No freedom nor love

Freedom to choose is already taken from us. Everything we would do or say must be according to rules and orders. There will be no hate, but you won't feel love either. Even the one you'll have to spend your life with will be chosen by the government. What will you do? How will you survive?
 

I do not know if that would make you pick up a book, but that would certainly grab my attention. I don't get to read much as I want to nowadays because of school stuff, but whenever I get a chance, I spend some time with my new love: Young Adult Dystopian Novels.

Sappy love stories have been my "favorite" genre until I discovered YA dystopian. Although most of my favorites still have a romance side to it, I find them more enjoyable and exciting reads than Segal, Sparks and Ahern. I mean, don't get me wrong, I liked the stuff those three authors wrote but adult novels tackling  adult problems are tiring to read. 

Now, we all know what young adult novels are, but whatdahey are dystopian novels?

A dystopia (from the Ancient Greek δυσ-: bad-, ill- and τόπος: place, landscape) (alternatively, cacotopia,[1], or anti-utopia) is a vision, of an often futuristic society, which has developed into a negative version of Utopia. A Dystopia is often characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government. It often features different kinds of repressive social control systems, a lack or total absence of individual freedoms and expressions and a state of constant warfare or violence. --Wikipedia

They're usually mistaken or categorized by Sci-fi, but I don't really like the hard-core science fiction. I like the ones with empowered women and a little "kilig" on the side. Below are my top 5 Dystopian YA books.  Only one of them has a male protagonist because I don't really feel connected with the book if the lead is not a female. I included the blurbs, hoping you'll be encouraged to read them too. 

1. Divergent

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

2.  Delirium
Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.


 3. Hunger Games trilogy

Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister Primrose, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before — and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.




4. The Sky Inside

 A stranger has come to take away all the little children, including Martin's sister, Cassie, and no one wants to talk about where she has gone. The way Martin sees it, he has a choice. He can remain in the dubious safety of HM1, with danger that no one wants to talk about lurking just beneath the surface, or he can actually break out of the suburb, into the mysterious land outside, rumored to be nothing but blowing sand for miles upon miles.





5. Matched and Crossed

Cassia always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate, until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

 If you have questions about any of the books, leave me a note. I didn't include my review because I'm not good at that, but I'd be very happy to answer any of your queries.