Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Utopia
The Man in the High Castle
by Philip K. Dick
Set in an alternate 1962, a man must confront a dark and oppressive new world order.
It's America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In San Francisco, the I Ching is as common as the Yellow Pages. All because some twenty ... (Goodreads)
Firestarter
by Stephen King
A young girl with pyrokinetic powers is pursued by a mysterious government agency.
Andy and Charlene "Charlie" McGee are a father/daughter pair on the run from a government agency known as The Shop. During his college years, Andy had participated in a Shop experiment dealing with ... (Wikipedia)
The Postman
by David Brin
A postman's struggles to rebuild civilization in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Despite the post-apocalyptic scenario and several action sequences, the book is largely about civilization and its symbols. Each of the three sections deals with a different symbol. The first is the ... (Wikipedia)
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
by Neal Stephenson
A young girl's journey of learning and self-discovery, aided by advanced technology.
The protagonist in the story is Nell, a thete (or person without a tribe; equivalent to the lowest working class) living in the Leased Territories, a lowland slum built on the artificial, diamondoid ... (Wikipedia)
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
A dystopian society where citizens are genetically engineered and prescribed pleasure-inducing drugs.
The novel opens in the World State city of London in AF (After Ford) 632 (AD 2540 in the Gregorian calendar ), where citizens are engineered through artificial wombs and childhood indoctrination ... (Wikipedia)
Childhood's End
by Arthur C. Clarke
Human race is transformed by an alien presence, leading to the dawn of a new age.
The novel is divided into three parts, following a third-person omniscient narrative with no main character. , In some editions, the short first chapter is a separate prologue rather than the ... (Wikipedia)
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
by Robert A. Heinlein
Revolutionary group fight for freedom from an oppressive lunar colony.
In 2075, the Moon (Luna) is used as a penal colony by Earth's government, with three million inhabitants (called "Loonies") living in underground cities. Most Loonies are criminals, political exiles, ... (Wikipedia)
Nightfall and Other Stories
by Isaac Asimov
Sci-fi collection exploring the wonders of science, technology and humanity.
A collection of early Asimov short stories, showcasing the development of the author's oeuvre. The title comes from Asimov's breakthrough short story. CONTENTS: Nightfall - Astounding, Sept 1941 ... (Goodreads)
The Giver
by Lois Lowry
A dystopian society where memories and emotions are suppressed, and a boy's journey to unlock its secrets.
Jonas, a 12-year-old boy, lives in a Community isolated from all except a few similar towns, where everyone from small infants to the Chief Elder has an assigned role. With the annual Ceremony of ... (Wikipedia)
Green Mars
by Kim Stanley Robinson
Colonization of Mars, as humans seek to terraform and inhabit the red planet.
Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the Ares , the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built and home to a crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. ... (Wikipedia)
The Invention of Morel
by Adolfo Bioy Casares
An escaped convict finds refuge on a deserted island, where he discovers a strange and mysterious phenomenon.
The fugitive starts a diary after tourists arrive on the desert island where he is hiding. , Although he considers their presence a miracle, he is afraid they will turn him in to the authorities. He ... (Wikipedia)
I Will Fear No Evil
by Robert A. Heinlein
An elderly billionaire's journey of self-discovery, exploring the nature of life, death and existence.
The story takes place in the early 21st century against a background of an overpopulated Earth with a violent, dysfunctional society. Elderly billionaire Johann Sebastian Bach Smith is being kept ... (Wikipedia)
The Ghost Brigades
by John Scalzi
A thrilling sci-fi adventure about a group of super soldiers and their fight against a powerful enemy.
The Colonial Defense Forces (CDF) learn that one of their top consciousness transfer scientists, Charles Boutin, has turned traitor and sparked an unprecedented alliance between three other species ... (Wikipedia)
Robots and Empire
by Isaac Asimov
A sci-fi adventure of robots and humans in a future interstellar society.
The Earthman Elijah Baley (the detective hero of the previous Robot books) has died nearly two centuries earlier. During these two centuries, Earth-people have overcome their agoraphobia and resumed ... (Wikipedia)
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
A dystopian story about a group of people who were cloned for organ harvesting.
The story begins with Kathy H., who describes herself as a carer, talking about looking after organ donors. She has been a carer for almost twelve years at the time of narration, and she often ... (Wikipedia)
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
by Ursula K. Le Guin
The inhabitants of a utopian society must decide if the cost of their ideal is too high.
The only chronological element of the work is that it begins by describing the first day of summer in Omelas, a shimmering city of unbelievable happiness and delight. In Omelas, the summer solstice ... (Wikipedia)
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
by Mark Dunn
A story told through letters of a society that forbids certain letters of their language, unraveling their oppressive regime.
The plot is conveyed through mail or notes sent between various characters. The book is "progressively lipogrammatic"—as the story proceeds, more and more letters of the alphabet are excluded from ... (Wikipedia)
Scythe
by Neal Shusterman
An exploration of morality in a world where death is obsolete, forcing people to choose mortality.
Late on a cold day in November, Scythe Faraday visits Citra Terranova's house. At first, Citra assumes that the scythe is there to glean (kill permanently) one of her family members. As it turns out, ... (Wikipedia)
Rainbows End
by Vernor Vinge
A retired professor's adventure in a future society of enhanced technology.
Thanks to advances in medical technology, Robert Gu is slowly recovering from Alzheimer's disease . As his faculties return, Robert (who has always been technophobic ) must adapt to a different ... (Wikipedia)
Kingdom Come
by Mark Waid
An exploration of a dystopian future, and the heroes who struggle to save it.
In this Elseworlds story, Superman and the Justice League abandon their roles as superheroes after the rise and strong public support of a superhero named Magog , who has no qualms about ... (Wikipedia)
Herland
by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
An exploration of a utopian society composed entirely of women, questioning gender roles.
The story is told from the perspective of Vandyck "Van" Jennings, a sociology student who, along with two friends, Terry O. Nicholson and Jeff Margrave, forms an expedition party to explore an area ... (Wikipedia)
Dawn
by Octavia E. Butler
An epic science fiction story of a post-apocalyptic future and humanity's struggle for survival.
Lilith Iyapo has just lost her husband and son when atomic fire consumes Earth—the last stage of the planet’s final war. Hundreds of years later Lilith awakes, deep in the hold of a massive alien ... (Goodreads)
Specials
by Scott Westerfeld
A thrilling adventure story about a group of teenagers with superhuman abilities.
The third novel in the Uglies series begins two months after events in Pretties, when Tally Youngblood has become a member of an elite group of "Specials" - surgically enhanced super-humans - called ... (Wikipedia)
Hard to Be a God
by Arkady Strugatsky
A group of scientists are sent to a planet stuck in the medieval era to observe and help, but find themselves struggling to maintain their humanity.
The prologue shows a scene from Anton's childhood, in which he goes on an adventure with his friends Pashka (Paul) and Anka (Anna) and plays a game based on melodramatic recreations of events on the ... (Wikipedia)
New York 2140
by Kim Stanley Robinson
Humanity adapts to the changing landscapes of a future flooded New York City.
It is 2140. The waters rose, submerging New York City. But the residents adapted and it remained the bustling, vibrant metropolis it had always been. Though changed forever. Every street became a ... (Goodreads)
For Darkness Shows the Stars
by Diana Peterfreund
A post-apocalyptic retelling of Jane Austen's "Persuasion" where a forbidden love between two social classes is tested.
Fans of Divergent will love Diana Peterfreund’s take on Jane Austen’s Persuasion set in a post-apocalyptic world. In the dystopian future of For Darkness Shows the Stars , a genetic experiment has ... (Barnes & Noble)
Sand
by Hugh Howey
A post-apocalyptic dystopia, where survivors must flee a world of dust and danger.
The new novel from the international bestselling author of the Wool trilogy. The old world is buried. A new one has been forged atop the shifting dunes. Here in this land of howling wind and infernal ... (Goodreads)
The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil
by Stephen Collins
A man's life is turned upside down when he grows a gigantic beard that threatens to consume his entire town.
The job of the skin is to keep things in. On the buttoned-down island of Here, all is well. By which we mean: orderly, neat, contained and, moreover, beardless. Or at least it is until one famous ... (Goodreads)
In Watermelon Sugar
by Richard Brautigan
A surrealist exploration of a utopian society and its inhabitants.
Through the narrator 's first-person account we learn the story of the people and the events of i DEATH . The central tension is created by Margaret, once a lover of the narrator, and in BOIL , a ... (Wikipedia)
Lost Horizon
by James Hilton
A plane crash lands in the Himalayas, leading to the discovery of a hidden utopian society called Shangri-La.
Hugh Conway, a veteran member of the British diplomatic service, finds inner peace, love and a sense of purpose in Shangri-La , whose inhabitants enjoy unheard-of longevity . The prologue and ... (Wikipedia)
Drop City
by T. Coraghessan Boyle
An isolated commune in California's wilds, and its inhabitants' trials and tribulations.
It is 1970, and a down-at-the-heels California commune devoted to peace, free love, and the simple life has decided to relocate to the last frontier—the unforgiving landscape of interior Alaska—in ... (Goodreads)
Armada
by Ernest Cline
A videogamer embarks on an epic journey to save the world from alien invaders.
Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming ... (Goodreads)
Frankenstein in Baghdad
by Ahmed Saadawi
A quest for justice in a war-torn Baghdad, as a supernatural creature stalks the city.
In the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq , a junk-dealer named Hadi al-Attag collects the scattered body parts of bomb victims with the intention of giving them a proper burial. Al-Attag first ... (Wikipedia)
Brilliance
by Marcus Sakey
A government experiment gone awry, unleashing a new breed of superhuman humans with extraordinary powers.
In Wyoming, a little girl reads people’s darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In New York, a man sensing patterns in the stock market racks up $300 billion. In Chicago, a woman can go ... (Goodreads)
Santa Olivia
by Jacqueline Carey
A young girl with superhuman abilities fights against a corrupt government in a dystopian world.
Set in a future dystopia United States, the town of Santa Olivia is effectively a desert war zone where people have no rights and legally no longer exist, with the town's name even being changed ... (Wikipedia)
The Just City
by Jo Walton
Athena gathers philosophers and children from different eras to create a utopian society based on Plato's Republic, but things don't go as planned.
"Here in the Just City you will become your best selves. You will learn and grow and strive to be excellent." Created as an experiment by the time-traveling goddess Pallas Athene, the Just City is a ... (Goodreads)
The City and the Stars
by Arthur C. Clarke
In the distant future, a lone human discovers a forgotten city and the secrets of an advanced civilization.
Clarke's masterful evocation of the far future of humanity, considered his finest novel. Men had built cities before, but never such a city as Diaspar. For millennia its protective dome shut out the ... (Goodreads)
The Long Utopia
by Terry Pratchett
The fourth book in the Long Earth series, exploring parallel worlds and the evolution of humanity.
The Long Utopia further follows the adventures of Joshua Valienté and Lobsang, as well as delving into Joshua's ancestry. After faking his death, Lobsang and his wife settle on an unexplored Earth, ... (Wikipedia)
Harrison Bergeron
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A dystopian future where equality is enforced through handicapping citizens.
In the year 2081, the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the Constitution dictate that all Americans are fully equal and not allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or more physically able than ... (Wikipedia)
The Fountains of Paradise
by Arthur C. Clarke
An engineer's mission to build a space elevator, connecting Earth to the heavens.
The novel focuses primarily on a project proposed by the main character, Vannevar Morgan, known as the Orbital Tower. The tower is to stretch from the Earth's equator to a satellite that is in ... (Wikipedia)
Island
by Aldous Huxley
A utopian society on a remote island is challenged by the reemergence of human nature.
Englishman William Asquith "Will" Farnaby deliberately wrecks his boat on the shores of the Kingdom of Pala, an island halfway between Sumatra and the Andaman Islands , thus forcing his entry to this ... (Wikipedia)
Walden Two
by B.F. Skinner
A utopian novel exploring a community built on principles of behavioral psychology and scientific management.
This fictional outline of a modern utopia has been a center of controversy since its publication in 1948. Set in the United States, it pictures a society in which human problems are solved by a ... (Goodreads)
The Inhabited Island
by Arkady Strugatsky
Maxim Kammerer is a young amateur space explorer from Earth , regarded as a failure by his friends and relatives because this occupation is not considered to be a serious pursuit. The novel starts ... (Wikipedia)
The Wanting Seed
by Anthony Burgess
In an overpopulated dystopian future, a government encourages homosexuality and enforces birth control. A couple rebels against the system.
The novel begins by introducing the two protagonists : Tristram Foxe, a history teacher, and his wife, Beatrice-Joanna, a homemaker. They have recently suffered through their young son's death. ... (Wikipedia)
Monday Starts On Saturday
by Arkady Strugatsky
A sci-fi tale of a scientist who enters a mysterious world within a parallel universe.
"Понедельник начинается в субботу. Сказка для научных работников младшего возраста" - под таким заголовком в 1965 году вышла книга, которой зачитывались и продолжают зачитываться все новые и новые ... (Goodreads)
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