Below is an excerpt from my February BookPals Newsletter! If you would like to subscribe, reach out here!

If you didn’t know, the 4th season of the Handmaid’s Tale comes out this month! I have a booklist for you to get you through till then, or to keep you occupied after you binge.

They’re a mix of patriarchal dystopias, stories with strong female protagonists and books that will have you thinking about society and humanity. I’ve broken it up into books I’ve read and recommend and a few others that I’ve found that I think would pair well (many of which are now in my library holds). So, let’s jump in!

THE NEW WILDERNESS by DIANE COOK

A near future dystopian novel that explores climate change, over- population and community relationships in the midst of a changing world. At the core of this book is the mother-daughter relationship between Bea and her daughter Agnes, whose sickness in a smog filled and polluted city spurs Bea to volunteer to live in the Wilderness State. Along with 18 others, Bea and Agnes become part of a study to see if humans can co-exist with nature. Bea reminds me a bit of Offred, and the way the group members battled for power and were forced to make difficult decisions to survive was reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale.

THE FIFTH SEASON by N.K. JAMISON

I think I’m incapable of describing fantasy books, especially high fantasy like this one. Also in the case of this book I didn’t fully understand what was happening for a bit, but honestly it all comes together so beautifully and it’s such an amazing story. There’s so many parallels between the world that Jemisin built and the world we live in, and the way she explores things makes you look at our world in a new light. Again, I’ve told you nothing about the plot but just trust me, or rather, trust N.K. Jemisin. It’s post apocalyptic, the writing is beautiful and I audibly gasped when the plot started unfolding before me in ways that I sort of suspected but mostly didn’t and THOROUGHLY enjoyed. This is a trilogy so don’t be surprised by a cliff hanger.

PARABLE OF THE SOWER by OCTAVIA E BUTLER

A booklist like this would not be complete without Octavia Butler. This post-apocolypitc dystopian is set in 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future.

The book is set near Los Angeles, where Lauren Olamina lives with her family in one of the only safe neighborhoods remain on the outskirts of LA. Lauren’s father is a preacher and him and a handful of other cities try to “salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages.” Throughout all of this Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others. When a fire destroys her families compound Lauren is forced to travel with a handful of other refugees to the north to find safety. Along the way she is “conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mea salvation for all mankind”. I’ve heard such good things about this one—the writing is clear and the themes are powerful.

NEVER LET ME GO by KAZUO ISHIGURO

This is a sci-fi dystopian novel set in England in the late 1990s. The main character Kathy is reflecting on her time at an exclusive boarding school called Hailsham. For most of the story we don’t know what makes Hailsham so exclusive. There’s hints at what is happening, but similar to the way the students “know, but don’t know” their future, the reader is also constantly left wondering and doubting what they know, and what they’d rather not believe. There’s so many philosophical questions this book brings up and I think it ultimately speaks to the dangerous things cultures can rationalize if they feel it worthwhile.

THE ECHO WIFE by SARAH GAILEY

Evelyn Caldwell is an award-winning researcher in clones and genetics. But she’s not what her husband wants her to be…she doesn’t want a child, she’s sharp and independent and sometimes even cruel and impatient. So, using her own research her husband makes a new Evelyn. This book is wild and unputdownable. I pictured the husband as Fred from The Handmaid’s Tale, because if Fred had access to clone research he would 100% make every woman in The Handmaid’s Tale obedient and submissive.

THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE by MARIANNA ENRIQUEZ TRANSLATED by MEGAN MCDOWELL

Okay, so this one is more gothic and horror than sci-fi dystopian, but from the description I feel like it has really similar themes. It’s a collection of short stories set in contemporary Argentina, that explores “what happens when our darkest desires are left to roam unchecked”. I feel like gothic horror does such a good job at describing the feeling of containment, and that is such a powerful thing when thinking about power and patriarchy. I don’t think every story will relate directly to The Handmaid’s Tale but Roxanne Gay writes that the stories have “a lot to say about women, girls trying to be in the world, the confines of bad marriages, the ravages of poverty and addition”. It sounds intense and creepy and gruesome and powerful.

EARTHEATER by DOLORES REYES TRANSLATED by JULIA SANCHES

This is another book that doesn’t necessarily fit the dystopian theme, but it’s speculative fiction/horror and I think the vibes are very similar. The premise of this book is so interesting: a young woman whose compulsion to eat earth gives her visions of murdered and missing people. It is set in an unnamed slum in contemporary Argentina, told from a feminist perspective and expertly explores “the dark tragedies of ordinary lives”. I think what struck me the most was the part of the synopsis that says the text “brilliantly explores the stories of those left behind—the women enduring the pain of uncertainty, whose lives have been shaped by violence and loss”. Nothing sounds more Handmaid’s Tale-esque then thinking about the uncertainty that comes with feeling like your life is not your own to control. The violence of not having control over your own body. Beyond the ways those themes are reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale this debut novel sounds so original, bizarre, and beautiful.

THE CORE OF THE SUN by JOHANNA SINSIALO TRANSLATED by LOLA ROGERS

This is a sci-fi dystopian novel set in an alternative historical present, in a “eusistocracy”—an extreme welfare state—that holds public health and social stability above all else, it follows a young woman whose growing addiction to illegal chili peppers leads her on an adventure into a world where love, sex, and free will are all controlled by the state.

If you’re thinking-wow, what an odd book! You’re not alone, considering nearly every review on Goodreads starts with some version of that phrase. But, it sounds like the people still love it. Essentially, this Eusistocratic society has bred a new human sub-species of submissive women called eloi, and intelligent, independent women are relegated to menial labor and sterilized so that they do not carry on their “defective” line. The book follows Vanna, who was raised as an eloi but is secretly intelligent, as she tries to find her doll-like sister who has disappeared.

THE GRACE YEAR by KIM LIGGETT

I’ve seen this cover so many times, but I don’t think I ever realized what the book was about until I was making this list. A Young Adult Dystopian novel all about the grace year—the year that sixteen year old girls are banished to the woods in order to release their magic before returning to society. The girls in Garner Country are told they have the power to lure grown men to their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their skin “emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood”. The year they are banished is meant for them to release their magic into the wild so they can “return purified and ready for marriage”. This book sounds so good, and it seems like it’s face-paced and thriller-y.

THE GOOD LUCK GIRLS by CHARLOTTE NICOLE DAVIS

Young Adult fantasy that is described as: Westworld meets The Handmaid’s Tale. I have not seen Westworld but I love a ~this meets that~ book description!
Aster, the protector; Violet, the favorite; Tansy, the medic; Mallow, the fighter; Clementine, the catalyst The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls–they know their luck is anything but. Sold to a “welcome house” as children and branded with cursed markings. Trapped in a life they would never have chosen. When Clementine accidentally murders a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge in a country that wants them to have none of those things. This book sounds so rad, and Book 2 comes out in August!

THE HANDMAID’S TALE AND THE TESTAMENTS by MARGARET ATWOOD

What better book to check out if you love The Handmaid’s Tale TV series than … The Handmaid’s Tale book series! I actually didn’t pick this one up until I had seen all three seasons of the show. I mainly was feeling impatient with the show and wanted to read the new book The Testaments and so I got both and devoured them. I really enjoyed Atwood’s writing and I think they’re both definitely worth reading even if you’ve watched the show.

This was fun, but maybe May should be a month filled with Dystopian-novel-palate-cleansers?

I hope you enjoy! You can shop all these books on my Bookshop.org storefront!