Cover Story: Sci-Fi and Dystopia

Here are our librarians' picks of the best teen reads in the Sci-Fi and Dystopia genre.

A Game of Life or Death

Triona Campbell 

Set in the not-so-distant future, where tech giants control everything, Asha and her sister Maya are trying to make their way in the world without getting embroiled in the dark web. But when Maya is found dead of unknown causes, and all clues lead back to her employers Zu Tech, Asha knows she has to return to her old life of underground hacking and VR gaming to reveal the truth. Fans of video games and The Hunger Games will love this suspenseful, high-tech thriller.    

9780702317880 Scholastic: 2023 

Electric Life 

Rachel Delahaye

Alara has grown up in the city of Estrella, where there is no poverty, disease or even loneliness, so when she visits London Under, the ruined city that lies beneath Estrella, she is totally overwhelmed by the pain and disease that she encounters there. As she gets used to the place she also discovers other things, like freedom to just be herself, that make her wonder if Estrella is really so perfect after all. Fast-moving fantasy adventure that also makes you think. 

9781912745326 Troika: 2023 

Let's Play Murder

Kesia Lupo

The Game, a virtual reality world buried deep in the dark web, offers extreme online adventure and incredible prizes. When Veronica finds herself accidently stuck inside the game, she will have to work alongside her fellow gamers to solve the mystery and escape. But, as the game begins to glitch around her, it soon becomes clear that the stakes are real, and Game Over might really mean the end...  Agatha Christie meets Black Mirror meets Cluedo in this unique twist on a locked-room-mystery. 

9781526635464 Bloomsbury: 2023 ebook available 

Children of the Stone City

Beverley Naidoo

In the Stone City the Permitted have all the power and Nons like Adam are second-class citizens. Their whole lives are controlled by The Permitted, and one false move can see them plunged into poverty or worse. When Adam is implicated in a friend’s ‘crime’ against the Permitted he quickly discovers that for Nons the justice system is cruel and unfair. Help may be at hand, but will it get to him in time? A powerful allegorical fantasy from a celebrated author. 

9780008471774 HarperCollins: 2023 ebook available 

The Last Whale

Chris Vick

In this action-packed novel, we follow generations of the Peterson family as they fight to protect the whales surrounding their home. While on holiday in Norway with her grandmother, Abi used an AI computer to translate whale songs, starting a love for the creatures that spans her lifetime. Thirty years later and her daughter is searching for any signs of the majestic creatures they are desperate to save. But are there any whales left for her to find?  

9781803281629 Zephyr: 2023 ebook available 

Their Vicious Games

Joelle Wellington

In Adina’s world girls from rich and powerful families get everything. Adina is brainy but has no money, so seems doomed to a life with few opportunities. She has got one slim chance to escape. A mysterious competition called the Finish offers the winner access to the world of the rich and powerful. But the competition itself is brutal, and when contestants start dying Adina realises that she is truly playing for her life. 

9780241590553 Penguin: 2023 

Bite Risk

S J Wills

Every night with a full moon Sel has to lock his Mum in a cage. If he didn’t she would literally tear him to pieces, because every full moon sees all the adults in Sel’s town turning into werewolves The town treats this weird situation as normal, but when even more outlandish things start to happen Sel begins to suspect that he has not been told the whole truth about what is going on. An effective mix of mystery and horror. 

9781398520943 Simon & Schuster: 2023 ebook available