Looking for cataclysmic world ending events where there is no hope of survival, everyone dies horribly and there's no happy ending. Doesn't have to be world ending specifically, but the inevitable doom part is required.
The only example I can think of is 'On The Beach' by Neville Shute. For some reason, I was still holding out hope in that book that someone might survive but damn… everyone just died 🙁
by Ok-Present6959
11 Comments
Because of spoilers: >!I Who Have Never Known Men!<
Not a fiction book, but I’ve just finished Nuclear War – A Scenario, by Annie Jacobsen, which *definitely* fits your brief.
You want a copy please shoot me a message
It’s YA, but it’s one of the few good recs in this area I got: **The End** by Mats Strandberg.
On the beach by Neville Shute was a book that has stayed with me for years.
the road, a planet for the president, down to a sunless sea
Usually when that’s the end result it would be a major spoiler.
The best I can think of other than On The Beach would be The Road by Cormac McCarthy. You don’t witness everyone’s death but you know that’s the eventual outcome. All most all of his works are bleak as fuck like that but his writing style is unmatched.
The Avery Cates series! Five noir scifi books as the world slowly grinds to its horrible end. The Electric Church is the first.
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton. Its like Disney meets the walking dead with a zombie apocalypse and the only survivors are the animals. Its very funny and surprisingly dark.
The first part of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy technically fits the bill. Although it was over soon suddenly it wasn’t particularly horrific.
One that almost meets your request is “When the Moon Hits Your Eye” by John Scalzi. The earth is threatened by…something (won’t add a spoiler) and it’s about how everyone tries to come to terms with it. Kind of like the movie Don’t Look Up.
Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker