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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:
R2PeePoo · 07/08/2012 23:11

Also looking forward to seeing WWZ although it will be in a well lit room of my choosing, no way am I sitting in the dark watching a zombie film with lots of other people (wuss).

Has anyone been watching 'The Walking Dead' TV series, I keep meaning to and have only watched bits here and there when I remember. Is it worth making more of an effort? I have the graphic novels already which I love.

I was 8 in 1989. My interest was sparked by lots of early visits to archaeological excavations with my mum (hobby archaeologist) as a very small child. I was fascinated by all the scraps and remnants that remained of a vibrant and powerful society that was mostly destroyed in Britain. Then my mum gave me a copy of 'Children of the Dust' and my interest was sealed.

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 07/08/2012 23:43

I can't watch Zombie films or tv shows Blush
I can read the bloodiest, spookiest, goriest stories ever with no problems, but if I see it on a screen it scares me too much and I can't get it out of my head when I need to. It is weird, I don't see pictures when I read as such, it's a totally different thing to watching on screen.

SkinnyVanillaLatte · 08/08/2012 00:17

R2 'The Walking Dead' is definitely worth watching imo. Love it!

I also grew up during the Cold War.I absolutely remember a very real threat of nuclear war YouBloody. Really you would have thought it would have made us unable to stomach post-apocalyptic stuff,because I remember it as being a genuinely scary time. Strange innit?

crescentmoon · 08/08/2012 12:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LordOfThe5Rings · 09/08/2012 20:16

The Day of The Triffids is one I've read most recently.

I would love to read some more though. :)

R2PeePoo · 10/08/2012 01:15

I just finished 'The Dark and Hollow Places' by Carrie Ryan which is the third in the 'Forests of Hands and Teeth trilogy. This one was definitely the best out of the three I think, the other two were well-written but lacking something but this one was excellent.

'Night of the Triffids' (thanks whoever recommended it) up next which has a very exciting B-movie style cover .

Also finished Legend by Marie Lu (I finished it the day before yesterday but had to seriously rack my brains to remember the plot which isn't a good sign. I think I enjoyed it whilst I was reading it though) and Flood Child by Diamand which was a very good YA book but I'd love to see it as a properly fleshed out adult book; her world was very intriguing.

YouBloodyWolf · 10/08/2012 11:43

Skinny - I think maybe we were trying to understand the world by absorbing it through stories. Or something.

BoreOfWhabylon · 17/08/2012 11:13

So, my copy of 'Down to a Sunless Sea' finally arrived yesterday. I have just finished reading it. It was the 'sad' ending.

I am now almost overwhelmed with feelings of bleakness and desolation.

I will want to read it again (usually do if I enjoy a book - although 'enjoy' is not quite the right word here) but not yet. I'd be happy to send it on to anyone who would like to read it as long as it is returned to me.

If anyone would like a synopsis of the ending let me know and I will pm it.

R2PeePoo · 17/08/2012 11:42

Bore I'd be interested in the synopsis please Grin

BoreOfWhabylon · 17/08/2012 12:17

No problem, R2.

I have to go out now so will do it later on, when I have time to do a semi-coherent good job.

I'd also be interested in a synopsis of the 'happy' ending (am assuming the book ends when the 'good news' is announced to everyone?)

phedre · 06/09/2012 13:46

Thanks for all the suggestions here - I had many happy weeks working my way through the various suggestions.

Two additions to the worthwhile reads.

  • I, Zombie by Hugh Howie who wrote the excellent Wool series. Basically the zombie problem from the perspective of the zombie. Disturbing but compelling. Hugh Howey truly is a gifted writer
  • Angelfall (Penryn and the end of Days) by Susan Ee. Don't be put off by the blurb. Once you start reading you simply can't put it down until you have finished (it is short though). Another very well written book and very cheap on amazon at the moment as it is self published.
R2PeePoo · 07/09/2012 13:23

Here are a few more:

The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell (teenage girl surviving in a post-apoc world where the zombies are the least of the dangers. Well written, this story stayed with me, well-realised world mostly)

Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall (Zombie alien creatures invade a Star Trek convention. Full of wonderful geekiness, well written, but if you don't know your Voyager from your Babylon 5 I'd leave it)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the sequel Dreadfully Ever After (zombie apocalypse in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century).

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 07/09/2012 21:19

Oooo Bore me too please - just the ending as afaik they are the same up until near the end, then they split for the "sad" and "happy" ends. If you ever want to part with it, please give me first refusal? I have searched for a sad ending copy for ages, ever since I discovered there were two versions.
I came back to this thread to recommend a new series I've been reading this week on Kindle. They are by P S Power - I think she's a she, but not certain. I read some of her other stuff (The Demon Girl and Keelzebub - they are good too, YA but amusing and lighthearted, nice easy read) and the Gwen Fariss series (2 so far) that are Steampunk, and then found her zombie apocalypse series. There are 3 out so far, with a fourth coming this year, and I am really enjoying them. They aren't just the ordinary "dawn of the dead" gorefest type zombie stories, there is more to them, and a lot more about the interactions of the survivors. The main character is called Jake and he is uttery believeable and "alive" on the page which I always like. The first one is called "A Very Good Man" and the series is called "Dead End". The first one is only 77p just now, and the other two are under £3 which is also good Grin
If you like zombie/survivalist type stuff, these are well worth a look.

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 07/09/2012 21:20

Just realised you asked about the happy ending of Sunless Sea Bore - do you still want a synopsis? I can send you one if you do :)

BoreOfWhabylon · 08/09/2012 10:08

You have a pm, Pom Smile

(R2 has already synopsisised the Happy Ending version for me)

jetstar · 11/09/2012 08:13

I have just finished The Dog Stars by Peter Heller and it was quite good I thought.
Has anyone read Then by Julie Myerson? Is it good?

Manda472 · 09/10/2012 11:27

I had a recommendation from amazon for "plague" by Lisa C hinsley, and only 77p. It's absolutely brilliant, really well written and I read it in one night. Admittedly it's only 150 pages Smile

Def worth a read

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 09/10/2012 19:28

'Then' is rubbish.

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 10/10/2012 11:38

I just downloaded Plague Manda - when I looked I'd already read a couple of hers and enjoyed them - her short story collection is good, and I think it might even have been free the other day Grin
I just read one called "Alone" - main character is called Ralph and it was good - not exciting/thrilling/all go go go but more of a cosy catastrophe type thing. It did have me wiping away tears at the end though and I enjoyed it. That was either free or 77p too.
The last one of the Very Good Man series is out now and they are great, you do need all four to get the full story and it had several great new twists on the zombie theme and was very original.

Manda472 · 10/10/2012 17:58

Hope you enjoy it Pombear....you will definatley need some tissues for this one. Just downloaded her collection one which is free so thanks for that Smile

I've just started on another freebie in amazon- This World After. It's a zombie one and so far so good.

sashh · 11/10/2012 11:38

H10N1

I'm half way through and it's free on the Kindle.

crescentmoon · 13/10/2012 07:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

overmydeadbody · 13/10/2012 15:00

I know it has already been mentioned but Mara and Dann by Doris Lessing is the best post apocolyptic book ever written. EVER.

I have just finished the Hunger Games which I loved and keen to read another post apocolyptic read, so this thread is great!

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 14/10/2012 00:52

I just finished another freebie/cheapo on Kindle, called Big Sky about a family from Stornoway who are stuck at Glastonbury when the world ends, and their journey home again. It's another "cosy catastrophe" one aimed at YA so nothing very bad happens, no rampaging bikers or anything, but I enjoyed it.
I did enjoy Plague, although I also spent quite a while looking at the children and thinking "what if?" afterwards. It was sad but gripping too.

Manda472 · 14/10/2012 22:31

Yes Pombear I felt the same about plague and read a lot of it with one tear trickling down my cheek, very sad but very believable.
Read it when there were the cases of Congo fever last week.......