20 Reasons Why You Love Reading Dystopian Novels

Do you love reading dystopian novels? Why do you choose to be entertained by dark worlds where it’s kill or be killed? For that matter, why do I write dystopian stories? I have pondered those questions. In my research, I didn’t go to the psychiatrists and academic sites to find out why. I went to the readers.

20 Reasons Why We Love Dystopian Novels

1. They feel honest because we know politicians, military people, and corporate moguls are capable of doing awful things. Dictatorship, revolution, and counterrevolution usually cause severe physical and psychological damage to the victims and other participants. 
2. We admire the best dystopian novels because they’re written well and depict people we can relate to.
3. It fascinates us how some characters react bravely and some react cowardly or with resignation to the terrible situations they face.
4. As readers, we rubberneck to see the misery; we can’t avert our eyes even as we’re enraged by what despots and other vicious officials are doing to citizens. We wonder if rebels and other members of the populace can somehow remake a wretched society into something more positive.
5. The questions of who will survive and who won’t keep us reading. 
6. We might feel a little against-all-odds hope.
7. Sometimes we hope that our current society can be jolted enough to avoid the dystopia in real life.
8. Facing reality is inevitable.
9. We read and think, the world could be a lot worse.
10. Dark visions help us to make sense of our own increasingly unrecognizable country or world. A well-told narrative, truthful or not, can awaken a reader’s imagination and push them to action—and a neat dystopia is often more satisfying than a complicated truth.
11. Readers of dystopian novels love humans and their nature to fit in even if it means putting on a mask and pretending that they’re okay.
12. We love how most people have somewhat free will in a dystopian novel and make choices to not act based on fear or to act despite fear.
13. Inspired by a facet of reality, dystopian novels expand and explore things that fascinate us.
14. We love reading books that encourage awareness and how they can be an avenue of discovery, education, and discussion.
15. A dystopian society is an open invitation for readers to analyze and pinpoint why. 
16. It gives us hope that we can control or resolve the dark and turbulent times in our own lives.
17. Reading dystopian novels allows us to reflect on our current world and understand the pitfalls that we need to avoid becoming a degenerate society.
18. The best dystopian novels have vividly described settings.
19. We love it because it opens our eyes to the way that one person’s utopia is another person’s dystopia.
20. Dystopian novels feature protagonists we love. We love these less-than-perfect characters shaped by their situation into strong, active protagonists resisting dark forces.

Do you love to read dystopian novels? If you haven’t yet, download my Dystopian Reading List with more than 200 dystopian titles.

I would love it if you let me know how many of them you’ve read. Did I include all the novels you love? If not, shoot me an email. I’ll add it to the next version of the list.

Did one of these 20 reasons why we love dystopian novels touch one the reasons you love to read them? What can you add to this list?