Books like “The Chrysalids”

What to read after “The Chrysalids” by John Wyndham: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Philip K. Dick · 1968
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Post-Apocalyptic World
In a dust-choked future, a bounty hunter is paid to retire androids that have escaped to Earth and passed as human. As he tracks them down he starts to question what makes a life real, and whether he can trust his own memories.
2
Parable of the Sower
Octavia E. Butler · 1993
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
In a near-future California wrecked by drought and lawlessness, a teenage girl who feels the pain of others builds a new belief while her walled neighbourhood falls apart. She leads a small group north, looking for land and for something to hold on to.
3
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley · 1932
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
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.
4
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood · 2003
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Post-Apocalyptic World
A man called Snowman may be the last human left, living in a tree above a ruined city and watching over a gentle new species. Through his memories the reader learns how his brilliant friend Crake and the woman they both loved brought the world to its end.
5
The Road
Cormac McCarthy · 2006
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
A father and his young son walk through a burned America, pushing a cart of scavenged supplies and hiding from bands of survivors who hunt people for food. Their only aim is to keep moving south and stay alive while holding on to decency.
6
Wool
Hugh Howey · 2011
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
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.
7
Anthem
Ayn Rand · 1938
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Outcast Hero
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.
8
Earth Abides
George R. Stewart · 1949
Same genre: “Post-apocalyptic fiction” and “Science fiction”
- Post-Apocalyptic World
- Survival
A plague kills nearly everyone on Earth. An ecologist emerges from the mountains to find empty cities and a few survivors, and spends the rest of his life watching a new, smaller society take shape without the old world's machinery.
9
The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham · 1951
Same genre: “Post-apocalyptic fiction” and “Science fiction”
- Post-Apocalyptic World
- Survival
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 Year of the Flood
Margaret Atwood · 2009
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
A religious sect called God's Gardeners expects a coming catastrophe and tries to live apart from the corrupt world around it. Two women, Toby and Ren, tell how they reached the group and what happened to them after the disaster they predicted.
11
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell · 1949
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
In the totalitarian superstate of Oceania, every thought and word is watched. Winston Smith works at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting the past, until he starts a diary and a secret affair. His small rebellion against a system that controls reality itself slowly closes in around him.
12
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury · 1953
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- 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.