Dystopian novels aren’t just thrilling reads—they also explore societal control, rebellion, and the fight for freedom. Below, we break down some of the best young adult dystopian books, explaining their plots, why they’re great, and the deeper messages they convey.

For starters, let’s define what dystopia is, where the word came from, and how it became a genre of books:

Haven't blogged in a while, and the reason is: it's just been really hard to do a lot lately. Still struggling with depression (though, admittedly, it's a LOT better than it was six months ago) but the world just kinda super sucks right now. Makes it hard to do stuff.

What I have been doing, a lot, is painting. I'd take pictures and post them here if there was anything amazing to post, but it's not. I'm painting fast and loose, churning through models quickly and not delicately. And you know what? I really like it. It's never going to win me any awards, but it's therapeutic and relaxing.

If you think of my life as compartments--at least the public-facing compartments--then they can be summed up into broad categories of Writer, Artist, Wargamer, and Mentally Ill Individual. And all of these things have, this year, been pretty big for me--for good or for bad. But there's some interesting things to look at.

It has been a positive year for me overall: I got a raise at work, my middle son graduated high school, my oldest son started college. But when it comes to all of these Rob's Website Related Things, there have been ups and downs. Let's look at each one in turn:

I love Christmas, but as we're going to see in this list, I like nostalgic Christmas. I like warm and heartfelt Christmas more than flashy and funny Christmas. I like the magic of Christmas, not the commercialism. You can see what I'm getting at here.

But what makes a Christmas movie great for me, is not the warm and heartfeltness of it necessarily, because if that was all I was looking for then I'd like the old dumb Miracle on 34th Street (spoiler: I do not). What I love about Christmas movies are the ones that you watch that make you want to be a better person. That's rare, and it's true magic.

I have been writing a blog for the last four year (The Wargame Explorer) and every year I do a "Best Christmas Gifts of the Year" post. But this year the blog is dead (a story you can read about here) and I don't have any wargaming gift ideas to give you.

(You really should have finished your Christmas shopping by now anyway, because it's 4:02pm on December 8th. Get with the program.)

Anyway, I decided that I should do one of these year-end round-up posts that applies not to wargaming but just to my general life. Like, "if you like Robison Wells, then you'll like these Christmas gifts!" I know you're not that boring, but it's good framing for a Sunday post.