Rutland Free Library

Survival…or something far worse. If you love books set in dystopic societies, you will enjoy these books about survival in future worlds, past ones revisioned, prison-like settings, the wilderness, diabolical mazes, and cities submerged under water due to global warming. Escape, swim, or run for your life, stop at the library, grab one of these books as if your life depended on it!

Young, Moira. Blood Red Road. 2011.

In a distant future, eighteen-year-old Lugh is kidnapped, and while his twin sister Saba and nine-year-old Emmi are trailing him across bleak Sandsea they are captured, too, and taken to brutal Hopetown, where Saba is forced to be a cage fighter until new friends help plan an escape.

Bacigalupi, Paolo. Ship Breaker. 2010.

In a futuristic world, teen Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl. Winner of the 2011 Michael Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.

Condie, Ally. Matched. 2010.

All her life, Cassia has never had a choice. The Society dictates everything: when and how to play, where to work, where to live, what to eat and wear, when to die, and most importantly to Cassia as she turns 17, who to marry. When she is Matched with her best friend Xander, things couldn’t be more perfect. But why did her neighbor Ky’s face show up on her match disk as well?

Grant, Michael. Gone. 2008.

In a small town on the coast of California, everyone over the age of 14 suddenly disappears, setting up a battle between the remaining town residents and the students from a local private school, as well as those who have “The Power” and are able to perform supernatural feats and those who do not.

Ness, Patrick. The Knife Of Never Letting Go. 2008.

Pursued by power-hungry Prentiss and mad minister Aaron, Todd and Viola set out across New World searching for answers about his colony’s true past and seeking a way to warn the ship bringing hopeful settlers from the Old World.

Oliver, Lauren. Delirium. 2011.

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love

Roth, Veronica. Divergent. 2011.

In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

Lu, Marie. Legend. 2011

Day is one of the totalitarian Republic’s most wanted criminals; June has a personal vendetta against him. When their paths cross by chance, June—unaware of Day’s true identity—is attracted to his good looks, charm, and courage. In trilogy opener Legend, Marie Lu crafts a dystopian world rife with inequality and rebellion, with personal dynamics complicated by romance and betrayal