Dystopian World

A Recommended Summer Read from The Verge and io9 A Recommended June Read from Hello Giggles and Tor.com When the world ends, where will you go? In a breathtakingly vivid and emotionally gripping debut novel, one woman must confront the emptiness in the universe—and in her own heart—when a...

Arriving in Wheaton, Hannah uncovers the shocking revelations of her past before falling victim to a new manner of horror. Captured and held in a deadly camp where survival means absolute submission, every moment becomes a battle against evil and time…and the resurgence of the virus. Will she and Cody survive the unforgiving landscape of a collapsed world? Or are they doomed to perish...or turn?

Bounty hunter Hal Mason is doing well for himself, a year after the System converted Earth into a lawless, apocalyptic Dungeon World. Now, though, old friends have come calling with a new opportunity and with it, the murky politics of Galactic interests and overlapping contracts. Hal must protect the first train to cross the new wildlands of the American Midwest.

Twenty years ago, a deadly virus swept the globe, ravaging the population. People died and came back as monsters, and through the tragedy that rocked the world, survivors were born. Megan James is the product of survivors. Her parents crossed hundreds of miles of dangerous countryside to reach Atlanta and the promise of a real future. Now, two decades later, Meg is facing a crisis of her own. Her father has vanished and is presumed dead, and her mom is teetering on the edge of insanity, but all Meg really wants is to return to the safe world she always thought she was living in.

When Amanda Thomlin finds herself face-to-face with the reality that she may never see her mother again, the overwhelming uncertainty nearly immobilizes her. A kind father figure steps up and takes her under his protection, bringing her into his family.

Arlo was living the dream, but it was someone else's dream. His friend saved his life and injected him with tiny robots that saved his physical health and made him better. Stronger. Faster. The downside was he didn't remember anything before waking up in the middle of the Missouri forest. Now, with some of his old memories starting to surface, he feels like there is something important there. When he recovers his memory, he finds the Corporations have not been resting on their laurels while he was out of the game. With his health back, the Corporations are going to learn...

He was a man of quiet faith and determined courage who lived by an unwavering code of honor. He was a firm believer that the good guys would win and the bad guys would lose, although it didn't mean there wouldn't be casualties or injuries in the process of winning. EMP survivor Chris Chandler wasn't one to back away from overwhelming odds, and as of now, the odds weren't stacked in his favor. One way or the other, people were going to get hurt here or killed.

Dillon Stockdale is a broken man, crippled by agonizing grief over the realization his daughter perished in the wilderness. Dillon, together with Holly Hudson and his faithful dog, reluctantly begin the dangerous journey back to Holly's sprawling ranch. During the harrowing trip, they face murderous outlaws and violent weather, but they learn something invaluable that will change the course of many lives.

This is the story Harry Ransom. If you know his name it's most likely as the inventor of the Ransom Process, a stroke of genius that changed the world. Or you may have read about how he lost the battle of Jasper City, or won it, depending on where you stand in matters of politics. Friends called him Hal or Harry, or by one of a half-dozen aliases, of which he had more than any honest man should. He often went by Professor Harry Ransom, and though he never had anything you might call a formal education, he definitely earned it.

Zee and his friends didn’t expect that after they survived recovering the legendary First Player’s Sword that OVR World Online would announce it to the whole world. Even though no one knows about the secrets that the Sword protects it’s still a powerful one-of-a-kind game item that everyone wants. To make matters worse, they’ve reached Level 5 and the party has to depart the Orientation Zone. Outside of the OZ, Player-vs-Player combat isn’t just allowed, it’s encouraged.

In the bleak, not-too-distant future, most people who could fled to the virtual reality OVR World Online. Zachary "Zee" Jones will never be able to afford to become a player of the game. After committing a crime in order to save his mother's life, he was arrested and included in the Inmate Player Program. Even without perception filters to limit his pain, it was better than the alternative. He has the opportunity to earn more money in a five-year sentence then he could have in his entire life as a hospital janitor.

Lauren Russell, her family, and the community of Trout Run Valley had been blessed with a workable blueprint for overcoming nearly insurmountable odds - odds that had been surmounted against them, and others like them, since the blackout, subsequent decline of society, and the world's devolution. The aftermath of the most recent onslaught, a ruthless attack by a menacing enemy, had left them reeling in its wake, leaving a once-sustainable food supply damaged beyond repair and two of their own senselessly murdered.

The heart-wrenching companion to the bestselling novels Life As We Knew It and The Dead & The Gone. It’s been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate. Miranda and her two brothers spend their days scavenging for food and household items...

They say I am a queen. They say I married a monster. That I did so willingly. They say he cannot die, that he does not age. That, together, we rule a ravaged world. They say I used to be one of them, but now I am a traitor. They say many things, all which I cannot remember, but.... I fear what they say is true. Then there is what they don't say, what I see in their eyes - the king terrifies them. He cannot be stopped. And, most worrisome of all.... He is coming for me.

When a meteor released a bacterium that caused the dead to rise, the world Ian and Lance knew was turned upside down. Forced to flee from the sulfurous Stinkers, the teenagers narrowly avoided their own demise on the way to an isolated cabin. With their parents lost to contact, the boys must lead their battered group in survival.

When a devastating electromagnetic pulse is detonated over the USA, it leads to a total loss of power and a complete and catastrophic breakdown of everyday society. As the country descends into chaos and anarchy, one man makes an epic decision in order to save his loved ones and find a place of safety.

Betrayal. Devastation. Rebirth. Fin is thrust into a reality that is beyond her control. She's lost so much, but nothing can break her determination for justice. Can the heart of one person end the oppressive rule that controls the world?

The invaders have been repelled for now, but Cassy's problems are far from over. Her nascent body of allies, the Confederation, may have a traitor among them. With the Empire coming from the west to "liberate" survivors and land alike, the timing couldn't be worse. And while General Taggart has promised more aid, he has his hands full with a 'vader enemy of his own. Will he liberate New Jersey in time to help the besieged Clan and her allies?

Twenty years after the nuclear exchange that ended modern civilization, Daimyo Rikimaru Hanzo is the senior protector of the Shogunate. He is a Specialist—one of Teledyne’s enhanced warriors from the Corporate Wars—gifted with enhanced strength and near-limitless endurance. Rikimaru, along with his fellow Specialists Ayame and Mikael, have carved out a small island kingdom in the Strait of Juan De Fuca, northwest of Seattle. Together, they have rebuilt a semblance of civilization under Shogun Kojima’s rule.

In the summer of 2257, the asteroid Wormwood was closing in to strike Earth a glancing blow. Even a glancing blow would be catastrophic. Earth's governments and militaries united to try to shift Wormwood's path. Earth launched every nuclear missile she had and succeeded in changing its path, just enough to miss her surface. In doing so, shards from the asteroid, caused by the nuclear blasts, struck the earth.