Others: Overwhelmingly positive Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.
Genres: science fiction, young adult
Lists: …
Neal Shusterman
2016 · 442 pages · 30 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveThou shalt kill. A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own. (Description from GoodReads)
What made the match, strongest first
Margaret Atwood
1985 · 334 pages · 19 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveThe Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England, in a strongly patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state, known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government. The central character and narrator is a woman named Offred, one of the group known as "handmaids", who are forcibly assigned to produce children for the "commanders" — the ruling class of men in Gilead. The novel explores themes of subjugated women in a patriarchal society, loss of female agency and individuality, and the various means by which they resist and attempt to gain individuality and independence. The Handmaid's Tale won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987; it was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award.
What made the match, strongest first
Amie Kaufman
2013 · 616 pages · 29 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveThis morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded. The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.
What made the match, strongest first
Suzanne Collins
2008 · 384 pages · 48 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveThe Hunger Games is a 2008 dystopian novel by the American writer Suzanne Collins. It is written in the perspective of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the future, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem in North America. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, exercises political control over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games is an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12–18 from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle royale to the death. The book received critical acclaim from major reviewers and authors. It was praised for its plot and character development. In writing The Hunger Games, Collins drew upon Greek mythology, Roman gladiatorial games, and contemporary reality television for thematic content. The novel won many awards, including the California Young Reader Medal, and was named one of Publishers Weekly's "Best Books of the Year" in 2008. The Hunger Games was first published in hardcover on September 14, 2008, by Scholastic, featuring a cover designed by Tim O'Brien.
What made the match, strongest first
Octavia E. Butler
1993 · 299 pages · 23 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveIn 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future. Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others. When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind.
What made the match, strongest first
Alfred Bester
1956 · 236 pages · 8 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveIn this pulse-quickening novel, Alfred Bester imagines a future in which people "jaunte" a thousand miles with a single thought, where the rich barricade themselves in labyrinths and protect themselves with radioactive hitmen—and where an inarticulate outcast is the most valuable and dangerous man alive. The Stars My Destination is a classic of technological prophecy and timeless narrative enchantment by an acknowledged master of science fiction.
What made the match, strongest first
Loved itthis is a powerful and unsettling time travel story confronting slavery in a direct and deeply human way. It's harrowing at times as you might expect, but also I think she did really well it giving a real a very real and human portrayal of the people that are enslaved.
Loved itKindred is just time travel.
Loved itIn conclusion, I don't claim to understand half of the issues that are talked about in this book, but the fact that so much ground is covered and it's an entertaining story is quite an achievement. I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone. It's well written. It's eyeopening and thoughtprovoking without being too preachy.
Loved itit is so well done and I adore this author so much that I had to make a place on this list
Loved itgut-wrenching same as with Dawn if it were more aoral if it was less straightforward in the writing style it would be S tier heartbreaking stuff in there
Loved ither amazing novel of time travel probably the best time travel novel of all times definitely the best that I read at least
Loved itthis was a home run of a book I will definitely be reading more Octavia Butler in the future
Loved itit reads in a lot of ways like historical fiction rather than sci-fi but with this modern perspective which i think actually very much sort of invites the modern reader into the story in a new way and i adore it
Loved itit was really fast-paced and amazing and I really enjoyed that experience
Loved itIt's super engaging it's a really quick read but it has so much depth to it as well like you really get to know these characters on a deep level. I'm so glad I've read it and I definitely want to read more by this author.
Loved itI read this at the end of last year because it was the pick for our Feminist Orchestra book club and what a good pick, I absolutely loved it.
Loved itthis was a really good read if you haven't read Octavia e Butler's Kindred I say get on it's really good
