Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.

Favourite dystopian fiction?

2»

Comments

  • #32
    echo beach
    Registered Users Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭echo beach


    the purple tin wrote: »
    I loved the fact that overdoses were so commonplace that they had callout emergency stomach pump technicians. More like plumbers than doctors.

    Not so far from reality in America now where with the opioid crisis police and volunteers are trained to give antidote injections which are almost as common as sticking plasters in first aid kits in certain areas. It is a far more useful skill than CPR in saving lives.


  • #33
    gogo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,452 ✭✭✭gogo


    Probably one of my favourite genres, For some reason The Road always comes to mind when I try to narrow down favourites.
    Do any of you remember Z for Zachariah? Probably my first dystopian book as a young teen, it clearly left an impact and the fact I can still remember the title after 20 odd years says a lot. Must go pull it out and have a reread, see if it's stood the test of time.


  • #34
    The Late Late Show
    Closed Accounts Posts: 840 ✭✭✭The Late Late Show


    The Handmaid's Tale
    The Postman
    Oryx and Crake/The Year of the Flood/Maddaddam
    Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Blade Runner basis)
    1984

    And these 2:

    Doctor Zhivago
    Animal Farm

    (it is debatable if these 2 are dystopian entirely but there is a lot of it in there).

    Can't wait for The Testaments next week.


  • #35
    JoeCasey
    Registered Users Posts: 52 ✭✭JoeCasey


    Olympus (Rise of the Empire) by Ivan Kal
    People seem to either love it or hate it.


  • #36
    Sardonicat
    Registered Users Posts: 12,378 ✭✭✭✭Sardonicat


    The Late Late Show wrote: »
    The Handmaid's Tale
    The Postman
    Oryx and Crake/The Year of the Flood/Maddaddam
    Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Blade Runner basis)
    1984

    And these 2:

    Doctor Zhivago
    Animal Farm

    (it is debatable if these 2 are dystopian entirely but there is a lot of it in there).

    Can't wait for The Testaments next week.

    Doctor Zhivago? How is that dystopian?
    It's set in Imperial Russia / Soviet Union, up to the aftermath of WWII. It's historical fiction.


  • Advertisement
  • #37
    H3llR4iser
    Registered Users Posts: 4,027 ✭✭✭H3llR4iser


    Enjoyed the most, probably Neuromancer as I do have a thing for Cyberpunk scenarios.

    1984 IS a classic, Fahrenheit 451 present a frankly not so impossible scenario (people read less and less).

    Favourite has to be Brave New World, different take on the whole "puppet society" thing and one that somewhat fits the current state of things - people jumping more than willingly into control (recently read of people volunteering to get chips implanted in their arms to open doors, clock in at work etc - somebody even implanted her car key into her) in the name of perceived "safety" ... but mostly laziness.


  • #38
    storker
    Registered Users Posts: 5,644 ✭✭✭storker


    Does the Fallout universe/backstory count?


  • #39
    The Late Late Show
    Closed Accounts Posts: 840 ✭✭✭The Late Late Show


    Sardonicat wrote: »
    Doctor Zhivago? How is that dystopian?
    It's set in Imperial Russia / Soviet Union, up to the aftermath of WWII. It's historical fiction.

    Yes that's what it is. Historical fiction. But the upheaval unleashed on Yuri Zhivago's life always reminds me of how Gilead did same to Offred's/June's life in Handmaid's. WW1 and the Russian civil war/revolution and the poverty in the period after it that DZ shows would be a dystopia but a historical one.


  • #40
    ChrisJ84
    Registered Users Posts: 377 ✭✭ChrisJ84


    Fahrenheit 451 hits close to home, with everyone drowning in endless stimulation, entertainment and trivia. Quite thought provoking for us 21st Century Westerners; if the government was going to take away our freedom that seems like a realistic way to do it.

    As others have said, The Road is an absolute masterpiece.


  • #41
    New Home
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,310 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    Not sure if the whole book can be described as dystopian, but certain chapters of Cloud Atlas definitely are.


  • Advertisement
  • #42
    banie01
    Registered Users Posts: 16,434 ✭✭✭✭banie01


    Judge Dredd, America.

    I think the 2000a.d writers have more than a touch of prophet about them in particular their 70's and 80's stuff that was a reaction to Thatcherism and what was then perceived to be "right" wing.

    There are so many good Dredd arcs, but America is one that to my mind at least highlights the frailty of democracy.

    The Otto Sump stories and many of the Vid pellet stories too, IMO are a good anticipation of celebrity culture and the rise of citizen broadcasting.


  • #43
    Ipso
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,995 ✭✭✭Ipso


    I loved On the Beach by Nevile Shute. It’s the end of the world with some dignity, but still very grim.


  • #44
    Paddy Samurai
    Registered Users Posts: 3,014 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


    As already mentioned Swan Song and The Road are Top notch.Another one I liked big time was Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky.


Advertisement