Your favourite apocalyptic novels?

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

Not my favourite necessarily, but I've recently finished the Last Policeman trilogy and loved it. The premise sounded a bit , 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.

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

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

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.

Where do you draw the line between apocalyptic and dystopian?

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

For me, post apocalyptic novels include the apocalyptic event within the time frame of the novel eg the nuclear blast, the pandemic. Dystopian novel is where society has changed beyond recognition after an event that occurred in the past.

Well that’s how I divide it in my head anyway

That makes very good sense. Thank you

Ring of Ice by Piers Anthony, is really good. I came across it by accident and i thought it was brilliant.

The Stand is brilliant, I agree with all posters above.

I agree about World War Z. It's a zombie novel, but more than anything it reminds me of Studs Terkel, who was a US historian who compiled some wonderful oral histories of "regular people" in relation to various events & social issues of the 20th century.

If you're interested in space & science fiction, I recommend Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Almost the first thing that happens is that Earth is hit by an asteroid such that it will soon become uninhabitable for several hundred years, and it's basically about where we go from there. Be warned, though: if innumerable digressions about how things might actually, technically, work, it's probably not the book for you! (Not that you need any special background at all to enjoy it.$

Another vote for Station 11.

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.

And Children of the Dust

I have to reread all three every few years. Nothing like a good bit of apocalypse nostalgia

The Wool Series by High Howey

The Passage by Justin Cronin (followed by The Twelve, and City of Mirrors).

Station Eleven is really good too actually.

Ooh, thought of another!

The Power by Naomi Alderman.

It's really good. I love this genre

The Passage trilogy are my favourite books I've read then twice.

World War Z is fantastic. Haven’t seen the film but the novel got me hooked on zombies. Nothing else compares though.

Pretty much anything by JG Ballard. My favourite of his more apocalyptic novels is The Burning World/the Drought, followed by the Drowned World and the Crystal World. I also love his dystopian novels about the fabric of society falling apart.

I miss JG Ballard a lot, he would have had interesting things to say about the current state of the UK and the US.

Ahhh lost my long comment.

Another vote for

• wool (more dystopian than apocalyptic, although the second book deals with the apocalypse in brief detail). Whoever got pre publication copies, was this the proper published one or his self published edition? He self published for a time.
• station eleven.
• children of dust

Too fucking bleak

• end of the world running club
• girl with all the gifts

_ metro 2033 (v interesting but bloody long)

Okay, passed the time, had some fun bits

• passage
• the Power

Can’t remember the name but when little I read a YA one about a boy who wanders around alone after the plague then finds two girls and shacks up with the prettier girlier one. That’s effectively the entire plot.

I like books that have a smidgen of a happy ending for the protagonist. Like station 11. Any recommendations? Do the Stand/ z for Zachariah, world war z etc fulfil this criteria?

Station Eleven
The Girl with all the Gifts

Day of the Triffids is timeless. As someone so wisely put it above, philosophy with a great dollop of crazy murderous plants. And when you read it you see how many films are based on its premise - 28 Days Later, off the top of my head.

Some great suggestions on this thread to try!

The Undead series by RR Haywood. Fast reads but funny along with it.

OP - I would recommend:

Seveneves by N Stephenson (Global catastrophe involving the moon & humans' race to survive in an orbiting space station).

Flood by S Baxter (Underground water reserves start flooding the Earth, as people rush to and start fighting for higher ground)

World War Z by Max Brooks (I don't normally read zombie stories but this was exceptionally good)

Hyperion by Dan Simmons (People realise that AI has turned against them)

Station 11 is unrealistic (even silly), with little proper worldbuilding. You would only find it interesting if you haven't read any SF and have nothing to compare it to.

Ditto Wool. Incredibly unrealistic account of humans living in confined spaces underground for generations.

On The Beach was another bit of nonsense. They know they will all die in a few months but they're passing time talking about who will get married left year & whether they should adhere to fishing season so as not to reduce next year's fish population. Wtf