Ten excellent yet frequently ignored dystopian novels

One title from TopTenz's "list of 10 dystopian novels which are often overshadowed by other champions of the genre but which are nevertheless worthy of some – and in some cases, even equal – praise:"

Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (1976)

Perhaps the most well-known book on this list and winner of Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards, “Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang” is a bit different from other books on this list as it covers both post-apocalyptic and dystopian scenarios. Civilization has collapsed due to large-scale pollution which has devastated the planet’s environment. The population declines at an alarming rate as incurable diseases affect the masses. Meanwhile, a wealthy family builds an isolated community for themselves for survival where they discover that they have become infertile. So, they adhere to the last possible option for their survival, cloning, thinking that they might become fertile after a few generations.

But eventually when the clones grow-up, they prefer the idea of further cloning over natural reproduction, and their actions eliminate any individual thoughts from the society over a passage of time.

But amongst them is a kid named Mark, who is a natural-born human who has abilities to survive on his own, unlike the clones. Mark is portrayed as an arrogant kid who doesn’t think much of his cloned relatives and often makes cruel jokes of them, but he has one quality which the clones lack for other human beings outside of their community – empathy. And as being empathetic and acting like a jerk are some of the special human traits, the book’s core aim is to explore the concept of individuality and what it means to be human.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang is among James Davis Nicoll's five extremely pessimistic SF classics.

--Marshal Zeringue