Mockingbird

I'll give you the bad news up front: this novel has been classified as Young Adult. I know, I know - I can hear the groans already, and I don't blame you, given the new sexless, alcohol free, drug free, and swear word free generation of young adult novels would have you believe that teenagers live like. (Yeah, sure, none of that stuff please, we're teenagers, they say!) But hear me out - this novel is captivating and powerful. It's a dystopian future where humanity is on the brink of extinction where those who survive spend their days drugged up (see, it's more realistic than other YA fiction already!) or choose suicide. The last few million humans are either drugged out, by chemicals, or religion. Quick sex is the best sex, and relationships are futile when everyone's emotions are dulled by drugs. Teaching reading is illegal. Robots created to help humans continue to push them into self-destruction. In this bleak future, what hope does humanity have? A depressed robot that has no will to live, a film professor, and a half feral woman, that's who. This may sound morbid, but it's a thoroughly enjoyable black comedy, not just a young adult, robot, science fiction novel.