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Original poster

Your favourite apocalyptic novels?

105 replies

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 10/05/2018 19:09

Not my favourite necessarily, but I've recently finished the Last Policeman trilogy and loved it. The premise sounded a bit Hmm, but it was actually really good - the slow unravelling of society as the trilogy progressed was gripping, and very convincing.

There also used to be a lot of kids'books about nuclear war around in the 80s, remember them? I must have read Z For Zacharia and Brother in the Land 20 Times each.

OP posts:
EllenJanethickerknickers · 10/05/2018 21:39

Tricky, because my very favourite it The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin which is dystopian but not post apocalyptic.

AnneLovesGilbert · 10/05/2018 21:30

Where do you draw the line between apocalyptic and dystopian?

AnneLovesGilbert · 10/05/2018 21:30

Love this genre and love this thread. Thanks OP!

More votes for world war z. Blew my tiny mind! Earth abides, handmaids tale, girl with all the gifts (film was also v good).

In a similar vein, girlfriend in a coma was amazing.

And I only finally recently red animal farm. Fuck me that is good. I nearly cried.

Ooh and one no one’s mentioned but it incredibly moving for the book lovers - Fahrenheit 451. So heartbreakingly beautiful and moving.

Whatthefoxgoingon · 10/05/2018 21:24

For those struggling with the stand, try the abridged version. I prefer that one for a re-read.

quirkychick · 10/05/2018 21:21

Oh, quite a few favourites already mentioned:

The Stand (which I read after it was recommended on a similar thread a few years ago)
The Handmaid 's Tale
Oryx and Crake
The Road (bleak but so beautifully written)
The Chrysalids

I'm going to double my amazon wishlist too, it would appear Smile

Whatthefoxgoingon · 10/05/2018 21:14

This thread is ace Grin Quite a few I haven’t read.

I liked world war z too, completely different to the movie.

And I’m so glad other people have read and liked the death of grass, no one I meet irl has ever heard of it!

Original poster
JesusInTheCabbageVan · 10/05/2018 21:11

Scribbly Grin I certainly know which one I'd choose.

OP posts:
tarheelbaby · 10/05/2018 21:06

not exactly apocalyptic but headed that way: Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson.

RocketPockets · 10/05/2018 21:00

The girl with all the gifts is brilliant! Totally not my normal type of book but gave it a go and so glad I did!

SummersB · 10/05/2018 20:52

"The things that keep us here" - a different kind of apocalypse involving the outbreak of a bird flu pandemic. Not sure if that's the kind of apocalypse you were after but if you are looking for something a bit different it's worth reading. It scared the shit out of me!

EllenJanethickerknickers · 10/05/2018 20:48

Survivors by Terry Nation as well. Neuromancer by William Gibson is a classic, started all the cyber stuff.
Lots of teen novels are post apocalyptic, Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent etc.

ScribblyGum · 10/05/2018 20:48

Yes but he wasn’t trying to have fun with two toddlers in North Wales was he?

doctorcuntybollocks · 10/05/2018 20:46

ScribblyGum A tent! Luxury! The poor sod in The Road only has a tarp.

ScribblyGum · 10/05/2018 20:39

I read The Road in a small tent in Anglesey during one particularly miserable summer holiday. It never stopped raining, my bowels went on strike and dd1 got pneumonia so it was a particularly fitting novel to go with the rest of the experience I felt.

Original poster
JesusInTheCabbageVan · 10/05/2018 20:38

Soo glad I started this thread Grin My Amazon wishlist has doubled.

OP posts:
ScribblyGum · 10/05/2018 20:35

IWannaSeeHowItEnds snap. I think The Death of Grass might have been my first apocalyptic novel and like you it has stayed with me since reading it in secondary school.

Dubdoor · 10/05/2018 20:34

@Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies I've never "met" anyone else who has even heard of the prince in waiting trilogy!

EllenJanethickerknickers · 10/05/2018 20:34

Oh, oh! The Drowned World by J G. Ballard.

I hated The Road, depressingly dismal.

Dubdoor · 10/05/2018 20:33

I'd totally forgotten children of the dust! That was a firm favourite here too. And all the John Wyndhams.

pinkmagic1 · 10/05/2018 20:30

I mentioned it on page 1 Imch.

EllenJanethickerknickers · 10/05/2018 20:28

The Crysalids by John Wyndham was the first one I read, I think. Or maybe the Tripods by John Christopher? But The Postman by David Brin is really good.

I liked Station Eleven as well. There are loads, aren't there!

PutTheChocEggDown · 10/05/2018 20:25

You are making me want to dig out my battered and much loved copy of The Stand again! However bad a day I'm having, at least I don't have Captain Trips!

Last Light and Afterlight by Alex Scarrow are easy beach reads but suitably apocalyptic.

doctorcuntybollocks · 10/05/2018 20:25

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart (quite a gentle apocalypse)

Engine Summer by John Crowley (post post-apocalyptic)

Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky (horror)

Theweasleytwins · 10/05/2018 20:22

Shades Children by Garth Nix is great

redannie118 · 10/05/2018 20:21

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns, and so we've agreed to take this down now.