Parable of the Sower

Hands down the best dystopia I've encountered in any medium. Although I craved much more in the plot and the depth of characters and character relationships, my stomach felt wretched while reading page after page - this world felt incredibly real in all its cruelty and brutality. Butler's story-telling enraptured me from the start, in a way that I never believed a book written journal-entry format could. About half way through I did feel like I was reading a list of “things I did today,” and lost the feeling of awe in the story telling. A lot of the second half of the book fell flat for me, including the ending. If you want to read an excellent dystopia, this is a must read.