Books like “Nineteen Eighty-Four”

What to read after “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury · 1953
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books in a future where reading is a crime and screens fill every quiet moment. After a young neighbour asks him whether he is happy, curiosity makes him hide a book of his own, and he begins to question everything his job stands for.
2
Anthem
Ayn Rand · 1938
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
In a future run by the collective, the word I has no meaning and all work is done for the good of all. Equality 7-2521 breaks the rules by doing forbidden research and falling in love, then flees a society that cannot allow an individual to exist.
3
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood · 1985
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia” and “Creeping Dread”
In the Republic of Gilead, women have lost their names, jobs and freedom. Offred is a Handmaid, valued only for the child she may bear for a commander and his wife. Remembering the life she had before, she searches for small acts of defiance and a way to survive.
4
We
Yevgeny Zamyatin · 1924
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
In the glass city of OneState, citizens live by a strict timetable and are known only by numbers. When the mathematician D-503 begins to keep a private journal, a woman named I-330 draws him into a movement that wants to tear down the walls of the ordered world.
5
The Trial
Franz Kafka · 1925
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia” and “Psychological Thriller”
- Dystopia
- Psychological Thriller
A clerk is arrested one morning and told he is on trial, though no one will say for what. As he tries to navigate a faceless legal system, his ordinary life unravels. A bleak, darkly funny novel about bureaucracy, guilt and power.
6
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley · 1932
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Forbidden Knowledge
In a future where citizens are engineered for contentment and kept calm with a drug called soma, Bernard Marx and the Savage John discover the cost of a stable, pleasure-driven society. John's arrival from a reservation exposes the emptiness behind the World State's comfort.
7
The Darkest Minds
Alexandra Bracken · 2012
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Rebellion
After a disease kills most American children, the survivors develop dangerous powers and are locked in government camps. Sixteen-year-old Ruby escapes and joins a group of runaways searching for a safe haven, while learning the cost of her own abilities.
8
The Chrysalids
John Wyndham · 1955
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
In a post-nuclear Labrador, communities destroy deformed crops and animals and kill, sterilize or banish people who do not match the true form. A boy who can speak with his mind hides his gift among friends, until discovery forces them to flee toward a fabled safe place.
9
The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham · 1951
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Creeping Dread
A meteor shower blinds most of humanity, leaving a few sighted survivors in a world where walking, venomous plants have escaped from farms. A young man and a small group try to reach safety and decide what kind of society can be rebuilt.
10
The Time Machine
H. G. Wells · 1895
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
An inventor builds a machine that carries him far into the future. He finds a gentle people living above ground and a sinister race below, and slowly learns what became of humanity. A short, influential tale of time travel and a dark vision of the end.
11
Uglies
Scott Westerfeld · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Rebellion
In a future where everyone turns pretty at sixteen through surgery, fifteen-year-old Tally longs for the operation. When her friend runs away instead, Tally is sent to find her, and learns what the surgery and the society that demands it really cost.
12
Behind Closed Doors
B. A. Paris · 2016
Similar atmosphere: “Psychological Thriller” and “Creeping Dread”
- Psychological Thriller
- Creeping Dread
A woman marries a charming man and finds their perfect home is a prison he controls. As she learns the rules of her new life and fears for her sister, she starts looking for a way out before the arrangement closes around her.