tonight and though I liked it, I can’t give it any higher than 3/5. I wanted so much more character development and plot than what was given. 😢
Wanted to subscribe, there's some interesting books. Unfortunately, i kept getting distracted with all of the talking over each other and interruptions. I did manage to get the titles that I'm interested in and add to my TBR. Take care.
Fahrenheit 451 was published in 1953
Jesus is the way the truth and the life.
Great list. I’m having difficulty coming up with other examples. I still need to try 1Q84, which is another. Have you tried that one?
great ep, boys.
I read a thing from Veronica Roth that said in order to create a dystopia all you have to do is try to create a utopia and it will inevitably become a dystopia the more you think about it
Hmm a book sponsorship. That can get dicey. I guess as long as you don’t review it or put it on a best of list. Also, the friends and I are doing a Lonesome Dove read so will be back on sci-fi in many many pages of the great west.
Sweden was not conquered by Nazi germany. Norway and Denmark was conquered. Sweden was neutral and had an ok military. They appeased Germany to some degree, but they weren’t a door mat. For example Sweden received all the Jewish refugees from Denmark and they were safe there.
I really enjoy you guys. I recommend a dystopian book which I recently read very good called The Divided kingdom by Rupert Thompson .
Gonna listen to this on my overnight shift on Thursday can’t wait