Why I Love Dark & Rebellious Dystopian YA Novels

JULY 15TH, 2026

I am a huge fan of dystopian fiction because it has a way of putting my own life into perspective. Like on one of those days when I’m late for everything, sprinting down the street, my lungs ready to burst, but at least no one is chasing me with a bow and arrow on live television, like Katniss Everdeen’s version of a bad day. 

Or when my phone is clinging to its last 2%, and I’ve no charger, I think of Tierney from The Grace Year, whose truly awful day was when she was banished to the woods after being impaled by an axe. And that’s not even the worst of Tierney’s time during her Grace Year…

Another thing I love about these books is how thought-provoking they are. Take Neal Shusterman’s Scythe, where a person has a job controlling the population through sanctioned killing. In a world where no one dies naturally, Shusterman makes us see the world through the Scythe’s eyes, where killing a person is the right thing to do. Scythe Faraday hates his job and chooses his victims carefully. I never expected to have empathy for a professional killer, but that’s what Shusterman’s novel does. 

I love the variety of dystopian fiction and how it addresses the big issues, whether it’s sexism, as in Louise O’Neill’s Only Ever Yours, where girls are raised to believe their only value lies in their appearance, or climate collapse, as in Neal Shusterman’s Dry, where the world has run out of water. Similarly, in The Maze Runner, the characters are trapped in a controlled environment with no memory. These stories take real issues and make them real and personal.

And that’s not even mentioning how dystopian YA makes being an outsider and not fitting in a massive strength. A great example is Juliette in Shatter Me. She spends most of her life believing her touch is so lethal, she has to be locked away. But she realises that her difference is a massive asset, and people only fear her because she can’t be controlled. Watching Juliette go from apologising for existing to realising she might actually be the most powerful person in the room is so satisfying and reassuring for anyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t quite fit in.

So, dystopian YA doesn’t just tell incredible stories, but shows that being different and questioning everything might be our greatest strength.

Reading dystopian fiction is a form of peaceful rebellion. So why not grab a book, question everything, and join us!

Please share with us what drew you to dystopian fiction and how reading it makes you feel in the comments!

- Chris

Fiction Rebellion Heroine