Books like “Red Rising”

What to read after “Red Rising” by Pierce Brown: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Uglies
Scott Westerfeld · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
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.
2
The Darkest Minds
Alexandra Bracken · 2012
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
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.
3
Wool
Hugh Howey · 2011
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Rebellion
In a future where the air outside is deadly, people live in a buried silo and are told that anyone who asks to go outside will be sent there to die. When a sheriff starts asking questions about the world beyond the walls, the silo's careful order begins to crack.
4
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins · 2008
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
In Panem, each district must send two teenagers to fight to the death on television. When Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her sister's place, she turns the Games into something the Capitol cannot fully control.
5
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline · 2011
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Coming of Age
In a polluted future, most people escape into the OASIS, a vast virtual world. When its creator dies, he leaves his fortune to whoever finds the hidden egg, and teenager Wade joins a hunt that turns deadly.
6
The Windup Girl
Paolo Bacigalupi · 2009
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
In a flooded, calorie-poor Bangkok kept alive by genetic engineering, an American trader hunts for lost seed banks while a manufactured woman bred as a servant tries to survive. Their paths cross with corporate enforcers and a city about to boil over.
7
The Maze Runner
James Dashner · 2009
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Found Family
Thomas wakes in a maze with no memory of who he is, surrounded by boys who arrived the same way. Each day the walls open and monstrous machines roam, and Thomas becomes sure he was part of the experiment that trapped them.
8
Delirium
Lauren Oliver · 2011
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
In a world where love is treated as a disease, Lena counts down the days to the cure that will keep her safe. Weeks before her treatment she falls in love, and must choose between the orderly life promised to her and the risk of feeling.
9
Divergent
Veronica Roth · 2011
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
In a city divided into five factions, Beatrice Prior learns she does not belong to any of them. Choosing the warrior Dauntless, she hides her divergence while uncovering a plot that threatens everyone, and finds herself drawn to an instructor named Four.
10
Scythe
Neal Shusterman · 2016
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Coming of Age
In a future where death has been conquered, professional Scythes must choose who dies in order to control the population. Two teenagers are apprenticed to a Scythe and trained to kill, even as they question the system and each other.
11
Legend
Marie Lu · 2011
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Rebellion
In a divided nation, two teenagers on opposite sides play a deadly game of cat and mouse. June, a military prodigy, hunts the Republic's most wanted criminal, Day, without knowing anything about the boy behind the legend.
12
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury · 1953
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Rebellion
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.