Just as the title says I am looking for some ideas for books that are apocalyptic or about collapse of society. All apocalypse is open and the collapse doesn’t have to be about America but any country. Thank you for any suggestions
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel is absolutely perfect for this – follows people before, during and after a pandemic wipes out most of civilization. Really beautifully written and focuses more on the human connections than just doom and gloom
Also The Road by Cormac McCarthy if you want something that’ll crush your soul but in the best way possible
tvoutfitz on
I really enjoyed “Severance” by Ling Ma.
Bechimo on
Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling
dirtypiratehookr on
Oryx and Crake series by Margaret Atwood. Big world building, mixed w weirdness and real people characters. Plus, she’s a tremendous writer.
The Passage by Justin Cronin. Starts off amazing! It’s really something. The rest of the books are good and get crazy, but the first is cool.
Wool Omnibus series. Known for its show Silo, but I knew it from when the guy wrote the first 50 page short story and published it for free or something, and those pages had me hooked, the next parts of the story he released for a dollar each and the rest is history. Im not really a fan of the show, but the books are cool.
Far-Cartographer8360 on
Currently reading the 2nd book from Octavia Butler’s Earthseed series, Parable of the Talents. It is considered fiction but boy does it feel like a reflection of our society.
dtab on
Justin Cronin’s “the Passage” trilogy.
MaverickTopGun on
Here’s a list I’ve put together of all the stuff I’ve read in this category. Let me know if you have any questions about a particular book! Ignore the (N), it’s from my list and means it was a new read. I also included year it was released and how many pages it is.
Nuclear War
On the Beach (N) Nevill Schute 1957 312
A Canticle for Leibowitz (N) Walter Miller Jr. 1960 320
The Last Ship (N) William Brinkley 1988 624
Scientists At War (N) Sarah Bridger 2015 363
Metro 2033 Dmitry Glukhovsky 2009 320
Metro 2034 (N) Dmitry Glukhovsky 1959 352
Alas,Babylon (N) Pat Frank 1983 400
Trinity’s Child (N) William Prochnau 1987 960
Swan Song (N) Robert McCammon 2017 432
Confessions of a Doomsday Planner (N) Daniel Ellsberg 2004 280
Warday (N) James Kunetka & Whitley Strieber 1984 374
Climate Change
Fractured State (N) Steven Konkoly 2016 400
Rogue State (N) Steven Konkoly 2017 372
Parable of the Sower (N) Octavia Butler 1994 299
Parable of the Talents (N) Octavia Butler 1998 365
The Water Knife (N) Paolo Bacigalupi 2015 386
Cadillac Desert (N) Marc Reisner 1986 662
Ministry for the Future (N) Kim Stanley Robinson 2020 576
Windup Girl (N) Paolo Bacigalupi 2009 363
The Discovery of Global Warming (N) Spencer R. Weart 2008 241
Migrations (N) Charlotte McConaghy 2021 288
**Dystopia**
The Postman (N) David Brin 1985 294
The Handmaid’s Tale (N) Margaret Atwood 1985 311
The Long Walk (N) Stephen King 1979 384
Seveneves (N) Neal Stephenson 2015 880
The Death of Grass (N) John Christopher 1956 232
The Running Man (N) Stephen King 1982 317
It Can’t Happen Here (N) Sinclair Lewis 1935 458
The Dispossessed (N) Ursula Le Guin 1974 341
Cell (N) Stephen King 2006 480
The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 300
Hookton on
The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver.
DifficultyKlutzy5845 on
I enjoyed The Stronghold series by Dana Sweeney. It’s a bit spicy.
addressunknown on
Swan Song by Robert McCammon and The Stand by Stephen King are fun companion pieces, in my opinion. Very similar books about the end of the world, with good guys with a supernatural leader vs bad guys with a supernatural leader. Swan Song is nuclear war, The Stand is a pandemic
fajadada on
Terry Brooks, The Knight of the Word series. The end of the scientific world and the return of magic
Forsaken-Confusion89 on
The Road – Cormac McCarthy it’s actually post apocalyptic
Set in 1940s California, it tells the story of the fall of civilization from deadly disease and the emergence of a new culture. The first half of the book is spent focusing on the theme that humans have no privileged place in nature and are not immune to nature’s built-in population controls. In freeing the landscape from humans, half of the book is devoted to looking at how the world would change in their absence.
The second half of the book is to show that, if humans are reduced to low numbers, it would be difficult for them to continue civilization as we know it. If skills and customs don’t work in the new society, these die out, or those holding them do. Children adapt naturally to the new world, and immediately useful customs and skills are more interesting to them then activities like reading or writing.
16 Comments
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel is absolutely perfect for this – follows people before, during and after a pandemic wipes out most of civilization. Really beautifully written and focuses more on the human connections than just doom and gloom
Also The Road by Cormac McCarthy if you want something that’ll crush your soul but in the best way possible
I really enjoyed “Severance” by Ling Ma.
Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling
Oryx and Crake series by Margaret Atwood. Big world building, mixed w weirdness and real people characters. Plus, she’s a tremendous writer.
The Passage by Justin Cronin. Starts off amazing! It’s really something. The rest of the books are good and get crazy, but the first is cool.
Wool Omnibus series. Known for its show Silo, but I knew it from when the guy wrote the first 50 page short story and published it for free or something, and those pages had me hooked, the next parts of the story he released for a dollar each and the rest is history. Im not really a fan of the show, but the books are cool.
Currently reading the 2nd book from Octavia Butler’s Earthseed series, Parable of the Talents. It is considered fiction but boy does it feel like a reflection of our society.
Justin Cronin’s “the Passage” trilogy.
Here’s a list I’ve put together of all the stuff I’ve read in this category. Let me know if you have any questions about a particular book! Ignore the (N), it’s from my list and means it was a new read. I also included year it was released and how many pages it is.
Nuclear War
On the Beach (N) Nevill Schute 1957 312
A Canticle for Leibowitz (N) Walter Miller Jr. 1960 320
The Last Ship (N) William Brinkley 1988 624
Scientists At War (N) Sarah Bridger 2015 363
Metro 2033 Dmitry Glukhovsky 2009 320
Metro 2034 (N) Dmitry Glukhovsky 1959 352
Alas,Babylon (N) Pat Frank 1983 400
Trinity’s Child (N) William Prochnau 1987 960
Swan Song (N) Robert McCammon 2017 432
Confessions of a Doomsday Planner (N) Daniel Ellsberg 2004 280
Warday (N) James Kunetka & Whitley Strieber 1984 374
Climate Change
Fractured State (N) Steven Konkoly 2016 400
Rogue State (N) Steven Konkoly 2017 372
Parable of the Sower (N) Octavia Butler 1994 299
Parable of the Talents (N) Octavia Butler 1998 365
The Water Knife (N) Paolo Bacigalupi 2015 386
Cadillac Desert (N) Marc Reisner 1986 662
Ministry for the Future (N) Kim Stanley Robinson 2020 576
Windup Girl (N) Paolo Bacigalupi 2009 363
The Discovery of Global Warming (N) Spencer R. Weart 2008 241
Migrations (N) Charlotte McConaghy 2021 288
**Dystopia**
The Postman (N) David Brin 1985 294
The Handmaid’s Tale (N) Margaret Atwood 1985 311
The Long Walk (N) Stephen King 1979 384
Seveneves (N) Neal Stephenson 2015 880
The Death of Grass (N) John Christopher 1956 232
The Running Man (N) Stephen King 1982 317
It Can’t Happen Here (N) Sinclair Lewis 1935 458
The Dispossessed (N) Ursula Le Guin 1974 341
Cell (N) Stephen King 2006 480
The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 300
The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver.
I enjoyed The Stronghold series by Dana Sweeney. It’s a bit spicy.
Swan Song by Robert McCammon and The Stand by Stephen King are fun companion pieces, in my opinion. Very similar books about the end of the world, with good guys with a supernatural leader vs bad guys with a supernatural leader. Swan Song is nuclear war, The Stand is a pandemic
Terry Brooks, The Knight of the Word series. The end of the scientific world and the return of magic
The Road – Cormac McCarthy it’s actually post apocalyptic
**William R. Forstchen series**
* [*One Second After*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Second_After)
* [*One Year After*](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=One_Year_After&action=edit&redlink=1)
* *The Final Day*
* *5 Years After*
“Tilt” by Emma Pattee was good.
Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart
“Men go and come, but earth abides.”
Set in 1940s California, it tells the story of the fall of civilization from deadly disease and the emergence of a new culture. The first half of the book is spent focusing on the theme that humans have no privileged place in nature and are not immune to nature’s built-in population controls. In freeing the landscape from humans, half of the book is devoted to looking at how the world would change in their absence.
The second half of the book is to show that, if humans are reduced to low numbers, it would be difficult for them to continue civilization as we know it. If skills and customs don’t work in the new society, these die out, or those holding them do. Children adapt naturally to the new world, and immediately useful customs and skills are more interesting to them then activities like reading or writing.
The girl with all the gifts by Carey