Guest Post: Dystopian Reads by Willa

     Hey Remarkable Readers!  Today I have Willa from Willa's Ramblings stopping by!  She's going to be telling us all about dystopian books.  I love her post!  Willa is one of my BBFs (Best Blogging Friends ;)  and you shouldn't miss out on her blog!  Check it out when you have the chance!  Here she is:

     Hey readers! *waves* I’m Willa, author of Willa’s Ramblings, a book blog for YA literature. Jess has invited me to guest post for the readathon, and I was honored

! So here I am. 

I really wanted to share some information about a widely growing genre (and one of my favorites) DYSTOPIAN. The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Ashes are among my favorites. These books are often thought of as end-of-the-world types, but that isn’t always true. 

Dystopian means an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one, and is the opposite of a utopia. I believe that one of the first dystopian novels was The Giver, published in 1993 – there was definitely ones before this like Farenheit 451, War of the Worlds, and others, but this was the first one that is similar to what dystopian is now. 

Now, dystopian has become an umbrella genre that encompasses things from Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Matched by Ally Condie. When Matched came out, many people were relating it to The Giver, and saying how it resembled the Giver so strongly – even The Society (the ruling force in Matched) was named the same thing that The Giver’s ruling society was called. 

I talk about this issue frequently, and people are always agreeing with me: that the dystopian genre needs to be revaluated, because books are being placed in a genre that doesn’t fit them. As readers, and some of us bloggers, we need to tell publishers this, and advocate for developing this booming genre and industry! Somehow, dystopian has become fascinating to us, and it will only grow – and we must prepare for this. Take a few seconds and think about your favorite dystopian novels, and ask yourself – are they end-of-the-world? Have you not broken into the genre much past The Hunger Games? If so, check out a list of my favorites complied below.

1. Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick – While Alex is mountain climbing, an electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the continent, and everyone from early twenties to seniors are killed. Alex takes in a young girl name Ellie when her grandfather is killed by the pulse, and they fight for their lives with the help of Tom, a young soldier. Can the threesome make it in this dangerous world?
2. Divergent by Veronica Roth – Beatrice has to make the life changing decision: which faction does she belong to? There isn’t second chances, so she has to make sure her decision is right. When she chooses Dauntless, and she faces the highly competitive initiation along with discovering things about herself she never knew – and is forced to keep secrets that could destroy her and the world as she knows it.
3. Delirium by Lauren Oliver – In Lena’s world you don’t fall in love, and it’s treated so you never do. Love (or deliria) is dangerous, according to scientists, and when every child turns eighteen, they are treated and their live is perfect with no heartbreak. But then, with only ninety-five days left until treatment, Lena does the unthinkable – she falls in love.
4. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card– this was the first Dystopian novel I read, and I loved it. In order to develop a secure defense against the alien race’s next attack, the government breeds child geniuses and train them as soldiers. Ender and his sister Valentine are canidates for the soldier-training program but don’t make the cut, and Ender heads off to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous and frightening military training. 
5. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson – When seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox wakes up from a coma, she is told she is still recovering from a terrible accident she was involved in year ago. But if that really is why she just woke up, why she can’t remember anything that happened? And what happened the night of the accident? And most disturbing of all: Are these memories even hers?

I hope everyone goes out and finds a dystopian book they didn’t know about, and remember: may the odds be ever in your favor. 

-Willa