The Resurgence of Dystopian Fiction by Mariellie Colón

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During the early 2000s to mid 2010s dystopian fiction was at the height of popularity with The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Ready Player One, etc. With each of these respected books getting their own live action adaption that has gotten mainstream popularity. But going into the late 2010s it seems like the genre had taken a dip in popularity, according to the goodreads Best Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic books based on users votes, none of the books in the top 20 has been made after 2012. The ‘youngest’ novel being Ready Player One by Ernest Cline published on August 16, 2011 sitting at the number 19 spot. And of course there were popular books written later, further down in the list like The Fifth Season by N.K Jemisin published in 2016, Severance by Ling Ma published in 2018, and Scythe by Neal Shusterman in 2021. After 2020 there wasn’t a steady stream of popular dystopian novels like there was in the 2010s, but recently I noticed that there is a rise of popularity of books like The Silver Elite and prequel books of The Hunger Games series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and The Sunrise on the Reaping. I also see more outspoken love and enjoyment of ‘older’ dystopian novels, like Shatter Me by Taherah Mafi, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Dune by Frank Herbert on social media, like Tiktok and Youtube. 

With the adaption of several major dystopian novels to the movie screen and streaming like; The Uglies, Ready Player One, Dune, The Handmaid's Tale, and the new Hunger Games prequels are having big blockbuster success. I firmly believe that dystopian novels will be back on the rise as several authors will get the inspiration to write their own dystopian fiction. 

Another thing I believe will be a factor in the upcoming dystopian fiction trend is the state of the world. No matter the political party you belong to,  you can see the rise of protests and violence happening not only in the United States of America, but in other parts of the world. Typically dystopian novels will take inspiration from current events and provide a message or commentary on the issue. For example, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood despite being published in 1985 it provides itself as a warning and a commentary on women’s rights which is still a prominent issue in 2025. Another example would be Animal Farm by George Orwell, published in 1945, which is about how farm animals overthrow their human master, and take over the farm, but as the novella progresses it goes into themes of totalitarianism, corruption, and communism. Animal Farm was published towards the end of World War 2. Though it is common knowledge Animal Farm is an allegory of the Russian Revolution that started in 1917. 

I think that a lot of new dystopian novels that will come about will provide commentary on immigration, political violence, and/ or the evolution of A.I.