Page 4 | Post apocalyptic books - recommendations?

Resilienceisimportant · 2024-12-28T22:22:21+00:00

Hello everyone. I have read the usual and really like this genre or very though provoking books. Last I read was Children of Time. I liked the concept but the spiders weren’t for me 😂. Would anyone have any recommendations? Thank you!

bellocchild · 29/12/2024 16:34

Z for Zachariah by Robert C O'Brien

DisplayPurposesOnly · 29/12/2024 16:30

Z For Zachariah by Robert C O'Brien

MauveVelcro · 29/12/2024 16:28

Has anyone mentioned the Silo series? Wool/Shift/Dust I think it is - also a series now.

Absolutely brilliant books and also includes flashbacks to before the 'event' (I love a flashback).

Aliflowers · 29/12/2024 16:28

AdaColeman · 29/12/2024 15:09

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison, this is the first part of a trilogy, "The Road to Nowhere".

A plague kills millions, but can offer some of the survivors a chance to control the lives of others.

Thank you. It’s actually on Kindle unlimited so have just downloaded there

ohyesido · 29/12/2024 16:27

Another vote for Last One At The Party, my favourite ever book.

VodkaCola · 29/12/2024 16:25

Thank you all, I've just bought The Passage and The Book of the Unnamed Midwife audiobooks. I have 10 credits as a Christmas present to use and these 2 are a really good start!

TheOliveFinch · 29/12/2024 16:19

Glad to see the love for The Chrysalids as it is one of my favourite books, also loved The Wool Trilogy and many of the others mentioned. Although it is YA fiction I also really liked The Hunger Games

Supergluerules · 29/12/2024 16:06

Eve of Man and Eve Illusion by Giovanna & Tom Fletcher - as with The Enemy series aimed at teenagers, but I liked them.

Also the Bone Catcher series by Samantha Shannon, possibly too sci-fi for some.

Thanks for all the recommendations, lots of new authors to discover.

Dilbertian · 29/12/2024 15:55

WearyAuldWumman · 28/12/2024 23:51

Earth Abides, George R Stewart

Was going to post this. I never come across people who have read it.

John Whyndam's novels are more pre-apocalyptic, I'd say, and excellent.
Body of Glass, by Marge Piercy. More futuristic sci-fi, but has a post-apocalyptic feel to it (the apocalypse being global warming).

Snowcrash, by Neal Stephenson, has a similar feel.

As you can tell, I prefer my post-apocalyptic fiction not to be scary!

AdaColeman · 29/12/2024 15:09

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison, this is the first part of a trilogy, "The Road to Nowhere".

A plague kills millions, but can offer some of the survivors a chance to control the lives of others.

Original poster

Resilienceisimportant · 29/12/2024 14:45

AnyFucker · 29/12/2024 14:02

Great thread

I am loving it too and really want to thank everyone for taking the time to recommend.

So many great books I am looking them all up and making a list as we speak.

Thank you again everyone!

OP posts:

Aliflowers · 29/12/2024 14:06

Greekcatmug · 28/12/2024 22:58

I liked the Silo trilogy by Hugh Howey. Couldn't put it down.

Also loved these and the show is well worth a watch. Also (I see a few have recommended) The stand and the girl with all the gifts

AnyFucker · 29/12/2024 14:02

Great thread

marthaisintheway · 29/12/2024 13:42

The Undead series by RR Heywood. Not particularly literary but completely addictive. Free on kindle unlimited.

Johnboy181 · 29/12/2024 13:27

Prince of Thorns, Mark Lawrence

ILikeDungs · 29/12/2024 13:22

The Last Man Standing by David Longo. Ignore the other books with this title, for there are a few.

Blindness by Jose Saramago

Both utterly chilling in places, but excellent

EarlofShrewsbury · 29/12/2024 12:59

I've just finished Last one at the Party and I loved it. I couldn't put it down and finished it in a day.

I actually came on MN just now to see if there was a thread about it but found this thread so I'm recommending it.

RaininSummer · 29/12/2024 11:15

The followers by Megan Angelo came up when I was looking at some of these great suggestions. It's billed as ideal for fans of Station eleven.

VodkaCola · 29/12/2024 11:13

Second Sleep
The Girl with all the Gifts and the sequel, The Boy on the Bridge
Last One at the Party
The End of Men
The Kraken Wakes
Seveneves (love love love this!)

geekygardener · 29/12/2024 11:07

The passage series and the silo series are my all time favourite books. I still think about them from time to time despite reading them a while ago. They were recommended on here.

Brefugee · 29/12/2024 10:47

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 29/12/2024 10:17

Did you hear the 2-part dramatisation on R4 Extra recently, @Brefugee? I caught it a couple of weeks ago. If it's not on Sounds now it will be probably be on archive.org. It's a while since I read the book but I thought it was a fairly good adaptation. I was absolutely chilled by it when I read it in my teens. I always find portrayal of fundamentalism and cults very frightening.

Show quote history

oh no i didn't, thanks for the heads-up - i always like to listen to something while i iron, and this week i will look for that

Drivingoverlemons · 29/12/2024 10:46

Z for Zachariah

Original poster

Resilienceisimportant · 29/12/2024 10:37

WomanIsTaken · 29/12/2024 00:44

Came on to say the MaddAddam Trilogy too, and see it's already been recommended and that you've already read it. I'm now going to check out the other things you've thumbs-upped, OP, as I'm likely to enjoy those titles too.

Not quite post apocalyptic, and more in a kind of niche mysti-fi genre, is the compelling Canopus in Argos: Archives series by Doris Lessing, which I whole-heartedly recommend.

Amazing thank you. So grateful to everyone as I was struggling for great new reads and so many recommendations here to help.

OP posts:

MandyFriend · 29/12/2024 10:25

The Enemy trilogy by Charlie Higson is really clever. They're supposed to be for teenagers but I really enjoyed them!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 29/12/2024 10:17

Brefugee · 29/12/2024 09:56

came here to say this - it is one of my favourite books.

could add the latter parts of The Day Of The Triffids, which is very bleak indeed in describing the actual apocalypse and the immediate aftermath.

And because i jumped in very early, has anyone mentioned The Parable of the Sower by Olivia E Butler (she relatively recently released a second part of this, which i haven't yet read so thanks for the reminder)

Show quote history

Did you hear the 2-part dramatisation on R4 Extra recently, @Brefugee? I caught it a couple of weeks ago. If it's not on Sounds now it will be probably be on archive.org. It's a while since I read the book but I thought it was a fairly good adaptation. I was absolutely chilled by it when I read it in my teens. I always find portrayal of fundamentalism and cults very frightening.