Post apocalyptic books - recommendations?

I have just finished Severance - what an amazing book. I found it a bit deeper than ‘Last one at the party’ but now I’ve got to try and find something to match it!

Love 'A Rag, A Bone...'!
It must have been the very first sci-fi book I ever read, assigned in Y6. I managed to track down an old copy last year for my own DS to read, such a shame it doesn't seem to be in regular print/on the classics shelf in shops!

Thank you all, especially previous posters who recommended The Passage and The Book of the Unnamed Midwife. Both are fantastic books and are both very long, which is always a bonus!

Did we have the same library growing up? Never met anyone who read futuretrack 5!

One of my favourites hasn't been mentioned yet. Futuretrack 5, Robert Westall. Slightly dodgy racially. But strong on the idea of control by the Ests (Establishment) and the feral underclass, the unnems (the unemployed). On the same sort of theme John Christopher's The Guardians is a very spare, but effective, dystopian novel.

A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair by Nicholas Fisk is eerie, and unexpected.

Whoever recommended Dominion by CJ Samson, thank you. Would never have picked it up but I am loving it.

The year of the flood , Margaret Atwood, sequel to Oryx and Crake , 99p on kindle today

There's a new Hunger Games prequel coming out in a few weeks too. It's Haymitch's story. I can't wait.

Thank you for this!

Thank you, I'm going to get this one in just a tick.

Probably already mentioned, and more dystopian than post apocalyptic, but I loved the 'Hunger games' trilogy. (suzanne Collins, has written a pre sequel since she wrote the trilogy, which explains how President Snow, got into power)
The Giver (also YA)
And I've just finished the series 'Shadow Children' Among the hidden is the first book. by Margaret Peterson Haddox, surprisingly good books, but I think they got slightly eclipsed by the Harry Potter books as they were released late 90s). Again more for late primary early secondary school age, so very easy reading, but thought provoking story line.

The Stranding is currently 99p on kindle

Time riders - young adult but v good series

Ohhhh thank you so much for writing this. I read this in high school but we didn't finish it. I've thought about it over the years but could not remember the name of the book. Going to read it today!

Day by day Armageddon-JL Bourne. Written in first person in diary form, from the POV of a member of the special forces who is one of the first to hear of the impending zombie apocalypse and decides to go AWOL and keep himself alive.

I am Legend- Richard Matheson. Surprised this hasn't been mentioned already. An absolute classic, and up there with Earth Abides as pure inspiration for Stephen King.

I'm not usually into zombie books but I enjoyed the Zombie Fallout series by Mark Tufo because it was fairly funny as well as a bit gory. I haven't read them all though, probably only the first seven or eight.

I love sci-fi and apocalyptic so I've read lots of the books recommended but I'm less keen on them if they are too dark. I absolutely loved We are Legion (We are Bob) by Dennis Taylor, I think there are five books in the series now, the first three are the best. I listened to them and they are well narrated. I often re-read but don't often re-listen because it takes longer, but I have re-listened to these.

On the Beach by Neville Shute is a classic.

If you like Adrien Tchaikovsky but not spiders then he has a good quirky one called Service Model that I really enjoyed.

I've just read The Book of Koli. It was ok, but felt a bit YA. Like he's taken elements of other novels and repackaged them to make them more accessible.

If you want an historical take on dystopia, try The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth. It's from the perspective of some Anglo saxon peasants following the Norman conquest and written in a kind of Anglo saxon hybrid language he's developed. For the locals, it's effectively the apocalypse and the whole novel is weighed down by the sense of cataclysmic change. Very bleak, but I read it years ago and can't shake it.

Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing is more dystopian but has a list apocalyptic feel.

Some great recommendations on this thread. I love dystopian fiction. Second The Handmaid's Tale, also The End of the World Running Club, Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Brave New World. Just ordered Woman on the edge of time and The book of Dave 😊

I was just trawling the thread to see if someone had mentioned this - sort of post-post apocalypse but very good. I’d also really recommend ones already mentioned - the Silo series and Children of the Dust.

Also Kate Wilhelm, Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang and Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey series (not to be confused with 50 Shades). And Stuart Turton, The Last Murder at the End of the World.

I agree about the Second Sleep. I felt it was at best written for YA, and if aimed at adults was lazily written as if in the author's sleep.

Sorry posted before I meant to. I suspect I may be in the minority given the rave reviews. But it’s written like a genre I hate rather than like a post-apocalyptic novel, without enough to make it worth slogging through that.

I found The Second Sleep in a charity shop after seeing it mentioned here and read it on holiday. I found it really disappointing and unsatisfying. It was a fairly annoying read and I stuck with it because I expected a better payoff!

I meant ‘so’ not ‘bro’ - I’m not a 13 yr old boy!!!

Yes, a very ‘left open’ ending.