Books like 1984

Have you fallen down the rabbit hole of George Orwell's 1984 and now can't stop thinking about it? Join the club! This mind-bending classic has left readers both fascinated and slightly paranoid since it first hit shelves. If you're hunting for more books like 1984 that'll give you those same "Big Brother is watching" vibes, I've got you covered! After finishing Orwell's masterpiece, I went on a personal mission to find similar reads that would scratch that dystopian itch. I'm excited to share my favorite books similar to 1984 that capture that perfect blend of "whoa, this is scary" and "but wait, could this actually happen?" moments. These picks will take you through everything from surveillance states to rebellion against the system, all while keeping you turning pages well past bedtime. So grab your favorite drink, get comfy (and maybe put some tape over your webcam, just saying!), and let's dive into these awesome dystopian alternatives! Just a heads-up, this post contains affiliate links, meaning we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you!)

Books Similar to 1984

Book Cover

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (aka the book that inspired Blade Runner) shares 1984's paranoid DNA but swaps government surveillance for the ultimate identity crisis! Instead of Big Brother watching you, imagine wondering if your coworker, neighbor, or even spouse might be an android. While Orwell's world has thought police monitoring for thoughtcrime, Dick's has bounty hunters with empathy tests trying to sniff out who's human and who's not. Both worlds are absolutely suffocating with their constant psychological pressure: Winston can't trust his thoughts, while Rick Deckard can't trust reality itself. What really connects these dystopian cousins is how they make you question what makes us human, is it our capacity for independent thought as in 1984, or our capacity for empathy as in Dick's android-filled future? Either way, you'll find yourself checking over your shoulder and maybe giving your friends a suspicious side-eye after finishing this mind-bender.

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How it's similar to 1984

Subgenre

Literary Fiction
Mystery/Thriller
Sci-Fi

Tone

Dark/Serious
Suspenseful/Thrilling

Narrative

Character-Driven
Dialogue-Heavy
Lyrical/Descriptive
Multi-Perspective
Plot-Driven

Character Tropes

The Anti-Hero
The Hero
The Lover
The Outsider
The Rebel

Plot Tropes

Love
Sacrifice
Survival
The Hero's Journey
The Journey

Setting Tropes

Big City
Dystopia
Mysterious Location
Ruined World

Conflict Tropes

Betrayal and Revenge
Death or Threat of Death
Good vs. Evil
Identity Crisis
Man vs. Self

Theme Tropes

Grief and Loss
Search for Meaning
Book Cover

The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale hit just as hard as 1984. It is like 1984's equally terrifying sister that swaps political oppression for gender oppression. Both dystopias share that suffocating feeling of being watched constantly. The parallels are seriously creepy: both have their own version of thoughtcrime (just try being a free-thinking woman in Gilead!), both feature secret resistance movements, and both show how quickly society can normalize the absolutely unthinkable. What makes Atwood's nightmare so similar to Orwell's is how it takes real historical oppression of women and dials it up to eleven, making you realize that like 1984, this isn't just fiction, it's a warning wrapped in a story that'll keep you up at night wondering if we're already on a slippery slope.

Buy on Bookshop

How it's similar to 1984

Subgenre

Literary Fiction
Sci-Fi

Tone

Dark/Serious
Suspenseful/Thrilling

Narrative

Character-Driven
Dialogue-Heavy
Lyrical/Descriptive
Plot-Driven

Character Tropes

The Anti-Hero
The Hero
The Lover
The Outsider
The Rebel

Plot Tropes

Love
Sacrifice
Survival
The Journey

Setting Tropes

Dystopia
Mysterious Location
Nature
Period Setting
Ruined World

Conflict Tropes

Betrayal and Revenge
Death or Threat of Death
Dysfunctional Families
Good vs. Evil
Identity Crisis
Man vs. Self

Theme Tropes

Grief and Loss
Search for Meaning
Book Cover

Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 feels like 1984's literary-obsessed cousin, giving you those same "oh no, this could totally happen" shivers but with a bookish twist! Instead of telescreens watching your every move, you've got firemen burning every book in sight...talk about a bookworm's nightmare! Just like Winston Smith secretly scribbles in his forbidden diary, our hero Guy Montag starts hoarding forbidden books, beginning his own rebellion against a society that's chosen mindless entertainment over critical thinking. The similarities to 1984 are everywhere: a government controlling information, people monitored in their homes, and history being rewritten (or in this case, burned to ashes). What makes this read so captivating is how it shows that controlling what people read is just another way of controlling what people think, proving that Orwell and Bradbury were definitely on the same wavelength about how easily our freedoms can go up in smoke!

Buy on Bookshop Buy on Libro.fm

How it's similar to 1984

Subgenre

Literary Fiction
Sci-Fi

Tone

Dark/Serious
Suspenseful/Thrilling

Narrative

Character-Driven
Dialogue-Heavy
Lyrical/Descriptive
Plot-Driven

Character Tropes

The Anti-Hero
The Hero
The Mentor
The Outsider
The Rebel

Plot Tropes

Love
Sacrifice
Survival
The Hero's Journey
The Journey

Setting Tropes

Big City
Dystopia

Conflict Tropes

Death or Threat of Death
Dysfunctional Families
Good vs. Evil
Identity Crisis
Man vs. Self

Theme Tropes

Grief and Loss
Search for Meaning
Book Cover

The Jungle

Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair's The Jungle might seem like an odd match with 1984 at first glance (meat-packing plants vs. thought police?), but trust me, these books are dystopian cousins separated by time! While Orwell created a fictional future nightmare, Sinclair exposed a real-life one that was happening right under Americans' noses in the early 1900s. Both books pull back the curtain on systems designed to crush the individual, whether it's Big Brother's political machine or capitalism's meat-grinding industry that chews up immigrants like Jurgis Rudkus and spits them out. The parallels will give you chills: workers stripped of humanity and treated like machines, powerful entities controlling every aspect of life, and the absolutely brutal consequences of speaking out against the system. What makes "The Jungle" such a fascinating companion to 1984 is that it reminds us we don't need fictional totalitarian regimes to experience dystopia,sometimes it's hiding in plain sight in our own history, making us question whether parts of Orwell's nightmare might actually be closer to reality than we'd like to admit!

How it's similar to 1984

Subgenre

Literary Fiction

Tone

Dark/Serious
Suspenseful/Thrilling

Narrative

Character-Driven
Dialogue-Heavy
Lyrical/Descriptive
Multi-Perspective
Plot-Driven

Character Tropes

The Anti-Hero
The Outsider
The Rebel

Plot Tropes

Love
Sacrifice
Survival
The Journey

Setting Tropes

Big City
Dystopia
Period Setting

Conflict Tropes

Betrayal and Revenge
Death or Threat of Death
Dysfunctional Families
Good vs. Evil
Identity Crisis
Man vs. Self

Theme Tropes

Friendship
Grief and Loss
Search for Meaning