Book list

Books set in the future

The thing about fantasy is that it has to be set somewhere. If you don't want to set it in the present world, then the future is as good a place as any to hide it. And because it is fantasy, everyone's view of the future is totally different. These books do tend to be a bit grim, though. See my article 'Utopia'.

Books for older readers

Dark Life by Kat Falls

Subsea settler Ty and Topsider Gemma join forces in an underwater adventure to find her lost brother and to track down the outlaw Seablite Gang.

Shadows by Meaghan McIsaac

Transported three hundred years into the future, Pat can’t get back unless he can break into the high security time cache to steal an ancient gadget.

Shade's Children by Garth Nix

Grim future for mankind where teenagers’ brains are farmed and harvested for inclusion in war game machines.

Black Light Express by Philip Reeve

Zen Starling crosses into the void with Nova, the love of his life. Does he live happily ever after, or would he rather come home after all? Interstellar adventure.

Railhead by Philip Reeve

Gorgeous interstellar express trains criss-cross the universe whisking small-time thief Zen Starling off on a little errand. Well, it’s not a big job, but it does have mega consequences.

Genesis by Bernard Beckett

Anaximander learns that there is nothing more human than to commit a sin.

Hybrids by David Thorpe

Beware the Creep. A sickness affecting the nation's teenagers. Favourite technology becomes embedded in the flesh. Part boy part computer, outside of society.

Small-Minded Giants by Oisin McGann

Sol's father goes missing, accused of murder. And in the hunt for his father, Sol learns exactly how rotten is the world that he lives in. Rotten to the core.

The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau

Can the people from the City of Ember find a place to settle and live at peace with their neighbours?

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The City of Ember is built to last, but the once bulging store rooms are empty now. What will the people do to help themselves?

Epic by Conor Kostick

In Erik's world, if you want to challenge authority, you do it in a computer game. So that's what Erik does...

The Pack by Tom Pow

The Pack look after their own, no matter how much effort it takes.

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer

'We, Cosmo Hill, are the world's only Supernaturalists.'
Cosmo grinned weakly. 'What? You don't like clothes?'
'That's naturists, Cosmo. And nobody does that any more, not with the ozone layer spread thinner than cling film. We call ourselves Supernaturalists because we hunt supernatural creatures.'

Useful Idiots by Jan Mark

A dystopia of political correctness, surveillance cameras and the European superstate.

Ryland's Footsteps by Sally Prue

Is Ryland bound to follow in his father's footsteps, or is there another way?

Exodus by Julie Bertagna

Desperate refugees from the last flooded places on earth are locked out of the New World Cities that tower above the ocean on massive stilts.

Futuretrack 5 by Robert Westall

It's bound to stir things up if you fight your way to a position of power in a computer-controlled world, and then develop a social conscience . . .

The Scavenger's Tale by Rachel Anderson

It's not enough that these fostered children are low-caste, abnormal, dysfunctional, living in unapproved temporary dwelling places and scavenge in skips for a living - someone wants their body parts too.

Off the Road by Nina Bawden

There are the urban communities where life is protected and safe and the barbaric Outside, with a fence down the middle. But does the fence keep you in or them out?

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Society has opted not to bother to learn history so that it doesn't have to face up to all those uncomfortable memories. But there's still a memory bank and someone has to be in charge of it.

Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick

Global warming floods East Anglia, and quite a lot of the rest of the world, and society disintegrates into primitive bands.

Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess

Serious retelling of a Viking saga set in a London of the future. Bloodcurdling.