Dystopian
When the future (or present) is dark and scary and you don't want to live in it. AKA, set in societies where social or technological trends have led to oppressive governments and/or degraded quality of life.
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Depression or Bust by Mack Reynolds
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
- Matched by Ally Condie
- The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
- Island by Aldous Huxley
- Crossed by Ally Condie
- The World Inside by Robert Silverberg
- Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
- Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
- A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
- Reached by Ally Condie
- Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
- The Children of Men by P. D. James
- Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
- That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
- Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
- Shift by Hugh Howey
- Eternity by Mack Reynolds
- When the Sleeper Wakes by H.G. Wells
- Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
- Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler
- Dinner at Deviant's Palace by Tim Powers
- Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
- Storm Thief by Chris Wooding
- City of Darkness by Ben Bova
- The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
- Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
- Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
- Hidden Empire by Orson Scott Card
- Fury by Henry Kuttner
- Revolt in 2100 by Robert A. Heinlein
- 334 by Thomas M. Disch
- The Syndic by C.M. Kornbluth
- Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
- The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner
- Desolation Road by Ian McDonald
- The Last Castle by Jack Vance
- Bug Jack Barron by Norman Spinrad
- Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand
- Gnomon by Nick Harkaway
- Radio Free Albemuth by Philip K. Dick
- Misspent Youth by Peter F. Hamilton
- Remake by Connie Willis
- Millennium People by J.G. Ballard
- Caliphate by Tom Kratman
- The 10th Victim by Robert Sheckley
- The Whole Man by John Brunner
- Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
- Salt by Adam Roberts
- Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick
- A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker
- THX 1138 by Ben Bova
- The City and the Stars by Sir Arthur C. Clarke
- Don't Bite the Sun by Tanith Lee
- The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick
- Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- A World Out of Time by Larry Niven
- Bete by Adam Roberts
- Radix by A. A. Attanasio
- The Shore of Women by Pamela Sargent
- The Game-Players of Titan by Philip K. Dick
- The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
- Mindkiller by Spider Robinson
- The Simulacra by Philip K. Dick
- The Great Explosion by Eric Frank Russell
- Flash Point by Nancy Kress
- The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley
- Six Moon Dance by Sheri S. Tepper
- Maul by Tricia Sullivan
- The Race by Nina Allan
- Fugue for a Darkening Island by Christopher Priest
- After Some Tomorrow by Mack Reynolds
- The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock
- Telempath by Spider Robinson
- Child of the River by Paul J. McAuley
- Lifehouse by Spider Robinson
- Direct Descent by Frank Herbert
- Kiln People by David Brin
- The Men in the Jungle by Norman Spinrad