* The Passage by Cronin. Think the movie “I’m Legend” mixed with the Resident Evil movies.
* The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. Extremely ruthless characters: check. Dystopian type setting: check. Society enslaves people born with “magical” abilities so the most powerful of them ends the world in retaliation by causing a cataclysm right under the largest city in the world, instantly killing millions. The world is in flames and the survivors will do anything to stay alive.
disruptedgod on
World Departed by Sarah Lyons Fleming
jhaars on
Station Eleven
iago303 on
Swan”s Song by Robert McCammon
spash_bazbo69 on
Damn, I saw the part in parentheses just as I was about to suggest it lol
Fantastic_Advice1045 on
Parable of the Sower
-rba- on
The Girl With All the Gifts is also a cordyceps zombie situation.
SenseiRaheem on
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
sleventybillion on
The remaining
keysercade on
Metro 2033
Factory__Lad on
Most of John Christopher’s books fit this pattern, particularly “The Death of Grass” (about a worldwide grain shortage) and “The Long Winter” (the UK is hit by polar blasts of cold).
Civilization is routinely brought to its knees in chapter 1 and then things get worse 🤗
CalgaryMom2Three on
I enjoyed The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
DontHogMyHedge on
The Raven’s Gift by Don Reardon. A post apocalyptic survival story set in bush Alaska: a man and a blind girl, the only two survivors from their village, are trying to get to town to find help. The author grew up in Bethel and draws on historical accounts of the Spanish Flu among the Yupik people for an uncomfortably realistic idea of what pandemic that kills 95% of the population actually looks like. It’s like The Road if the biology made sense and the characters we more developed.
The Poppy War (last half of book is very graphic based on rape of Nanking etc)
System-id on
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. Although it’s not quite post apocalyptic
mycatsarekillingme on
Run by Blake Crouch
NefariousnessIcy3430 on
I once googled this and found a few books the creators of the game allegedly took inspiration from:
– Earth Abides
– City of Thieves
– The Road
– The World Without Us
– The Girl With All The Gifts
There are probably more but these are the ones I wrote down
Round_Illustrator65 on
Corduroy.
iamthedanger1985 on
Post apocalyptic is my favorite genre to read. Here are the ones I enjoyed:
Passage Trilogy- Cronin
Wayward Pined trilogy- Crouch
I am Legend- Matheson
World War Z- Brooks
Alas Babylon- Frank
Blindness- Saramago
And of course the masterpiece The Stand by Stephen King.
People are recommending Swan Song. It’s good but the ending with the masks is cringe and ruined the whole thing for me.
pachucatruth on
I read “Run” by Blake Crouch shortly after finishing TLOU. I tried to imagine the father as Pedro Pascal to scratch the itch…
Loose_Tip_4069 on
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison
The_Desolate1 on
Odd Billy Todd
bramadino on
The Vagrant trilogy – Peter Newman
It’s post apocalyptic set in a sort of fantasy world with the baddies as a type of corrupting demons with a hive mind. The vagrant himself carries the one sword that can truly cut down the demons and is traveling to find those capable of properly wielding it. I think there are parallels to the Last of Us but not sure if this is close enough to it.
jesster_0 on
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buelhman!
It takes place in 14th century France during the Black Death pandemic and the two main characters are a grizzled/disgraced knight and a more optimistic/innocent adolescent girl (I forget her age probably around 11 to 14). The story is sort of an escort mission and their dynamic is absolutely the highlight of the story. Filled to the brim with horror and supernatural elements, with the whole plague essentially just being Lucifer’s way of getting to God.
One of the best things I’ve read this year—highly recommend!
27 Comments
Red Hill, Jamie McGuire
The Passage by Justin Cronin
* The Passage by Cronin. Think the movie “I’m Legend” mixed with the Resident Evil movies.
* The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. Extremely ruthless characters: check. Dystopian type setting: check. Society enslaves people born with “magical” abilities so the most powerful of them ends the world in retaliation by causing a cataclysm right under the largest city in the world, instantly killing millions. The world is in flames and the survivors will do anything to stay alive.
World Departed by Sarah Lyons Fleming
Station Eleven
Swan”s Song by Robert McCammon
Damn, I saw the part in parentheses just as I was about to suggest it lol
Parable of the Sower
The Girl With All the Gifts is also a cordyceps zombie situation.
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
The remaining
Metro 2033
Most of John Christopher’s books fit this pattern, particularly “The Death of Grass” (about a worldwide grain shortage) and “The Long Winter” (the UK is hit by polar blasts of cold).
Civilization is routinely brought to its knees in chapter 1 and then things get worse 🤗
I enjoyed The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
The Raven’s Gift by Don Reardon. A post apocalyptic survival story set in bush Alaska: a man and a blind girl, the only two survivors from their village, are trying to get to town to find help. The author grew up in Bethel and draws on historical accounts of the Spanish Flu among the Yupik people for an uncomfortably realistic idea of what pandemic that kills 95% of the population actually looks like. It’s like The Road if the biology made sense and the characters we more developed.
[The Walking Dead](https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/the-walking-dead)
The Fifth Season
The Diamond Age
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
The Poppy War (last half of book is very graphic based on rape of Nanking etc)
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. Although it’s not quite post apocalyptic
Run by Blake Crouch
I once googled this and found a few books the creators of the game allegedly took inspiration from:
– Earth Abides
– City of Thieves
– The Road
– The World Without Us
– The Girl With All The Gifts
There are probably more but these are the ones I wrote down
Corduroy.
Post apocalyptic is my favorite genre to read. Here are the ones I enjoyed:
Passage Trilogy- Cronin
Wayward Pined trilogy- Crouch
I am Legend- Matheson
World War Z- Brooks
Alas Babylon- Frank
Blindness- Saramago
And of course the masterpiece The Stand by Stephen King.
People are recommending Swan Song. It’s good but the ending with the masks is cringe and ruined the whole thing for me.
I read “Run” by Blake Crouch shortly after finishing TLOU. I tried to imagine the father as Pedro Pascal to scratch the itch…
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison
Odd Billy Todd
The Vagrant trilogy – Peter Newman
It’s post apocalyptic set in a sort of fantasy world with the baddies as a type of corrupting demons with a hive mind. The vagrant himself carries the one sword that can truly cut down the demons and is traveling to find those capable of properly wielding it. I think there are parallels to the Last of Us but not sure if this is close enough to it.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buelhman!
It takes place in 14th century France during the Black Death pandemic and the two main characters are a grizzled/disgraced knight and a more optimistic/innocent adolescent girl (I forget her age probably around 11 to 14). The story is sort of an escort mission and their dynamic is absolutely the highlight of the story. Filled to the brim with horror and supernatural elements, with the whole plague essentially just being Lucifer’s way of getting to God.
One of the best things I’ve read this year—highly recommend!