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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:
teatimesthree · 30/04/2012 20:25

Riddley Walker is amazing.

Earth Abides by George Stewart is interesting but a bit creepy esp. on race.

Recently read The Death of Grass and really enjoyed it. I also liked The Road a lot. The Ice People by Maggie Gee is interesting. Love feminist/post-apo cross over, like The Carhullen Army by Sarah Hall, and Woman On The Edge of Time by Marge Piercy (altho that is perhaps more utopian/dystopian).

AkhalTeke · 30/04/2012 21:32

Mara and Dann by Doris Lessing. Set in next Ice age.

whackamole · 01/05/2012 01:58

I love apocalyptic fiction and have read a fair few noted here. That book of short stories is great!!

Can I add Margaret Atwood's the year of the flood? I love her writing so much, oryx and crake was brilliant and there is going to be a third.I can't wait.

StrawberrytallCAKE · 01/05/2012 02:08

I read girlfriend in a coma by Douglas Coupland years ago which would go along with your theme, I hope its not just a teen book as it's my first recommendation please be easy with me. Blush

eternallyoptimistic · 01/05/2012 03:41

The Road by Cormac Mcarthy

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 01/05/2012 20:31

'Girlfriend In A Coma' deffo not teenage. Pretty good although it does get rather silly towards the end - but you can play 'Spot the The Smiths' lyrics as you read.'

stargirl1701 · 01/05/2012 20:34

The Road. It's scary though. I give my copy away after I had read it because I was too scared to have it in the house!

SkinnyVanillaLatte · 01/05/2012 20:40

Its Last Light,I think (the other Alex Scarrow book).Both thoroughly recommended.

SkinnyVanillaLatte · 01/05/2012 20:45

I just couldn't do the language in Riddley Walker,but I enjoyed The Road,Death of Grass etc.

I can recommend some good zombie reads if you like that sort of thing.....

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.

OP posts:
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 · 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.

OP posts:
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 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.

OP posts:
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

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

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.

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!

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...

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 14/05/2012 20:35

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

bran · 22/05/2012 12:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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.

HermioneE · 22/05/2012 22:17

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

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.

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).