Skulduggery Pleasant.

I only know of Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner, Mortal Instruments (no), Twilight (no), and Harry Potter I guess counts

Skulduggery Pleasant. (ninka)

*

/fails

Skul a novel or a comic?

novels.

Oh. lawl.

It's not quite dystopian, but it's definitely YA fiction geared towards not talking down to kids.

/bestmodever

and they get to a place where 'dystopian', while not technically accurate, isn't a bad description ...

I mean, the main character is dead.

alternately, the Percy Jackson series

Oh yes I know/have/am reading PJO/HOO too

(I knew I was missing one)

I know there are like 3-4 others that people are reading that I want to know about

How does Skullduggery work? Chronological series or random stories or? How many are there? Where do I start?

Skulduggery, one 'l'

3 trilogies, so nine books.

this probably doesn't count as YA because it's technically written for kids, but if you have not read it yet, I highly recommend Animorphs.

it's a chronological series. there's three trilogies, one companion book and one collection of chonologically-based short stories.

(Animorphs yes)

Start with Skulduggery Pleasant, except in America I think it's called Sceptre of the Ancients?

It doesn't really fit what you're looking for but I have a problem and I need to spread this problem to other people.

There are short stories scattered throughout chronologically, but they're all gathered together in one companion novel you can read at the end.

lol

i can link you to a bunch of ebooks, or i'd recommend going to Book Depository: Millions of books with free delivery worldwide because you can't find them in America.

As for YA (not dystopian though) I personally liked the Great and Terrible Beauty trilogy

Sani_Caranza: Bro. I was all about Animorphs back in the day. I think I just gave them away last year, haha.

LOL yes good I couldn't remember if you had read them or not XD

IgnoreTheLine: Good to know, thanks.

I still miss Peeta/Rachel cr tbh

Oh yes fo sho. I was all about Tobias (that was the hawk's name right?)

Me too. :c

Yes!

Are you playing anywhere right now?

Maybe we can mb them sometime or something : )

I'm not but I miss playing her and love throwing her at people XD. I'm probably apping to Haven in oct with a comics muse though, not Rachel

the lunar chronicles by marissa meyer is fun! first book is cinder, it's like, scifi fairy tale retellings and some of it's kinda dystopic :|a

Yeah, I understand. That's kind of where I'm at with Peeta too. But yes we should def meme or mb.

Steelheart. Dystopia with superpowers.

And if you hadn't, House of the Scorpion. If you have, Lord of Opium is its sequel and is now out.

code name verity is wwii historical ya and super super good

communism, hannahcake, midnightlullabii

Bartimaeus . Vaguely dystopian in the set up of the universe. A really gifted young magician summons a snarky demon and all kinds of dangerous magic is floating around. And non magicians are segregated

did you ever read the uglies trilogy by scott westerfeld? that's dystopia

i haven't read it in years tho

(Also Tomatus plurk wouldn't find your name when I was pinging you and I was like oh no did she unfriend me but then no it was just plurk being dumb /sob )

omg i would never

And no I have read none of these things.

I basically don't read ever and then go on crazy binges.

Combeferret: Sounds nifty. One book or series?

four. trilogy with a prequel, which I need to read lol

the diviners by libba bray is super good, 1920s supernatural kinda horror ya

THE BOOK THIEF

...i read a lot of historical and fantasy ya apparently

Ooh, Uglies! That's a good one.

Okay right now my cart has: Uglies, Insurgent, 5th Wave, Legend, Skulduggery Pleasant, and Maze Runner.

Research says I should also look into: Feed, Gone, House of the Scorpion (as recommended), Article 5, Partials, Razorland, and that one Red Dead Land or whatever it was called

Too many

For ease of reference: Skulduggery Pleasant, Great and Terrible Beauty, Lunar Chronicles, Steelheart, House of the Scorpion, Code Name Verity, Bartimaeus, Uglies, Diviners, Book Thief

Darkest Powers! anything by Kelley Armstrong basically not dystopia, but superb ya

the Grisha Trilogy, which is based on Russian folklore and set in fantasy Russia

Old Kingdom series, kind of ya high fantasy about a bunch of fabulous ladies and their ridiculous male sidekicks

Beautiful Creatures, if you're into romance

omg Russian folklore

And I think I got one of the Beautiful Creatures books from work when the movie came out.. Maybe I'll see if I can find it, haha

What's Darkest Powers about?

a bunch of supernatural kids are used in a genetic experiment to lessen the effects of their abilities but it backfires horribly and the group responsible for it attempts to take them back to use them

it does not go well

the main character is a tiny little necromancer

it's set in the same world as her adult series, women of the otherworld, which is also amazing

because kelleysi is amazing

PEOPLE WHO SAID OLD KINGDOM SERIES AND BARTAMEUS I SECOND THOSE TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

bartameus is hilarious

and the old kingdom series is one of my fav series of all time

hmmm i've read a lot of YA fiction in my life, what's been good...

oh! both the circle of magic series and tortal series by tamora pierce are fantastic! they're both fantasy but offer incredible female protagonists

i generally like most things written by madeline l'engle, but Arm of the Starfish is probably my favorite of her books (not dystopian, it's just fiction, but the writing is very good)

i am obviously biased, but the dresden files by jim butcher is possibly my favorite of my favorites

it's borderline YA, but his dark materials series is good (depends on the person, some people find them strange and don't like them, especially the second two books)

i like david edding's books, he writes fantasy, and actually purchased all of the belgariad series and quite enjoyed them (fantasy again)

(dresden files is modern day fantasy, and his dark materials is... fantasy/scifi...? like i said, they get strange)

the artemis fowl books are fun! they're sort of modern day fantasy

oh, i love the redwall series, it's a fantasy series where all the characters are animals, and they're fun reads

that's what i can think of right now! probably enough seeing as you have so many recommendations haha

The Giver

The Giver was going to be my suggestion as well. And the other 3 books that go with it. It was totally my gateway drug to dystopia when I was much younger.

Also, if you like the rather ridiculous, try "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray. Hilarious, dystopian.

Not dystopia but sure as hell not utopia either: the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. The first three books are more formulaic but they do not talk down to their audience.

Those books honestly shaped a lot of my worldview as a child, and if you can manage it/have an e-reader the author just retooled the older books (from the '80s!) to give them a consistent timeline

but sadly they are only available digitally right now (and I don't have an ereader)

You can get the print editions, which are still fantastic, but they're not the latest and greatest. (The new book is due out soon... )

...actually the more I think about it the more YW has a complex relationship with dystopia. :|a It's not like HERE, HAVE PANEM, EVERYTHING DYSTOPIAN ALL THE TIME ALWAYS...

...but the corrupted worlds and species can get pretty hairy (see: literally anywhere the Lone Power has more than a foothold)

Warning: Book five will probably make you cry or at least very upset.

Less YA, more dystopian: Perfect Dark: Initial Vector and Perfect Dark: Second Front by Greg Rucka. Knowledge of the Perfect Dark games not required.

They're very near-future cyberpunk and dystopian in a "hypercorporations literally own entire countries" way. Plus? Badass female protag.

nothing new to recommend but i'm seconding the rec for the uglies trilogy, i enjoyed that one

Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix.

The Earthsea cycle, too, but it's not dystopian. It's more. Fantasy realm

Asheling: Darkest Powers sounds like something I would love. :3

biowafers: I've read His Dark Materials and enjoyed them. Want to read Dresden Files actually. Artemis Fowl and Redwall I looked at but not

exactly what I'm looking for? I prefer more realistic and mostly darker stuff. I'm okay with powers, but creatures/fairies are harder.

Thanks for the other recs!

aradiachiba seemarierun: The movie was awful. I heard the book was better, but I'm still hesitant. Is it really good?

Chatvert: I have an irrational aversion to cyberpunk for Reasons. But Young Wizards sounds cool

SeeMarieRun: I dig fantasy. What's it about?

artell: What's it about/like?

archetypes: Your recs are much appreciated. Anything else to second? :3

I haven't seen the movie for The Giver. But the book(s) are excellent. In my opinion, the structure is pretty perfect for the kind of dystopia I prefer.

(Everything seems so perfect... Until you realize what's really happening, and what it means.)

It's a really quick read, so I'd give it a try.

The movie for the Giver looks TERRIBLE okay.

Anyway, Earthsea is about a young (at first) wizard named Ged

I was surprised they were making it into a movie, TBH. The plot of the book doesn't lend itself well to cinema. Not much action, a bit too mental...

And the adventures he has and follies he makes

I read the first four books (I believe there are 6?) and they're quite good

He isn't always the main character, although he plays a good sized role in all of them

(Tombs of Atuan, though. Guh. Still my favorite)

Someday I shall app Tenar.

ALSO. I haven't seen the Sci-fi channel miniseris of it and I don't recommend it

Mainly because they decided to make one of the only quietly brown/black (It's never EXACTLY clear) fantasy protagonists... white.

(I like Shawn Ashmore and all but. No. No no no no no no no no no particularly no because ALMOST EVERYONE IN GED'S HOMELAND IS BROWN. )

Ok! PD is not like...Snow Crash cyberpunk, it's mildly sci-fi and heavy on both action scenes and Jo's issues. I'll see if I can think of any other books that might fit...

(also the abhorsen trilogy is the same as the old kingdom series! really, really fantastic books.)

SeeMarieRun: oh I saw that miniseries and loved it, haha

OH. There's this series I want to check out that's sci fi, Escape From Furnace. I't's about a kid sentenced to this horrific nightmare fuel jail. There looks like body horror among other stuff

Fantasy wise, I LOVE the Ranger's Apprentice books. I'm about on the fourth right now. It's realistic fantasy

Ooohhh!! House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer!!

Dystopia. Cloning ethics. Drug lords. Organ harvesting. Badtime

It's so disturbing. I have no idea why it was assigned as summer reading to sixth-graders buuuutt

I really liked it, and I'm trying to gin up my courage to read it again (twelve plus years later).

Oh oops, I didn't realize it was known as Old Kingdom! That description was quite accurate.

Chatvert: Lord of Opium is sequel. You gotta.

JulyFlame: I just wiki'd that there is a sequel and /shakes intensely

I have no idea if I'm emotionally prepared

My favorite modern book isn't YA but it's dystopian like and really really good. The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist. It's set in a future where men aged 60 and women over 50 (because of reproductive stuff)- are sent

to a facility to participate in medical experiments and become organ donors . I like it more Than Never Let Me Go though I love that a lot too

The Unit's protagonist, Doritt, is so great. She's a writer and has a lot of experiences that question the idea of her society and how it's been built

and she's given the chance to go against it and has to make that choice

Also not YA but When She Woke, which is a modern version of The Scarlet Letter, where criminals are given chemicals to dye them a color according to their crimes

the protag, Hannah, had an abortion, so she's dyed red and has to try to fit back into society

which doesn't like criminals much

ROT AND RUIN

Combeferret: I loved Never Let Me Go, so the mere comparison intrigues me.

NutterZoi: GIVE ME MORE THAN THAT. What's it about?

It's about life fifteen years after the zombie apocalypse. It's a coming of age for a group of teenagers. It's excellent.