Best of
Dystopia

2022

All That's Left in the World


Erik J. Brown - 2022
    Brown. Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Alex London.When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie's house, he's injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world's population, including everyone both boys have ever loved. And if this new world has taught them anything, it's to be scared of what other desperate people will do . . . so why does it seem so easy for them to trust each other?After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization. But something isn't adding up about Andrew's story, and it could cost them everything. And Jamie has a secret, too. He's starting to feel something more than friendship for Andrew, adding another layer of fear and confusion to an already tumultuous journey.The road ahead of them is long, and to survive, they'll have to shed their secrets, face the consequences of their actions, and find the courage to fight for the future they desire, together. Only one thing feels certain: all that's left in their world is the undeniable pull they have toward each other.

Earthflown


Frances Wren - 2022
    He's the only Healer on-call in the hospital — and that gunshot wound isn’t going to regenerate itself.But his patient turns out to be Corinna Arden, heiress to a pharmaceutical empire controlling Britain’s water supply. Her twin, Javier, is a man who (a) starts sending Ethan flowers at work, (b) seems terrified of a secret, and (c) has the cheekbones and earnestness to make up for both.Ethan indulges in what he thinks will be a brief and harmless romance but quickly finds himself knee-deep in a conspiracy involving murder, a drug cartel, and a bid for the multi-trillion-pound reconstruction tender: Project Earthflown.Meanwhile, Oliver is a journalist preoccupied with a dead body he found on the end of a too-convenient tip. Determined to follow the money, Oliver would also like to know what Javier Arden is doing on his couch.Earthflown is a character-driven speculative novel exploring the water crisis, hyper-privatisation and love. Set in a London that has long abandoned the earth to the rising sea, the story takes a science-based approach to conventional fantasy archetypes, where futuristic medicine meets a bit of magic.

2034


Bruno Beaches - 2022
    A hardcore, significant minority refuse to bow the knee to chemical tyranny and totalitarianism. As a result, the majority are medically protected from the untreated vulnerable minority by a geographical division of society, policed not by concrete walls and barbed wire, but by lethal drones. The majority are controlled and protected in their ultra-safe, utilitarian, futuristic, world, complete with artificial food, driverless electric taxis, permanent social distancing, and little need to work. The renegades in the excluded world are left to fend for themselves, to build new communities in the abandoned wild lands, living hand-to-mouth, without electricity or any mod-cons, but they are free.The consequences for the two communities unfold through the story, piece by piece, are not what you would expect!

How High We Go in the Dark


Sequoia Nagamatsu - 2022
    An astonishing debut." —Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen and V for Vendetta"Epic . . . Sequoia Nagamatsu is a writer whose imagination is matched only by his compassion, the kind we need to light our way through the dark." —Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The ImmortalistsRecommended by New York Times Book Review • Los Angeles Times • Entertainment Weekly • Esquire • Good Housekeeping • NBC News • Buzzfeed • Business Insider • Bustle • Goodreads • The Millions • The Philadelphia Inquirer • Minneapolis Star-Tribune • San Francisco Chronicle • The Guardian • PopSugar • Literary Hub • and many more!For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague—a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice.Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus.Once unleashed, the Arctic Plague will reshape life on earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. A heartbroken scientist searching for a cure finds a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects—a pig—develops the capacity for human speech. A widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter embark on a cosmic quest to locate a new home planet. From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resiliency of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe."Wondrous, and not just in the feats of imagination, which are so numerous it makes me dizzy to recall them, but also in the humanity and tenderness with which Sequoia Nagamatsu helps us navigate this landscape. . . . This is a truly amazing book, one to keep close as we imagine the uncertain future." —Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here

The Nice House on the Lake (2021-) #7


James Tynion IV - 2022
    Can they free themselves from their patterns? Or are they all just determined to build a prison of their very own? Grab the first collected volume and get caught up on the most surprising series in comics!

Clear (comiXology Originals) #4


Scott Snyder - 2022
    

Without Disruption


Carrie French - 2022
    He can never go back.Global society is united with a simple guarantee: everyone can achieve stable, lasting happiness for one hundred years in a curated lifestyle that brings them joy. Well… not unlimited joy, just mild contentment. No more, no less.Every element of life is controlled by Vie – an AI system that is worshipped as divine. She guides members into ‘harmony’ with in-ear alerts, retina screens, and vast, immersive simulations.Harrison is ambitious and impulsive with a curious habit of recalling hazy memories that never happened. The course of his life is punctuated with hasty decisions, emotional compromises, and genuine attempts to play by the rules.He’s not only running out of options; he’s running out of time. Is Harrison’s will strong enough to break Vie’s authoritarian hold? Or will he finally learn to settle for mediocrity, just like everyone else?The threat of ‘eviction’ is looming, and Harrison’s death day might come sooner than he thinks. For fans of Alduous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, Lois Lowry, and Ira Levin, this thought-provoking dystopian novel sparks questions about the diversity of joy and the resilient fight for independence.

Dream Shatter


Ann Hunter - 2022
    At least, that’s how it seems…Now The Circle wants Logan to join their fold and continue the utopia they've created. He has no reason to distrust his parents—high ranking members in The Circle—until he meets Reina, a girl from the exiled faction “Anyone,” who refuse to give up their free will.Logan begins to question everything he knows and loves. Can the girl be trusted—especially when she's a medicine thief skulking around Capitol City—or is it really true that peace can only be maintained beneath The Circle's rule?Fans of The Matrix, Inception, and The Giver have been dreaming of this series for a long time coming.

Compliance (The Bellator Chronicles, #1)


Clare Littlemore - 2022
    An exiled community. A forbidden love.Sixteen-year-old Faith is proud to attend Danforth Academy, a cutting-edge school in the all-female province of Bellator. But when tragedy strikes a fellow student, she suspects there is a darker side to the prestigious institution. Determined to protect herself and her friends, she goes looking for answers.Her investigation brings her face-to-face with Noah, a boy from Eremus: a community the Bellator authorities claim they destroyed years ago.Faith has been taught that all men are monsters. She knows she should turn Noah in. But she is drawn to the intriguing stranger and his unfamiliar way of life. As she learns more about him, she begins to question everything she’s ever known.When a vicious attack involving both communities rocks the city, Faith finds herself at the centre of a web of lies.Can she count on Noah for help? Or will he turn out to be the monster she’s always feared?

The Crossing Gate


Asiel R. Lavie - 2022
    Literally.In the kingdom of Elpax, juveniles must walk through the mysterious Crossing Gate to become adults—and seventeen-year-old Lenora is determined that her third attempt at crossing to adulthood will be successful. Even though adulthood means facing horrible realities, such as sin-spots appearing on her body whenever she commits a sin, it also means being able to have a job. And Lenora needs to work to support her struggling family.But Lenora's Crossing Day goes horribly wrong.Accused of trying to start a revolution, Lenora must obey the kingdom's laws to the letter if she wants to take suspicion off herself. But following the rules isn't as easy as it sounds. Especially when she meets a mysterious and handsome stranger who makes her feel emotions she's never experienced before—even though juveniles in Elpax aren't supposed to be capable of falling in love.With the long arm of the law looming over her and her family, Lenora must walk a tightrope between following the rules and investigating why she's unable to cross. Not to mention discovering where her new adult emotions are coming from. But as Lenora uncovers more of Elpax's terrible secrets, she realizes that fighting the system might be the only way to save her family, her country, and her first love.The first in an epic series perfect for fans of Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen and Lauren Oliver's Delirium, The Crossing Gate combines the tropes of classic YA dystopia with a Greek-inspired setting and fantasy elements that will whisk readers away on a journey like no other.

The Rising


Tahnee Perry - 2022
    Snatched from exile and certain death, Arela finds herself trapped with the people she’s been raised to renounce – a band of revolutionaries determined to topple Osiris’s dictator. She didn’t ask to be saved and she’s desperate to escape from her captors, but they won’t let her leave – they see her as a symbol of their rebellion and their secret weapon.All Arela wants to do is rescue her friends from a lunatic and murderer – a man willing to sacrifice anything in his quest for unbridled power. But first she needs to control her strange power and unravel the mystery of her missing parents. As she navigates her new world, danger lurks around every corner, and she soon finds herself fighting for her life, even as she’s drawn to the one person she should avoid, someone with the power to betray her. Arela has important decisions to make. Decisions that will decide the fate of an entire people. Should she support the revolutionaries? Can she risk everything to save her friends? And who is she meant to love? The boy she was forced to leave behind or the one who knows all her secrets?

Radio Apocalypse


Kayleigh Gallagher - 2022
    Seven thousand days of devastation, seven thousand days of shifting wastelands and dangerous creatures, seven thousand days of a vicious fight for survival. Humanity has long gone silent, except for two voices.Lota's broadcast has served as the sole beacon in this time of darkness for years now, and she reports on everything from daily events to her own deepest fears in the hopes of connecting with another person. But these hopes begin to dwindle as time goes on, and it becomes increasingly evident that solitary survival under these conditions is unlikely at best.Rachel, meanwhile, lives on her own in the empty shell of her family's former home and place of work, a laboratory across the ocean, doing anything she can to get by. But when a mysterious disease ravages Rachel's crops and the ghosts of her past come back to haunt her, it becomes increasingly evident that she needs to leave. She has nowhere to go, however, until one night, the impossible happens: she uncovers Lota's broadcast.Then it becomes a race for them to beat the odds-to cross an ocean and hundreds of miles of radioactive land, outrun superhuman mutations and monsters of every kind, not to mention braving the elements-and for two of the last people on earth to find each other.

Amaranth


David M. Snow - 2022
    The dead are piling up, yet no cure exists. Skyler can only count on himself to avoid the worst.Emily Bates, his childhood friend, interrogates stowaways in the prison as a special agent. Their presence onboard could shake the very foundations of the ship. Will she be strong enough to overcome the injustices that have been plaguing her lineage?At the worst possible time, a fierce battle for control of the ship rages, jeopardizing a century-old utopian project. Everything Skyler and Emily have ever known may be shattered forever.Order. Hope. Their lives.Will they find a cure and wrest control of the Ark, their only true home?Dive into Amaranth the first book in a dystopian science-fiction trilogy for adults reminiscent of the bestselling series Divergent, the TV series The 100 and the movie Snowpiercer to find out!

Molly and the Machine


Erik Jon Slangerup - 2022
    Book 1 of middle-grade action adventure series

Darkness of Night (Coven of Ruin #1)


Amanda Hale - 2022
    But he was still dangerous, mysterious, and deadly.They claimed it was the apocalypse and people needed to seek refuge and shelter. We succeeded.For years, my parents and I survived underground until they both went missing. With no other choice, I left and walked back into a world I no longer recognized. I evaded capture for over two years, thinking that they would never get me. But suddenly, I awoke in a cell, frozen, starved, and hurting like I have never hurt before.Set to work as a housemaid with the other captives in the Coven of Darkness. I have captured the eye of the vampire called Zane. The way he stares at me delivers a chill down my spine but ignites a fire in my veins. He is forbidden and I should hate him. After all, his kind slaughtered everybody I loved.Only, he isn’t the sole vampire that has his gaze fixated on me.But there are endless secrets hidden in the walls of Darkness that are unraveling rapidly.And it may all be because of me.

Renegades Exiled (Soldiers of Blood and Ruin, #1)


Rowan Thalia - 2022
    Chemical agents dropped mercilessly on friend and foe alike have created two new humanoid species and the world population has been reduced to small colonies of humans fighting against them to survive.Out on a routine patrol, my team and I run into the worst kind of trouble. Branded and left for dead by our superiors, we form bonds that cannot be broken and find asylum with the enemy.Seeking knowledge, my new coven and I race across the wasteland for the one thing that can give us answers: a sample of untainted DNA. Fighting zombies, mutants, and our own transformation. Aligned with vampires and on the run... We thought things couldn't get worse until a hidden threat finds me.When conspiracy is the norm, who can I trust?The war is not over. The fight between the species has just begun.Note: Renegades Exiled is a RH romance. It is also a complete overhaul of the previous title: Rox's Renegades. It has been fully rewritten, revised, and edited! Enjoy!