Hey yall, I'm looking for some post-apocalyptic book recs.
specifically looking for post-apocalyptic / post-disaster books that focus more on people just living their lives after everything changes, rather than action-heavy plots.
I don't like super violent or war-focused stories. Much more into character-driven where the “plot” is just people adapting to a new version of the world and processing what happened.
Some books I’ve loved:
- Alas, Babylon – a nuclear disaster story focused on a small Florida town adjusting to a new reality
- On the Beach – Australia facing the slow, inevitable aftermath of nuclear fallout
- The Ministry for the Future – climate change-focused, exploring global and individual responses to environmental collapse
- Severance – pandemic novel (read this right before covid and it was wild)
- The Wall – about a woman mysteriously cut off from society by an invisible barrier, just surviving and reflecting in isolation
I especially like when it feels realistic like nuclear war, climate change, or something that could actually happen (no zombies)
Would love any recommendations that fit this vibe
by srosse
6 Comments
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller.
Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Past is Red, Cathrynne Valente, most creative version I’ve read recently. Funny and heartbreaking and pretty short.
Survivors by Terry Nation (pandemic)
The Last by Hanna Jameson (nuclear war)
Black Tide by K.C. Jones (alien invasion)
Last Light, and the sequel Afterlight by Alex Scarrow (energy crisis)
World War Z by Max Brooks (zombie apocalypse, I know you said no zombies, but this is definitely worth a read)
I really enjoyed ‘Station Eleven’ by Emily St. John Mandel.
It’s about a theatre group traveling around North America after a pandemic has decimated the world.
The crazy thing is it was written in 2014, but reading it post-Covid is very interesting.