I’ve been looking for books about the beginning of the end. Everything I’ve found lately is post-apocalyptic. Looking for something that starts before the catastrophe then continues into survival.
I’ve read Stephen King The Stand, The Mist and Cell.
Dean Koontz The Taking
Max Brooks World War Z
Chuck Grossart Gemini Effect
One Second After
Any suggestions?
Edited to add a few more I’ve read and enjoyed.
by First_Cranberry_2961
14 Comments
World War Z
The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K Jemisin
A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker
The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attack by Jeffrey Lewis
My favorite is the trilogy by Ben H Winters that starts with **The Last Policeman**. A world-destroying meteor is 100% for sure headed to destroy the earth… in a few years. Despite everyone pretty much failing to care any more, one policeman still wants to solve a murder. (No speculative elements.)
Might not be what you’re looking for but maybe the AngelFall series
Nurse Alissa vs the Zombies series by Scott M. Baker starts with the main character working her shift when the outbreak starts and continues from there.
* Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Starts out in a very realistic setting, gets stranger from there.
* The Rifters series by Peter Watts, starting with Starfish. Available as free ebooks on the author’s website.
* Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Also a more realistic setting.
* Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, first in a series. Less realistic sci fi setting.
* The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. Apocalyptic fantasy setting with magic
{{Dies the Fire, by Stirling}}
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
*The Moon is a Harsh Mistress* -Robert Heinlein
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress
This one is super short at 127 pgs and I read it when I was a preteen so it might be too juvenile, but Green Angel by Alice Hoffman starts out that way.
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife – Meg Elison
Hunter’s Vix
Adrian’s Undead Diary by Chris Philbrook.
“Sister, Maiden, Monster” by Lucy A. Snyder starts with a plague that turns people into monsters, and spirals from there. One of the first apocalyptic books that takes into account the Covid 19 pandemic’s effects.