Genre Guide: Teen Dystopian Fiction

In Trinity, a brutal metal world, eighteen-year-old Val, an assassin with outlawed teleportation powers, believes her identity is a secret until her sisters are kidnapped, forcing them to embark on a rescue mission that uncovers a conspiracy capable of upending Trinity.

In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed (‘gleaned’) by professional reapers (‘scythes’). Two teens must compete with each other to become a scythe–a position neither of them wants. The one who becomes a scythe must kill the one who doesn’t.

Ostracized or incarcerated her whole life, seventeen-year-old Juliette is freed on the condition that she use her horrific abilities in support of The Reestablishment, a post-apocalyptic dictatorship, but Adam, the only person ever to show her affection, offers hope of a better future.

Temo spends his life obeying the Holy Order’s decree, undergoing their sacraments to tame his supposedly violent nature. The only rule he breaks: hiding that he is trans. If discovered, Temo will face El Torneo, a brutal, fight-to-the-death game pitting the untamed against one another. When Temo’s boyfriend is thrown into the deadly tournament, he’ll do anything to rescue Ollin from his gruesome fate, even if it means entering El Torneo himself.

Two hundred years after World War III, the world is at peace, all thanks to the soul-identification system. Every eighteen-year-old must report to the government to learn about their past lives, a terrifying process known as kirling. Good souls leave the institute with their inheritance, a career path, and if they’re lucky, a soulmate. Bad souls leave in handcuffs. It’s a nerve-wracking ordeal for Sivon, who, given her uncanny ability to win every chess match, already suspects her soul isn’t normal. Turns out, she was right to worry.

In a dystopian society devoid of art and love and where young girls are forced to hand pollinate plants, fourteen-year-old Jess tries to inspire a revolution using smuggled paints and a brush.

In a world ruled by the We each person has a social role assigned by their Instinct. No deviation. No choice. No freedom–Instinct is irrepressible and serves the Collective. But young Goliath, a damaged Protector, is determined to win acclaim and move rapidly up the social ladder. And Claire, hiding behind her Instinct as a Confidant, bears a secret that could rock the entire system.

A dystopian story following a young soldier who is framed for a political assassination and must team up with her country’s most wanted terrorist to clear her name.

In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, fifteen-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.

Dani must question everything she’s worked for as she learns about the corruption of the Median government.

In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss’s skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister’s place.

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.