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Original poster

Post apocolyptic reads

259 replies

BlingLoving · 24/04/2012 09:38

I love a good post apocolyptic/sci fi read but find it's quite hard to find them so I'm looking for inspiration please from all of you. To give you an idea of what I like I recently read and enjoyed the Hunger Games trilogy. Going further back, I love almost everything John Wyndham ever wrote, but The Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids are my favourite.

My Kindle is charged and I am ready to download...!

OP posts:
thequeensknickers · 27/05/2012 23:06

Just watching The Road and wishing I'd already read the book.
:)

BulletProofMum · 27/05/2012 22:55

Land of ash was a recent book of short stories. Very good!

BulletProofMum · 27/05/2012 22:53

My favourite genre - loving this list. I'd forgotten all about Ridley walker. I loved it and lent it to a friend never to be seen again.

My recent favourites are the road, oryx and crake.

Have just bought metro and the big book recommended earlier.

Thanks!

Exogenesis · 27/05/2012 22:44

The Autumn books by David Moody! AMAZING!

Ohyoubadbadkitten · 27/05/2012 22:23

Hater by David moody is excellent. Really interesting take on the genre.

outmonday · 27/05/2012 20:33

None of these post-apocolyptic worlds is better than the world we know, is it?
I admire enormously Riddley Walker, The Road, The Handmaid's Tale and others mentioned, including Oryx and Crake, but not The Year of the Flood.

tiggy114 · 24/05/2012 21:20

Oh and 'Brave new world'

tiggy114 · 24/05/2012 21:18

Ok my 2 penith: children of men, handmaids tale, i am legend, 1984 (classic), the running man (stephen king), battle royale, The Stand (SK again)

PandaWatch · 24/05/2012 16:50

Thanks for the tip Percy - I'll take your advice and read that next! I've always been a huge fan of SK but didn't ever fancy the DT series for some reason. Then I picked up the gunslinger a couple of months ago and have been hooked ever since!

PercyFilth · 24/05/2012 14:56

Have you read the new one, Panda? Would be a good place to read it, I'd say. It actually fits in just before book 5, but it's similar to Wizard and Glass, with Roland telling a story. I loved it, the core story was a most beguiling tale in the old tradition (wicked step-parent, magic, a quest).

PandaWatch · 24/05/2012 12:14

I reckon the Dark Tower series by Stephen King would suit your needs! I've just finished book 5 of 7 and they are fantastic.

HermioneE · 22/05/2012 22:17

Echoing the recommendation of Divergent, and OP, thanks for starting this thread! :)

SummerLightning · 22/05/2012 22:13

I've read wool too. Loved it and couldn't put it down! Cheap as well. Plus you can get the first one for free to see if you like it.

bran · 22/05/2012 12:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 14/05/2012 20:35

Yes to 'Life After God.' Can't remember if we've already mentioned 'Girlfriend In A Coma' too.

ghosteditor · 14/05/2012 08:41

I second quite a few of the books mentioned, especially Riddley Walker and Oryx and Crake.

Also Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (stick with it);

Life After God by DouglasCoupland

All the Dead Are Here by Pete Bevan (disclaimer - these are interlinked short stories about zombies, written and recently published by a MNers husband, but I just read them and liked them!)

I'll check my book shelf later for anything not already mentioned...

TheCountessOlenska · 14/05/2012 08:29

SecretSquirrels - I just finished The Strain and the second one The Fall (also as recommended on this thread!) - They are really creepy. The second one has a scene in a train tunnel that seriously gave me the shivers when I was on the train in the Mersey tunnel the other day!

Am now reading The Passage (recommended on here and on my vampire thread!) - which has a similar plot (vampire virus) but is better written imo. Am enjoying!

SecretSquirrels · 13/05/2012 14:53

SandraSue I am just reading The Strain following your recommendation. I have never read any horror before and I'm absolutely gripped by it. Trouble is it's getting scarier by the page and I think I am too much of a wimp to continue.

Earthymama · 09/05/2012 12:17

Can I recommend all of Sheri Tepper's books?
She is amazing, often post-apocalyptic or alternate world. I have read all of them but just downloaded several onto my Kindle so that I am sure of a good read on holiday.

Woman on the Edge of Time Marge Piercy, dated now but great book

R2PeePoo · 04/05/2012 11:57

I know what you mean about children's deaths, I am much more sensitive to them now than before my DC.

But then it does give a book an air of gritty realism, I think a real cataclysm/lawless society would have the greatest effect on the very old and the very young and they would be the most vulnerable and first to die. I read Joe Sacco's documentary comic 'Safe Area Gorazde' about the Bosnian War and it was my first real glimpse about what it actually might be like to be in a war as a civilian, I wish I could burn some of the images out of my head tbh. I think we are very cut off from the reality of lawlessness, murder, genocide etc which is the luxury of living in such a wealthy and ordered country; this is a good thing too though!

I don't know, just musing I guess, especially as I haven't read the book.

Anyway I came back to this thread to mention another book:

The Girl who owned a city by O.T Nelson

Original poster
BlingLoving · 03/05/2012 14:21

Well actually, I'm enjoying the sequl (AfterLight) more - it's more traditional post apocolyptic in that it's looking at how society has evolved, seems to be developing the traditional physical and mental and emotional journey etc. Last Light was all about an assassin attempting to kill her...

Although I do feel he's a little unnecessarily free with the descriptions of children being killed... post DS I'm definitely not as able to cope with that and I'm not sure that a third of the way into the book graphif descriptions of at least 3 children's deaths is really doing me any good.

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R2PeePoo · 03/05/2012 12:28

Yes I think he wrote both books. TBH I have only read the first one ( is that Last Light?) when it first came out a few years ago. I don't think I'll bother with the sequel then.

Original poster
BlingLoving · 03/05/2012 10:21

R2PeePoo - it was you who recommended Last Light and After Light? I'm enjoying After Light much more than Last Light but... did he write After Light too? There are annoying discrepancies between the books, mostly to do with the plot of Leona seeing the old guys that I'm finding a bit frustrating.

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R2PeePoo · 01/05/2012 21:53

Back with more (like I said, I like this genre Grin)

The City, Not Long After - Pat Murphy
The Memoirs of a Survivor-Doris Lessing
The Pesthouse by Jim Crace

Also there is a sequel to 'Mara and Dann' mentioned above -

'The Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog '

Original poster
BlingLoving · 01/05/2012 21:30

OP here. I've just finished Last Light - the Alex Scarrow one. I've bought Afterlight but am a bit nervous. Apparently, having had DS I now find novels where children might get hurt difficult to read. I thought it was a good read but I am not sure if I enjoyed it. Of course, I bought the next one so... Grin

Glad to see a few more ideas on here. Will be back as I work my way through a few.

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