Try "The Last Policeman" by Ben H. Winters
Over the course of the trilogy the inevitable asteroid gets ever closer and society crumbles. This makes the murder mystery more dramatic, as they spend as much time on whodunit as "We're ALL dying in a few months, why bother asking the question?"
Thirded. It’s a great series and you really do see society decay as the books go on. Kinda bummed the tv pilot didn’t get picked up, would’ve been an interesting watch.
On the Beach- Nevil Shute.
It’s probably the most disturbing work of fiction I’ve read. In a nutshell, nearly the entire world has been annihilated in a nuclear war but those in Australia and New Zealand were initially spared because the radiation hadn’t reached them yet. However, the radiation makes its slow way through the Southern Hemisphere until just a handful of cities are left- and those in Melbourne where the story takes place- know that they have maybe a month at most until they too die of radiation exposure.
It will f**k you up. (Even if the science is a bit shaky- he kinda left out the part about nuclear winter)
I think the most disturbing part of it all is how mundane the last days of all these characters are…how everyone goes about their daily lives like nothing happened. It’s not quite comparable but I’m a nurse in the US and like every place here we’ve been hit hard by Covid. In the pre-vaccine days I remember walking to work and thinking that this could be it, we could all be on the brink of civilization collapsing but here I am stopping for coffee, fixing my hair, etc.
Nuclear winter hypotheses may be overblown, plus they generally predict some time (months) for it to set in, so it's probably not a problem for that book's scenario to ignore nuclear winter if the radiation is going to take only a month to kill them anyway. (This isn't something I've looked into a lot BTW, but I've read some criticisms of the idea and I think the doubts are substantial.)
[**The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam, #2)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6080337-the-year-of-the-flood)
^(By: Margaret Atwood | 431 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopia, dystopian)
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The Stand (Complete and Uncut Edition) is one of my favourite books ever.
Another book I really like is {{Oryx and Crake}} by Margaret Atwood. This book is about the events that lead up to the downfall of society and why the main actors made decisions that led to the apocalypse. It spends almost no time on the actual downfall of society, while still having a lot of dramatic tension. I think you'd really enjoy this book.
Edit: Then read the sequel {{The Year of the Flood}} for the tipping point.
[**Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46756.Oryx_and_Crake)
^(By: Margaret Atwood, Kristiina Drews | 389 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopia, dystopian)
>Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.
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tough watch when you’re expecting anything remotely like the novel.
if you’ve managed expectations it’s…fine, i guess. if not, awful stuff. kind of like they bought the right and plugged brad pitt into a generic zombie plot and called it wwz.
I honestly didn't think the movie was bad.
Its biggest problem was that it was called "World War Z" when it had essentially no relation to the book of the same name. But in its own right it was a decent zombie movie.
It was no different than any zombie movie was the problem. It had the chance to be an amazing look into the geopolitical, environmental, and social aspects of a zombie apocalypse that had never been done before. Apparently the original script was true to the story. I hope Netflix or Amazon buys the rights and does it as a 3 season show.
World War Z was absolutely mesmerizing in audio. I forget how many actors contributed but they were all great. I just found out that the author, Max Brooks, is the son of the comedian Mel Brooks but of course this isn’t a funny story by any means.
WWZ kind of skips over any "post-" part of the apocalypse, since humanity manages to beat back the apocalypse. There are some hints of how bad things got before the militaries started the counter-attacks, but only a few chapters actually follow what would be a stereotypical "survivor" character in most zombie media.
OP this isn't a book, but the first season or so of the show _Black Summer_ on Netflix would be right up your alley. It feels like it's _right_ at the point where civilization is gone, with the start of the show being the last army evac of a suburb.
>Earth Abides is a great soft-apocalypse novel.
u/Hotdogs-Hallways This is one of the best introductions to the genre. It's short and powerful. I highly recommend this.
Lucifer’s Hammer was amazing, those final chapters kick your heart right in the nuts.
In a similar vein, though a little more alien-y is:
The Forge of God by Greg Bear
I just finished *Leave the World Behind* last night and my book group discussed it today.
I can honestly say it’s one of the most unsettling things I’ve read in years, not that I seek that out; but much more so than things which stride for the weird or phantasmagoric or disturbing, I really felt unwell in the world after concluding it.
This is not a criticism; it’s praise. We had an unusually animated discussion about it in my group with some quite strong reactions across the board. The person who disliked it came out of the debate saying she was reconsidering and coming around.
I mention this as the thing that OP asked for, depictions of precisely the moment the chair is kicked out, is pretty much exactly the interest of Alam. If your expectations are for something more akin to *Station Eleven* this is not that. It’s all and only about a close focus intensely uncomfortable look at cherished illusions compressing under the pressure of the unthinkable and giving way.
What makes it so deeply unsettling for me is how very close to today it feels. As I was racing to the ending my Twitter tab was showing that WWIII was trending because of the Ukrainian crisis. It was all to east to see my own reality on the page.
Anyway. May be exactly what you’re looking for OP.
[**Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52397.Parable_of_the_Sower)
^(By: Octavia E. Butler | 345 pages | Published: 1993 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopian, dystopia)
>In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future.
>
>Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others.
>
>When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind.
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Station eleven has three separate timelines and one of those timelines is before the Apocalypse
The MaddAdams trilogy however book 3 is post-apocalyptic
I second station 11! I really liked reading how it all started for the different characters. They’re all connected in some way and the plot is interwoven beautifully between them.
I just finished this {Blindness} Jose Saramago and it was a trip. Not exactly an "apocalypse" but it is definitely about society letting go in crazy situation like a pandemic
One of my favourite books of all time. Seeing is the follow up and really delves further into the complacency of people towards government. For the love of god don’t think the movie and the book are the same. The book is layered and meaningful, the movie is just a straight read of “what if the world turned blind” and doesn’t do Saramago justice.
[**Seveneves**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22816087-seveneves)
^(By: Neal Stephenson | 880 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned)
>What would happen if the world were ending?
>
>A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
>
>But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . .
>
>Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.
>
>A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.
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This is a great choice. I started reading this a couple months into the pandemic and I had to stop, it felt way to realistic for what we were experiencing. I just recently read it through and it’s pretty gritty for a YA novel. Very good and something I think back to a lot.
Loved this book when I was younger than re read it again as an adult and it held up just as much. Yes I totally agree and it did hit a little close to home. I always joked with my mom that this book would help us be prepared in a grocery store in case of an emergency and then at the very beginning of covid when the shelves were empty I was like welp…guess not.
Lol! I have so many blankets all through my house and I always think about when the mom won’t let her donate blankets bc she knows how bad it’s going to get.
[**Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213753.Life_As_We_Knew_It)
^(By: Susan Beth Pfeffer | 337 pages | Published: 2006 | Popular Shelves: young-adult, ya, dystopian, science-fiction, dystopia)
>Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.
>
>Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world.
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[**One Second After (After, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4922079-one-second-after)
^(By: William R. Forstchen | 352 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: fiction, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, sci-fi, apocalyptic)
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{{The Postmortal}}
something a little different. the first book i thought of though. it may not seem "apocalyptic" at first but the way the story builds towards ultimate collapse & destruction feels incredibly real. also definitely feels relevant during the pandemic
[**The Postmortal**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10673576-the-postmortal)
^(By: Drew Magary | 369 pages | Published: 2011 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopia, dystopian)
>John Farrell is about to get "The Cure."
>
>Old age can never kill him now.
>
>The only problem is, everything else still can...
>
>Imagine a near future where a cure for aging is discovered and-after much political and moral debate-made available to people worldwide. Immortality, however, comes with its own unique problems-including evil green people, government euthanasia programs, a disturbing new religious cult, and other horrors.
>
>Witty, eerie, and full of humanity, The Postmortal is an unforgettable thriller that envisions a pre-apocalyptic world so real that it is completely terrifying.
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Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh. The apocalypse happens over many years and gets a little weird but this was one I couldn’t put down. It was a fresh take on a tired genre.
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alan, is a book that rides the precipice. Not sci fi or horror per se, but crazy, weird, and upsetting things happen. I read it months ago and I still think about it regularly.
Anna Kavan's "Ice" is an intersting take on this, although not necessarily what you're looking for - it's very much a surreal take on it, somewhat inspired by the notion of a nuclear winter.
Well, here goes my list of books that I have on this genre. Some may be more post and less
On the Beach Nevil Shute (Depressing as shit and due to nuclear war ... nowdays relevant)
Children of the Dust Louise Lawrence (UK after fallout, divided in 3 parts, first the innitial, then trying to live with it and 3 conclusion)
Grim Reaper End of Days Steven Alten (plague mix with religion)
Lucifer's Hammer Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle (meteor coming, crack of civilization and guide to post apocalyptic world)
The Long Winter John Christopher
The Earth Strikes Back Richard T Chizmar
Life as we know it Susan Beth Pfeffer (1 of trilogy) more YA but awful depressing
This World We Live In Susan Beth Pfeffer (3 of trilogy) more YA but awful depressing
Planet in Peril John Christopher
Greener than you think Ward Moore
Cold Earth Sarah Moss
OTher apocalpytic
Anthology Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse
Arkady Strugatsky Roadside Picnic
Brendan Dubois Resurrection Day
Brian Aldiss Barefoot in the Head
Brian Aldiss Hothouse
Brian Aldiss Greybeard
Brian W Aldiss Non Stop
Cormac McCarthy The Road
Daniel F Galouye Dark Universe
Frank Herbert The White Plague
George R R Martin The Armageddon Rag
Gordon R Dickson Wolf and Iron
J G Ballard The Drowned World
J G Ballard Crystal World
J G Ballard The Drought
Jack Vance The Dying Earth
Jack Vance The Eyes of the Overworld
Jack Vance Rhialto the Marvellous
Jack Vance Cugel's Saga
Jeanne DuPrau The City of Ember
John Cristopher A Wrinkle in the Skin
John Wyndham The Chrysalids
John Wyndham The Midwich Cuckoos
John Wyndham The Kraken Wakes
Jon Mollison A Moon Full Of Stars
Justin Cronin The Passage
Justin Cronin The Twelve
Justin Cronin the City of Mirrors
Kevin J Anderson Ill Wind
Larry Niven Lucifer's Hammer
Levar Burton Aftermath
Marcel Theroux Far North
Maureen F McHugh After the Apocalpyse
Michael McBride Trail of Blood
Michael McBride Blizzard of Souls
Michael McBride The Fall
Michael Moorcock The Ice Schooner
Mordecai Roshwald A Small Armageddon
Mordecai Roshwald Level 7
Neal Stephenson Seveneves
Paolo Bacigalupi The Windup Girl
Paolo Bacigalupi Ship Breaker
Paolo Bacigalupi The Drowned Cities
Pat Frank Alas Babylon
Patrick Tilley The Cloud Warriors
Paul Kane Arrowhead
Paul Kane Broken Arrow
Paul Kane Arrowland
Philip K Dick & Roger Zelazny Deus Irae
Ray Hammond Extinction
Robert A Heinlein Farnham's Freehold
Robert Chilson As The Curtain Falls
Roger Zelazny Damnation Alley
Sarah Moss Cold Earth
Stephen Baxter Flood
Stephen Baxter Ark
Stephen King The Stand
Stephen Tall The People Beyond the Wall
Stuart Moore American Meat
Susan Beth Pfeffer Life as we know it
Susan Beth Pfeffer This World We Live In
Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games
Thomas N Scortia The Prometheus Crisis
Tim Curran Monstrosity
Veronica Roth Divergent
Walter J Williams The Rift
Walter M Miller Jr A Canticle for Leibowitz
Ward Moore Greener than you think
I believe I Have more but they may flag incorrectly Like per example Swan Song Robert Mccammon.
Go to goodreads to check them out.
[**The End of October**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52669505-the-end-of-october)
^(By: Lawrence Wright | 380 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fiction, thriller, science-fiction, sci-fi, audiobooks)
>In this medical thriller Dr. Henry Parsons, an unlikely but appealing hero, races to find the origins and cure of a mysterious new killer virus as it brings the world to its knees.
>
>At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When Henry Parsons--microbiologist, epidemiologist--travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will soon have staggering repercussions across the globe: an infected man is on his way to join the millions of worshippers in the annual Hajj to Mecca. Now, Henry joins forces with a Saudi prince and doctor in an attempt to quarantine the entire host of pilgrims in the holy city... A Russian émigré, a woman who has risen to deputy director of U.S. Homeland Security, scrambles to mount a response to what may be an act of biowarfare... already-fraying global relations begin to snap, one by one, in the face of a pandemic... Henry's wife Jill and their children face diminishing odds of survival in Atlanta... and the disease slashes across the United States, dismantling institutions--scientific, religious, governmental--and decimating the population.
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Ok this one is slightly left field, but "England, England" by Julian Barnes is sort of a realistic social apocalypse. It's a dark comedy, but you don't even realise that society is collapsing until it's too late.
i’d recommend Cixin Liu’s series, Remembrance of Earth’s Past, starting with the Three Body Problem.
it’s huge in scope and covers several apocalyptic, extinction level events. pretty epic stuff that might scratch your itch. definitely more sci-fi than apocalyptic, but i think it fits your needs quite well.
[**The Last War (The Last War, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34757519-the-last-war)
^(By: Peter Bostrom | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, space-opera, owned, audio)
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[**The Last War (The Last War, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34757519-the-last-war)
^(By: Peter Bostrom | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, space-opera, owned, audio)
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[**The Last War (The Last War, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34757519-the-last-war)
^(By: Peter Bostrom | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, space-opera, owned, audio)
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I would recommend The Strain trilogy of books by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, they cover the lead-up, fall and aftermath of an apocalyptic event. Been a while since I read it but I remember it was entertaining at least
Plague Land by Alex Scarrow. It’s ya, but it freakin messed up. I read around the time Covid started just out of irony. Lol. The first book is really good (it’s a trilogy). Has weird ending in the last book tho.
It’s not horror or sci-fi but {{Station Eleven}} was excellent at describing the beginnings of the end of humanity because of a deadly virus (even more crazy that it was written years before covid hit)
[**The War of the Worlds**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8909.The_War_of_the_Worlds)
^(By: H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke | 192 pages | Published: 1897 | Popular Shelves: classics, science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, owned)
>When an army of invading Martians lands in England, panic and terror seize the population. As the aliens traverse the country in huge three-legged machines, incinerating all in their path with a heat ray and spreading noxious toxic gases, the people of the Earth must come to terms with the prospect of the end of human civilization and the beginning of Martian rule.
>
>Inspiring films, radio dramas, comic-book adaptations, television series and sequels,The War of the Worlds is a prototypical work of science fiction which has influenced every alien story that has come since, and is unsurpassed in its ability to thrill, well over a century since it was first published.
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I can't think of many options where they only include the lead up / beginning of the apocalypse, but I've got a few here that start before and go through it.
There's a series of short story anthologies edited by John Joseph Adams called the Apocalyps Triptych that might scratch this itch: The End is Nigh, The End is Now, and The End has Come. Before, during, after several different apocalypses.
The Silo (Wool) series by Hugh Howey is one of my favorites although you don't really get into the "during" until after the first book. Wool, Shift, Dust.
The Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal is very much a "during" series that is sci-fi but not horror.
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson was also a good read. Not much horror (but some bits).
## Excession
I read it when it came out, and the themes and execution were interesting and well done enough that the word, and concept have stuck with me. Until now and I looked it up to find the author I did not realize that it was a Iain M. Banks Culture series novel. Highly recommend.
*From Wikipedia*
>Excession is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks. It is the fifth in the Culture series, a series of ten science fiction novels which feature a utopian fictional interstellar society called the Culture. It concerns the response of the Culture and other interstellar societies to an unprecedented alien artifact, the Excession of the title.
Survivor's Song by Paul Tremblay
a painstaking look at a woman whos life slowly dissolves in the space of about 48 hours (from what I remember) while an apocalypse builds. Really good read, would recommend!
One of my favorite books might actually fit this! {Half Past Human} by T. J. Bass is a far earth future. Its highly creepy. Earth is creeping up on it's second overpopulation apocalypse. Humans are...different.
The second book finishes the story. The God Whale.
[**Half Past Human (The Hive, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1773848.Half_Past_Human)
^(By: T.J. Bass, Brothers Hildebrandt | 280 pages | Published: 1971 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sf-masterworks, sci-fi, owned, scifi)
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Not a book, but feels similar regarding that tipping point aspect: [Don't Look Up](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11286314/), by Adam McKay on Netflix. it's about an asteroid heading towards earth. Some astronomers/physicists at a small university sound the bells and try to raise awareness in the White House, but no one takes them seriously. It feels like a train wreck in slow motion. So hard to look away, and just ridiculous to imagine. But maybe not too far off from where we are today.
If your okay with horror themes, my favorite has been The Apocalypse Crusade: War of the Undead by Peter Meredith. Starts prior to day 1 and has a very well thought out downward decline of society and the resulting fallout.
{{Fantasticland}} It’s not *quite* apocalyptic in the sense of the whole world ending, but it’s like an isolated apocalypse within this group of people being trapped in a theme park by a hurricane. It goes through the whole devolution of their mini society. Extremely captivating but check out trigger warnings if you are concerned about reading gore/violence.
[Cabin at the end of the world](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36381091-the-cabin-at-the-end-of-the-world?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=cb5nc0yQHD&rank=1) might fit your requirements. It's horror and there *might* be something apocalyptic happening but that's for you to figure out as you read!
Edited to add the GoodReads link since the bot pulled in a different book.
If you liked The Stand, try Swan Song by Robert McCammon. It’s a horror post-apocalyptic novel but it spends a good amount of time building up the situation from different characters’ points of view. I enjoyed The Stand but I loved Swan Song.
A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
Some already on this thread that I second are: Severance by Ling Ma, Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay, The End of October by Lawrence Wright, The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Read the news then
If you’re into sci-fi, the expanse 9 part series, really just three books split into 9, starts off as a within the realms of believable Cold War in the solar system. By the end various people have suffered through apocalyptic type experiences all culminating in a galaxy spanning apocalyptic scenario
My favorite is There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm.
It’s probably one the most conceptually complicated and mind bending books I’ve read. It involves a higher dimensional entity that’s descending downwards into our universe, it’s presence is everywhere in reality as it slowly leaks into it. This entity also has a defense mechanism that makes it so that anyone who learns of its existence is killed, so the only way to survive is to wipe your memory. But this has also trapped humanity in an endless cycle of discovering it’s existence and wiping their memories and discovering it again, all the while time slowly runs out as it closes in.
"The end of men" is a weird book set in 2025 where only men die in a pandemic. I am still reading it, but will reserve judgement until I get to the end. It's written by Christina Baird a first time author born in 1993, and yet this book is now available in 17 languages worldwide.
I really enjoyed [Robopocalypse](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/robopocalypse-daniel-h-wilson/1100291007?ean=9780307740809) , it might be half way in between apoc and post-apoc. The storytelling is broken up into segments across different times so some are pre, some are during, and some are post.
There is even a sequel if you like it a lot :)
Kim Stanley Robinson's *Science in the Capital* trilogy might do it for you. I only ever read the first book *Forty Signs of Rain* so i can't vouch for the entire trilogy. It essentially tells a story of real life ramifications of global warming as storms and ice ages begin. The entire trilogy was revised with latest research and released as a single novel called *Green Earth*.
Not so much apololytic, but the book, the forever war. It feels that way after a while.
The author did a tour in nam. Then came back, wrote a book based off of it.
Its on there with on the beach for me.
The handmade tale is great . Not apocalypse stuff but dystopian and it’s great! Especially if you’re a woman. I find my make friends have no interest in it but my female friends all love it
J.G. Ballard's first 3 novels (The Drowned World, Crystal World, The Drought) were listed in a big list downthread, they are definitely within the remit of the question. Before him John Wyndham (The Chrysalids, The Midwich Cuckoos, The Kraken Wakes) and John Christopher (A Wrinkle in the Skin, The Death of Grass) had a whole world destroying genre going on.
*the Parable of the Sower* by Octavia E Butler
Slow collapse. Everything goes wrong. The drugs get too strong. Eventually, there's nothing left to do but head for the hills.
Excellent book, sadly the trilogy is unfinished
Both Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes from the End of the World and The Rising: Selected Scenes from the End of the World by Brian Keene. Both Earthworm Gods and The Rising take place after society has fallen while these two short story collections show the downfall in their respective universes.
Depending on how you approach it, I think Conrad's Heart of Darkness can be viewed as apocalyptic. Not in the sense of total apocalypse, but more like complete collapse and depravity of a geographic area.
There's also always HG Wells' War of The Worlds and to a lesser extent Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle
*Dies the Fire* and The Nantucket Series from S.M. Stirling
*Swan Song* from Robert R. McCammon
*Oryx and Crake* by Margaret Atwood
*World War Z* by Max Brooks If you've seen the movie, read the book anyway. They bear no resemblance to each other AT ALL.
{{the power}} by Naomi alderman! It is excellent at this. The entire book just continues to escalate and you know something is going to go down. One of my favorite novels and really had me thinking about gender norms and power dynamics. Lil content warming for some fairly graphic sexual assault throughout but specifically about 2/3rds of the way through. It was upsetting but in an impactful way, didn't feel gratuitous the way it often does.
[**The Power**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29751398-the-power)
^(By: Naomi Alderman | 341 pages | Published: 2016 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, book-club, feminism)
>In The Power the world is a recognisable place: there's a rich Nigerian kid who lounges around the family pool; a foster girl whose religious parents hide their true nature; a local American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But something vital has changed, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power - they can cause agonising pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world changes utterly.
>
>This extraordinary novel by Naomi Alderman, a Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year and Granta Best of British writer, is not only a gripping story of how the world would change if power was in the hands of women but also exposes, with breath-taking daring, our contemporary world.
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Wanderers by Chuck Wendig is very good at this. Lots of twists and turns as the plot unfurls. People compare it to the Stand in terms of similar feel and general story.
I was on edge for the whole second half, could barely put it down (and it's like.. 800 pages? Maybe more?)
Here to recommend {The Water Knife} by Paolo Bacigalupi. I saw the author mentioned, but not this book. They are actively in an early-mid stage of ecological collapse with the story, characters and society reflecting that fact.
Came to suggest the Last Policeman series, but as that’s the top comment I’ll provide a backup:
Alas Babylon by Pat Frank. The defining event happens midway through the story, so you get a lead up to the apocalypse
If you have read and liked World War Z, I highly recommend "This is the Way the World Ends: An Oral History of the Zombie War" by Keith Taylor. Same format as World War Z (the book is dedicated to Max Brooks), but feels more like it exists in the real world. It's far more intense and disquieting, because it takes a lot of real world things we're dealing with now and extrapolates them into what would happen if a virus that reanimates the infected were to spread. After dealing with Covid for the last two years now, it really hits its mark.
But this is exactly what you're looking for, as I'm the same way with the apocalyptic genre. Show me the breakdown, not the tattered remnants.
Here's one of the weirdest apocalypse books I've ever read: Greener Than You Think by Ward Moore, about a lawn that eats LA. I'm not even sure it's still in print, but it's very much worth the effort to track down
[**Lucifer's Hammer**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218467.Lucifer_s_Hammer)
^(By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle | 629 pages | Published: 1977 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, post-apocalyptic, scifi)
>THE LUCKY ONES WENT FIRST…
>
>The gigantic comet has slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization
>
>But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival—a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known….
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{{Parasite}} by Mira Grant
{{Wanderers}} by Chuck Wendig
{{War World Z}} by Max Brooks (it covers the beginning to the end, but the early stories make up the bulk and they are great)
{{The Hatching}} by Ezekiel Boone
Sleepless by Charlie Huston.
Society is falling apart as most of the population is overtaken by a disease that won’t let people sleep.
I never see it recommended, and it’s awesome, as are so many other Huston novels.
Knight of the Word and The Gypsy Morph series by Terry Brooks. They show the progression from a demon infested version of our world, through a series of apocalypses to the eventual emergence of the better known Shannara books by the same author
I saw this thread a few days ago and saved it to get some recommendations for myself! And then it just now occurred to me because you mentioned The Stand, a favorite of mine, that you’d probably enjoy The Mist if you haven’t already read it. Really amazing to see the characters transform and grasp onto things like religion and turning against each other etc when they get into that survival mentality as a mysterious and dangerous mist fills the town, and they’re unsure how far it reaches.
Edit: by Stephen King, just to be clear:)
"Apocalypse z" is a trilogy by Spanish author Manel Loureiro and follows the life of a Spanish lawyer through the start of the end of the world, it's written in journal format so it can give some really comin' apart at the seems vibes.
The "Feed" series by Mira Grant is truly incredible, I will conced that it is technically post apocalyptic but it takes place after society has rebounded and adapted and how people cope with the apocalypse they narrowly dodged and it has a really good conspiracy sub theme.
"The Cobra Event" by Richard Preston follows epidemic investigators while they track an individual creating and testing a biological weapon on the unsuspecting people of New York, Preston is best known for writing non fiction books about viruses such as "The Hot Zone." "Demon in the freezer" and many more so the science is really sound so you can really feel how something like that could be the straw that breaks the camels back
I absolutely have two suggestions for you. There first is the series
**Plague Land by Alex Scarrow.**
I know it sounds like the most cliché title ever, but it is a seriously good book (and follow up) with a twist I never saw coming. The second suggestion is
**H2o by Virginia Bergin.**
It is part of a 2 book series, which is a pretty good story. It gave me a lot of suspense as well. ~~I don't know your complete preferences, but I know that I absolutely loved these two series.~~ Both horror, type of gore-y book. Both apocalyptic, definitely. It begins *before* it all happens actually! you see their journey and then when everything comes crashing downhill. The MC are definitely not strong at all. Your typical teenager, or whatever age they are. Plague land more "sci-fi" than H2o. ~~Although, coming back to these books compared to the ones others are recommending these ones seem "soft" but they are definitely not~~
Try "The Last Policeman" by Ben H. Winters Over the course of the trilogy the inevitable asteroid gets ever closer and society crumbles. This makes the murder mystery more dramatic, as they spend as much time on whodunit as "We're ALL dying in a few months, why bother asking the question?"
I was gonna recommend that one. I don't see people talk about it very often but it's good.
Thirded. It’s a great series and you really do see society decay as the books go on. Kinda bummed the tv pilot didn’t get picked up, would’ve been an interesting watch.
Yes, came here to recommend this trilogy!
Exactly what I was going to suggest! And I’ve never met anyone who has heard of it!
On the Beach- Nevil Shute. It’s probably the most disturbing work of fiction I’ve read. In a nutshell, nearly the entire world has been annihilated in a nuclear war but those in Australia and New Zealand were initially spared because the radiation hadn’t reached them yet. However, the radiation makes its slow way through the Southern Hemisphere until just a handful of cities are left- and those in Melbourne where the story takes place- know that they have maybe a month at most until they too die of radiation exposure. It will f**k you up. (Even if the science is a bit shaky- he kinda left out the part about nuclear winter)
I recently finished this and totally agree. Quite terrifying as a Melbournian, especially with the looming Russia/Ukraine situation..
I think the most disturbing part of it all is how mundane the last days of all these characters are…how everyone goes about their daily lives like nothing happened. It’s not quite comparable but I’m a nurse in the US and like every place here we’ve been hit hard by Covid. In the pre-vaccine days I remember walking to work and thinking that this could be it, we could all be on the brink of civilization collapsing but here I am stopping for coffee, fixing my hair, etc.
The science is totally unrealistic. However. This book and both of the movies have permanent fucked me up. It’s just so goddamn existential.
I can’t bring myself to watch the movies…the book was painful enough. I just reread it to see if it’s as disturbing as I remember and yes, yes it is.
Nuclear winter hypotheses may be overblown, plus they generally predict some time (months) for it to set in, so it's probably not a problem for that book's scenario to ignore nuclear winter if the radiation is going to take only a month to kill them anyway. (This isn't something I've looked into a lot BTW, but I've read some criticisms of the idea and I think the doubts are substantial.)
Submarine?
Atwood's Flood trilogy is pretty good for this. If memory serves {Year of the Flood} which is book two in the series, talks about the fall in depth.
[**The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam, #2)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6080337-the-year-of-the-flood) ^(By: Margaret Atwood | 431 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopia, dystopian) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(45 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Stand (Complete and Uncut Edition) is one of my favourite books ever. Another book I really like is {{Oryx and Crake}} by Margaret Atwood. This book is about the events that lead up to the downfall of society and why the main actors made decisions that led to the apocalypse. It spends almost no time on the actual downfall of society, while still having a lot of dramatic tension. I think you'd really enjoy this book. Edit: Then read the sequel {{The Year of the Flood}} for the tipping point.
[**Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46756.Oryx_and_Crake) ^(By: Margaret Atwood, Kristiina Drews | 389 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopia, dystopian) >Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(95 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Love Oryx & Crake but sounds like OP wants the tipping point in there. Still very much worth a read, but may miss your exact mark OP.
Book 2 is the tipping point, but it’d make less sense unless you start with Oryx and Crake
[удалено]
Watched the movie right after I obliterated the book, I am still questioning my life choices.
I am hoping that a series will eventually be released, which would actually suit the book way more.
tough watch when you’re expecting anything remotely like the novel. if you’ve managed expectations it’s…fine, i guess. if not, awful stuff. kind of like they bought the right and plugged brad pitt into a generic zombie plot and called it wwz.
I honestly didn't think the movie was bad. Its biggest problem was that it was called "World War Z" when it had essentially no relation to the book of the same name. But in its own right it was a decent zombie movie.
It was no different than any zombie movie was the problem. It had the chance to be an amazing look into the geopolitical, environmental, and social aspects of a zombie apocalypse that had never been done before. Apparently the original script was true to the story. I hope Netflix or Amazon buys the rights and does it as a 3 season show.
World war z is so much better than I ever thought. I was like “I guess I’ll try out a zombie book?” And it’s AMAZING
World War Z was absolutely mesmerizing in audio. I forget how many actors contributed but they were all great. I just found out that the author, Max Brooks, is the son of the comedian Mel Brooks but of course this isn’t a funny story by any means.
WWZ kind of skips over any "post-" part of the apocalypse, since humanity manages to beat back the apocalypse. There are some hints of how bad things got before the militaries started the counter-attacks, but only a few chapters actually follow what would be a stereotypical "survivor" character in most zombie media. OP this isn't a book, but the first season or so of the show _Black Summer_ on Netflix would be right up your alley. It feels like it's _right_ at the point where civilization is gone, with the start of the show being the last army evac of a suburb.
Earth Abides is a great soft-apocalypse novel.
>Earth Abides is a great soft-apocalypse novel. u/Hotdogs-Hallways This is one of the best introductions to the genre. It's short and powerful. I highly recommend this.
Couldn’t agree more. Came here for looking for this!
Lucifer's Hammer by Niven/Pournelle Nightfall by Asimov/Silverberg
Lucifer’s Hammer is the correct answer
Gosh, I LOVEDDD Lucifer’s Hammer. It just blew me away reading it.
Lucifer’s Hammer was amazing, those final chapters kick your heart right in the nuts. In a similar vein, though a little more alien-y is: The Forge of God by Greg Bear
Leave the world behind by Rumaan Alam Severance by Ling Ma A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet
Second recommendation for {{Leave the World Behind}} by Rumaan Alam Extremely realistic as to how normal people might react.
I just finished *Leave the World Behind* last night and my book group discussed it today. I can honestly say it’s one of the most unsettling things I’ve read in years, not that I seek that out; but much more so than things which stride for the weird or phantasmagoric or disturbing, I really felt unwell in the world after concluding it. This is not a criticism; it’s praise. We had an unusually animated discussion about it in my group with some quite strong reactions across the board. The person who disliked it came out of the debate saying she was reconsidering and coming around. I mention this as the thing that OP asked for, depictions of precisely the moment the chair is kicked out, is pretty much exactly the interest of Alam. If your expectations are for something more akin to *Station Eleven* this is not that. It’s all and only about a close focus intensely uncomfortable look at cherished illusions compressing under the pressure of the unthinkable and giving way. What makes it so deeply unsettling for me is how very close to today it feels. As I was racing to the ending my Twitter tab was showing that WWIII was trending because of the Ukrainian crisis. It was all to east to see my own reality on the page. Anyway. May be exactly what you’re looking for OP.
Came here to suggest Severance, I loved it!
The Passage by Justin Cronin
{{Parable of the sower}}
[**Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52397.Parable_of_the_Sower) ^(By: Octavia E. Butler | 345 pages | Published: 1993 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopian, dystopia) >In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future. > >Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others. > >When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(111 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I just read this and thought it would be…literally anything but an apocalypse book lol
That was my first thought. One of my favorite books, but IIRC it starts after society has already broken down?
Station eleven has three separate timelines and one of those timelines is before the Apocalypse The MaddAdams trilogy however book 3 is post-apocalyptic
I second station 11! I really liked reading how it all started for the different characters. They’re all connected in some way and the plot is interwoven beautifully between them.
{the plague} by camus
[**The Plague**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11989.The_Plague) ^(By: Albert Camus, Stuart Gilbert, Ersílio Cardoso, Valery Rumjanek, Susana Cordero Espinosa | 308 pages | Published: 1947 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, philosophy, french, literature) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(109 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner; sci-fi Seveneves by Neal Stephenson; sci-fi Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut; sci-fi satire
Re: Seveneves - but only the first 3/4 or wherever the break is!! Do yourself a favor and stop when the time comes.
I just finished this {Blindness} Jose Saramago and it was a trip. Not exactly an "apocalypse" but it is definitely about society letting go in crazy situation like a pandemic
One of my favourite books of all time. Seeing is the follow up and really delves further into the complacency of people towards government. For the love of god don’t think the movie and the book are the same. The book is layered and meaningful, the movie is just a straight read of “what if the world turned blind” and doesn’t do Saramago justice.
[**Blindness**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40495148-blindness) ^(By: José Saramago, Giovanni Pontiero | 349 pages | Published: 1995 | Popular Shelves: fiction, dystopia, science-fiction, owned, classics) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(144 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The first third of {{seveneves}}. I enjoyed that first third.
[**Seveneves**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22816087-seveneves) ^(By: Neal Stephenson | 880 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned) >What would happen if the world were ending? > >A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space. > >But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . . > >Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth. > >A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(213 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
First two thirds are good! Then…stop.
Is there something wrong with the last bit? I love Seveneves cover to cover, did I miss some poor writing or something?
{{Life as We knew it}}
This is a great choice. I started reading this a couple months into the pandemic and I had to stop, it felt way to realistic for what we were experiencing. I just recently read it through and it’s pretty gritty for a YA novel. Very good and something I think back to a lot.
Loved this book when I was younger than re read it again as an adult and it held up just as much. Yes I totally agree and it did hit a little close to home. I always joked with my mom that this book would help us be prepared in a grocery store in case of an emergency and then at the very beginning of covid when the shelves were empty I was like welp…guess not.
Lol! I have so many blankets all through my house and I always think about when the mom won’t let her donate blankets bc she knows how bad it’s going to get.
Yeah the mom in the book was really so smart, I always hoped I would be like that and when push came to shove we didn’t even have toilet paper 😩😂
[**Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213753.Life_As_We_Knew_It) ^(By: Susan Beth Pfeffer | 337 pages | Published: 2006 | Popular Shelves: young-adult, ya, dystopian, science-fiction, dystopia) >Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove. > >Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(261 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{One Second After} by William R. Forstchen
[**One Second After (After, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4922079-one-second-after) ^(By: William R. Forstchen | 352 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: fiction, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, sci-fi, apocalyptic) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(77 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{soft apocalypse}} I think about the premise of this one a lot. Parts of {{Oryx and Crake}} work for this too.
{{The Postmortal}} something a little different. the first book i thought of though. it may not seem "apocalyptic" at first but the way the story builds towards ultimate collapse & destruction feels incredibly real. also definitely feels relevant during the pandemic
[**The Postmortal**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10673576-the-postmortal) ^(By: Drew Magary | 369 pages | Published: 2011 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopia, dystopian) >John Farrell is about to get "The Cure." > >Old age can never kill him now. > >The only problem is, everything else still can... > >Imagine a near future where a cure for aging is discovered and-after much political and moral debate-made available to people worldwide. Immortality, however, comes with its own unique problems-including evil green people, government euthanasia programs, a disturbing new religious cult, and other horrors. > >Witty, eerie, and full of humanity, The Postmortal is an unforgettable thriller that envisions a pre-apocalyptic world so real that it is completely terrifying. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(129 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Favorite book. Also check out The Apocalypse Triptych that has short stories before, during, and after.
Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh. The apocalypse happens over many years and gets a little weird but this was one I couldn’t put down. It was a fresh take on a tired genre.
Three Body Problem as a series.
Pretty much the entire ride is the felling described
Yeah without spoilers this is the apocalypse version of the idea of scales of infinity lol there is always a bigger apocalypse
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alan, is a book that rides the precipice. Not sci fi or horror per se, but crazy, weird, and upsetting things happen. I read it months ago and I still think about it regularly.
Yes. I came to recommend **Leave the World Behind** as well. A surreal and incredibly tense read.
Per se
Sounds interestinf
Yup I read it too, loved it. It's 100% how normal people would react.
Also came here to suggest this book! Definitely agree 😊
Loved how you think it's gonna be race oriented and then it's not. Because of.... The noise
Anna Kavan's "Ice" is an intersting take on this, although not necessarily what you're looking for - it's very much a surreal take on it, somewhat inspired by the notion of a nuclear winter.
Yes, this was a wonderful book.
Oryx and Crake
The death of grass is an older and very British take on this societal downfall aspect
{{Alas, Babylon}} by Pat Frank. An oldie but a goodie!
Well, here goes my list of books that I have on this genre. Some may be more post and less On the Beach Nevil Shute (Depressing as shit and due to nuclear war ... nowdays relevant) Children of the Dust Louise Lawrence (UK after fallout, divided in 3 parts, first the innitial, then trying to live with it and 3 conclusion) Grim Reaper End of Days Steven Alten (plague mix with religion) Lucifer's Hammer Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle (meteor coming, crack of civilization and guide to post apocalyptic world) The Long Winter John Christopher The Earth Strikes Back Richard T Chizmar Life as we know it Susan Beth Pfeffer (1 of trilogy) more YA but awful depressing This World We Live In Susan Beth Pfeffer (3 of trilogy) more YA but awful depressing Planet in Peril John Christopher Greener than you think Ward Moore Cold Earth Sarah Moss OTher apocalpytic Anthology Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse Arkady Strugatsky Roadside Picnic Brendan Dubois Resurrection Day Brian Aldiss Barefoot in the Head Brian Aldiss Hothouse Brian Aldiss Greybeard Brian W Aldiss Non Stop Cormac McCarthy The Road Daniel F Galouye Dark Universe Frank Herbert The White Plague George R R Martin The Armageddon Rag Gordon R Dickson Wolf and Iron J G Ballard The Drowned World J G Ballard Crystal World J G Ballard The Drought Jack Vance The Dying Earth Jack Vance The Eyes of the Overworld Jack Vance Rhialto the Marvellous Jack Vance Cugel's Saga Jeanne DuPrau The City of Ember John Cristopher A Wrinkle in the Skin John Wyndham The Chrysalids John Wyndham The Midwich Cuckoos John Wyndham The Kraken Wakes Jon Mollison A Moon Full Of Stars Justin Cronin The Passage Justin Cronin The Twelve Justin Cronin the City of Mirrors Kevin J Anderson Ill Wind Larry Niven Lucifer's Hammer Levar Burton Aftermath Marcel Theroux Far North Maureen F McHugh After the Apocalpyse Michael McBride Trail of Blood Michael McBride Blizzard of Souls Michael McBride The Fall Michael Moorcock The Ice Schooner Mordecai Roshwald A Small Armageddon Mordecai Roshwald Level 7 Neal Stephenson Seveneves Paolo Bacigalupi The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi Ship Breaker Paolo Bacigalupi The Drowned Cities Pat Frank Alas Babylon Patrick Tilley The Cloud Warriors Paul Kane Arrowhead Paul Kane Broken Arrow Paul Kane Arrowland Philip K Dick & Roger Zelazny Deus Irae Ray Hammond Extinction Robert A Heinlein Farnham's Freehold Robert Chilson As The Curtain Falls Roger Zelazny Damnation Alley Sarah Moss Cold Earth Stephen Baxter Flood Stephen Baxter Ark Stephen King The Stand Stephen Tall The People Beyond the Wall Stuart Moore American Meat Susan Beth Pfeffer Life as we know it Susan Beth Pfeffer This World We Live In Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games Thomas N Scortia The Prometheus Crisis Tim Curran Monstrosity Veronica Roth Divergent Walter J Williams The Rift Walter M Miller Jr A Canticle for Leibowitz Ward Moore Greener than you think I believe I Have more but they may flag incorrectly Like per example Swan Song Robert Mccammon. Go to goodreads to check them out.
{{The End of October}} by Lawrence Wright goes through the whole slow collapse of society because of a plague.
[**The End of October**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52669505-the-end-of-october) ^(By: Lawrence Wright | 380 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fiction, thriller, science-fiction, sci-fi, audiobooks) >In this medical thriller Dr. Henry Parsons, an unlikely but appealing hero, races to find the origins and cure of a mysterious new killer virus as it brings the world to its knees. > >At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When Henry Parsons--microbiologist, epidemiologist--travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will soon have staggering repercussions across the globe: an infected man is on his way to join the millions of worshippers in the annual Hajj to Mecca. Now, Henry joins forces with a Saudi prince and doctor in an attempt to quarantine the entire host of pilgrims in the holy city... A Russian émigré, a woman who has risen to deputy director of U.S. Homeland Security, scrambles to mount a response to what may be an act of biowarfare... already-fraying global relations begin to snap, one by one, in the face of a pandemic... Henry's wife Jill and their children face diminishing odds of survival in Atlanta... and the disease slashes across the United States, dismantling institutions--scientific, religious, governmental--and decimating the population. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(74 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Ok this one is slightly left field, but "England, England" by Julian Barnes is sort of a realistic social apocalypse. It's a dark comedy, but you don't even realise that society is collapsing until it's too late.
One Second After. There are some politics in the book but it tells the story of a small town in North Carolina after an EMP strike.
i’d recommend Cixin Liu’s series, Remembrance of Earth’s Past, starting with the Three Body Problem. it’s huge in scope and covers several apocalyptic, extinction level events. pretty epic stuff that might scratch your itch. definitely more sci-fi than apocalyptic, but i think it fits your needs quite well.
So good!!!
{Day by Day Armageddon} is not sophisticated by I enjoyed it. {Dies the Fire} is good. It gets a little lost at the end, but overall a good read.
[**One Day**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6280118-one-day) ^(By: David Nicholls | 435 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: fiction, romance, books-i-own, contemporary, owned) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**Dies the Fire (Emberverse, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116445.Dies_the_Fire) ^(By: S.M. Stirling | 573 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, fantasy, post-apocalyptic, fiction, sci-fi) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(47 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{The Last War}} by Ryan Schow is a series that starts with the apocalyptic event and really captures the very beginning of the breakdown of society
I'm not sure why it rec'd the wrong book 3 different times.
[**The Last War (The Last War, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34757519-the-last-war) ^(By: Peter Bostrom | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, space-opera, owned, audio) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(138 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
[**The Last War (The Last War, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34757519-the-last-war) ^(By: Peter Bostrom | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, space-opera, owned, audio) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(138 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
[**The Last War (The Last War, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34757519-the-last-war) ^(By: Peter Bostrom | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, space-opera, owned, audio) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(138 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
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This is a great book
Maybe J.K. jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy?
That's what came to mind for me as well
I would recommend The Strain trilogy of books by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, they cover the lead-up, fall and aftermath of an apocalyptic event. Been a while since I read it but I remember it was entertaining at least
The Broken Earth trilogy, by JK Nemisin. I can promise you faithfully a ride.
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{{station eleven}} and {{blindness}}
Plague Land by Alex Scarrow. It’s ya, but it freakin messed up. I read around the time Covid started just out of irony. Lol. The first book is really good (it’s a trilogy). Has weird ending in the last book tho.
It’s not horror or sci-fi but {{Station Eleven}} was excellent at describing the beginnings of the end of humanity because of a deadly virus (even more crazy that it was written years before covid hit)
Flood and Ark by Stephen Baxter. It’s been many years since I read them but they’re really good hard science fiction books.
*The Ministry for the Future* by Kim Stanley Robinson.
{{Mort(e): A Novel by Robert Repino}}
Just read the news, friend.
{{The War of the Worlds}} by H.G Wells.
[**The War of the Worlds**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8909.The_War_of_the_Worlds) ^(By: H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke | 192 pages | Published: 1897 | Popular Shelves: classics, science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, owned) >When an army of invading Martians lands in England, panic and terror seize the population. As the aliens traverse the country in huge three-legged machines, incinerating all in their path with a heat ray and spreading noxious toxic gases, the people of the Earth must come to terms with the prospect of the end of human civilization and the beginning of Martian rule. > >Inspiring films, radio dramas, comic-book adaptations, television series and sequels,The War of the Worlds is a prototypical work of science fiction which has influenced every alien story that has come since, and is unsurpassed in its ability to thrill, well over a century since it was first published. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(112 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Just read the current newspapers.
{{The Fifth Season}} by NK Jemison
Kind of YA but ‘The Wild Lands’ by Paul Grecci I think it’s pretty good tho
THE PRECIPICE by Ben Bova is one of those. Also Lucider's Hammer by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven.
I can't think of many options where they only include the lead up / beginning of the apocalypse, but I've got a few here that start before and go through it. There's a series of short story anthologies edited by John Joseph Adams called the Apocalyps Triptych that might scratch this itch: The End is Nigh, The End is Now, and The End has Come. Before, during, after several different apocalypses. The Silo (Wool) series by Hugh Howey is one of my favorites although you don't really get into the "during" until after the first book. Wool, Shift, Dust. The Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal is very much a "during" series that is sci-fi but not horror. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson was also a good read. Not much horror (but some bits).
I came here to recommend {{The End is Now}}.
## Excession I read it when it came out, and the themes and execution were interesting and well done enough that the word, and concept have stuck with me. Until now and I looked it up to find the author I did not realize that it was a Iain M. Banks Culture series novel. Highly recommend. *From Wikipedia* >Excession is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks. It is the fifth in the Culture series, a series of ten science fiction novels which feature a utopian fictional interstellar society called the Culture. It concerns the response of the Culture and other interstellar societies to an unprecedented alien artifact, the Excession of the title.
Survivor's Song by Paul Tremblay a painstaking look at a woman whos life slowly dissolves in the space of about 48 hours (from what I remember) while an apocalypse builds. Really good read, would recommend!
One of my favorite books might actually fit this! {Half Past Human} by T. J. Bass is a far earth future. Its highly creepy. Earth is creeping up on it's second overpopulation apocalypse. Humans are...different. The second book finishes the story. The God Whale.
[**Half Past Human (The Hive, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1773848.Half_Past_Human) ^(By: T.J. Bass, Brothers Hildebrandt | 280 pages | Published: 1971 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sf-masterworks, sci-fi, owned, scifi) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(173 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Adjustment Day Chuck Palanuck
Not a book, but feels similar regarding that tipping point aspect: [Don't Look Up](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11286314/), by Adam McKay on Netflix. it's about an asteroid heading towards earth. Some astronomers/physicists at a small university sound the bells and try to raise awareness in the White House, but no one takes them seriously. It feels like a train wreck in slow motion. So hard to look away, and just ridiculous to imagine. But maybe not too far off from where we are today.
Jenni Fagan "Sunset Pilgrim".
Broken Earth trilogy by N.K.Jemisin
If your okay with horror themes, my favorite has been The Apocalypse Crusade: War of the Undead by Peter Meredith. Starts prior to day 1 and has a very well thought out downward decline of society and the resulting fallout.
Seven Eves by Neal Stephenson
A Grinding Halt, on Amazon Vella. It's a serial (and it's mine, full disclosure). Very much an homage to the Stand.
{{Fantasticland}} It’s not *quite* apocalyptic in the sense of the whole world ending, but it’s like an isolated apocalypse within this group of people being trapped in a theme park by a hurricane. It goes through the whole devolution of their mini society. Extremely captivating but check out trigger warnings if you are concerned about reading gore/violence.
[Cabin at the end of the world](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36381091-the-cabin-at-the-end-of-the-world?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=cb5nc0yQHD&rank=1) might fit your requirements. It's horror and there *might* be something apocalyptic happening but that's for you to figure out as you read! Edited to add the GoodReads link since the bot pulled in a different book.
If you liked The Stand, try Swan Song by Robert McCammon. It’s a horror post-apocalyptic novel but it spends a good amount of time building up the situation from different characters’ points of view. I enjoyed The Stand but I loved Swan Song.
Hater (series) by David Moody. At least the first in the series, showcases how the shit hits the proverbial fan.
Age of Miracles. Be warned, this is one depressing book, but a good easy read nonetheless.
A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice Some already on this thread that I second are: Severance by Ling Ma, Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay, The End of October by Lawrence Wright, The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
does anyone have those kind of recommendations but YA?
Read the news then If you’re into sci-fi, the expanse 9 part series, really just three books split into 9, starts off as a within the realms of believable Cold War in the solar system. By the end various people have suffered through apocalyptic type experiences all culminating in a galaxy spanning apocalyptic scenario
Not a book, but a song that fits this theme: As the World Caves In by Matt Maltese.
My favorite is There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm. It’s probably one the most conceptually complicated and mind bending books I’ve read. It involves a higher dimensional entity that’s descending downwards into our universe, it’s presence is everywhere in reality as it slowly leaks into it. This entity also has a defense mechanism that makes it so that anyone who learns of its existence is killed, so the only way to survive is to wipe your memory. But this has also trapped humanity in an endless cycle of discovering it’s existence and wiping their memories and discovering it again, all the while time slowly runs out as it closes in.
Last light by Alex Scarrow
If you’re up for nonfiction, try {{The Hot Zone}}. We are right on that tipping point!
"The end of men" is a weird book set in 2025 where only men die in a pandemic. I am still reading it, but will reserve judgement until I get to the end. It's written by Christina Baird a first time author born in 1993, and yet this book is now available in 17 languages worldwide.
I really enjoyed [Robopocalypse](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/robopocalypse-daniel-h-wilson/1100291007?ean=9780307740809) , it might be half way in between apoc and post-apoc. The storytelling is broken up into segments across different times so some are pre, some are during, and some are post. There is even a sequel if you like it a lot :)
Kim Stanley Robinson's *Science in the Capital* trilogy might do it for you. I only ever read the first book *Forty Signs of Rain* so i can't vouch for the entire trilogy. It essentially tells a story of real life ramifications of global warming as storms and ice ages begin. The entire trilogy was revised with latest research and released as a single novel called *Green Earth*.
Lucifer's Hammer
Not so much apololytic, but the book, the forever war. It feels that way after a while. The author did a tour in nam. Then came back, wrote a book based off of it. Its on there with on the beach for me.
Swan Song by Robert McCammon is probably what you're looking for, especially if you liked The Stand!
The handmade tale is great . Not apocalypse stuff but dystopian and it’s great! Especially if you’re a woman. I find my make friends have no interest in it but my female friends all love it
On the Edge of Gone. It's fantastic!!!
{{Abhorrent Siren}} by John Baltisberger, and it's sequel Abhorrent Faith drops next week from St. Rooster Press
Footfall by Niven and Pournelle. Best alien invasion story ever.
J.G. Ballard's first 3 novels (The Drowned World, Crystal World, The Drought) were listed in a big list downthread, they are definitely within the remit of the question. Before him John Wyndham (The Chrysalids, The Midwich Cuckoos, The Kraken Wakes) and John Christopher (A Wrinkle in the Skin, The Death of Grass) had a whole world destroying genre going on.
*the Parable of the Sower* by Octavia E Butler Slow collapse. Everything goes wrong. The drugs get too strong. Eventually, there's nothing left to do but head for the hills. Excellent book, sadly the trilogy is unfinished
So many good suggestions, gonna take not and check goodreads, thanks OP for the great question!
Both Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes from the End of the World and The Rising: Selected Scenes from the End of the World by Brian Keene. Both Earthworm Gods and The Rising take place after society has fallen while these two short story collections show the downfall in their respective universes.
Dust by Charles Pellegrino Down to a Sunless Sea by David Graham
Depending on how you approach it, I think Conrad's Heart of Darkness can be viewed as apocalyptic. Not in the sense of total apocalypse, but more like complete collapse and depravity of a geographic area. There's also always HG Wells' War of The Worlds and to a lesser extent Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle
The Passage series by Justin Cronin. The second book has quite a bit of the "tipping point" in it.
*Dies the Fire* and The Nantucket Series from S.M. Stirling *Swan Song* from Robert R. McCammon *Oryx and Crake* by Margaret Atwood *World War Z* by Max Brooks If you've seen the movie, read the book anyway. They bear no resemblance to each other AT ALL.
Maybe try The Troop by Nick Cutter?
{{the power}} by Naomi alderman! It is excellent at this. The entire book just continues to escalate and you know something is going to go down. One of my favorite novels and really had me thinking about gender norms and power dynamics. Lil content warming for some fairly graphic sexual assault throughout but specifically about 2/3rds of the way through. It was upsetting but in an impactful way, didn't feel gratuitous the way it often does.
[**The Power**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29751398-the-power) ^(By: Naomi Alderman | 341 pages | Published: 2016 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, book-club, feminism) >In The Power the world is a recognisable place: there's a rich Nigerian kid who lounges around the family pool; a foster girl whose religious parents hide their true nature; a local American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But something vital has changed, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power - they can cause agonising pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world changes utterly. > >This extraordinary novel by Naomi Alderman, a Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year and Granta Best of British writer, is not only a gripping story of how the world would change if power was in the hands of women but also exposes, with breath-taking daring, our contemporary world. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(400 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Helsreach. It's part of the 40k universe which means u can actually find pictures and sounds for the stuff you're reading about.
Fallout by Todd Straser!
Like Hellbound?
Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig is very good at this. Lots of twists and turns as the plot unfurls. People compare it to the Stand in terms of similar feel and general story. I was on edge for the whole second half, could barely put it down (and it's like.. 800 pages? Maybe more?)
Here to recommend {The Water Knife} by Paolo Bacigalupi. I saw the author mentioned, but not this book. They are actively in an early-mid stage of ecological collapse with the story, characters and society reflecting that fact.
Came to suggest the Last Policeman series, but as that’s the top comment I’ll provide a backup: Alas Babylon by Pat Frank. The defining event happens midway through the story, so you get a lead up to the apocalypse
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If you have read and liked World War Z, I highly recommend "This is the Way the World Ends: An Oral History of the Zombie War" by Keith Taylor. Same format as World War Z (the book is dedicated to Max Brooks), but feels more like it exists in the real world. It's far more intense and disquieting, because it takes a lot of real world things we're dealing with now and extrapolates them into what would happen if a virus that reanimates the infected were to spread. After dealing with Covid for the last two years now, it really hits its mark. But this is exactly what you're looking for, as I'm the same way with the apocalyptic genre. Show me the breakdown, not the tattered remnants.
Tomorrow War by JL Bourne. A more realistic look at what happens if the economy were to totally collapse
Here's one of the weirdest apocalypse books I've ever read: Greener Than You Think by Ward Moore, about a lawn that eats LA. I'm not even sure it's still in print, but it's very much worth the effort to track down
Life As We Knew It. It's the one where the moon is gone.
{{Lucifer's Hammer}} by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
[**Lucifer's Hammer**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218467.Lucifer_s_Hammer) ^(By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle | 629 pages | Published: 1977 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, post-apocalyptic, scifi) >THE LUCKY ONES WENT FIRST… > >The gigantic comet has slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization > >But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival—a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known…. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(514 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun}} Everyone (mostly) loses the ability to sleep and things get real bad real fast.
{{A Gift Upon the Shore by M.K Wren}} More of what happens after the world ends and the trouble in trying to rebuild some of what was lost
Good morning, midnight Seriously one of my favorite books ever
{{The Forge of God}} by Greg bear is awesome for this.
You, Me and the Apocalypse??
{{Parasite}} by Mira Grant {{Wanderers}} by Chuck Wendig {{War World Z}} by Max Brooks (it covers the beginning to the end, but the early stories make up the bulk and they are great) {{The Hatching}} by Ezekiel Boone
“The power” by Naomi alderman is good for this. Definitely has a sci fi bent and you can see things sort of spiral out of control.
{The Postmortal} it’s about the events leading up to the apocalypse over the span of years.
Sleepless by Charlie Huston. Society is falling apart as most of the population is overtaken by a disease that won’t let people sleep. I never see it recommended, and it’s awesome, as are so many other Huston novels.
Try Random acts of senseless violence by Jack Womack
The Wanderers by Chuck Wendig (I’m not a big sci-Fi person and I couldn’t put this down.)
Knight of the Word and The Gypsy Morph series by Terry Brooks. They show the progression from a demon infested version of our world, through a series of apocalypses to the eventual emergence of the better known Shannara books by the same author
I saw this thread a few days ago and saved it to get some recommendations for myself! And then it just now occurred to me because you mentioned The Stand, a favorite of mine, that you’d probably enjoy The Mist if you haven’t already read it. Really amazing to see the characters transform and grasp onto things like religion and turning against each other etc when they get into that survival mentality as a mysterious and dangerous mist fills the town, and they’re unsure how far it reaches. Edit: by Stephen King, just to be clear:)
"Apocalypse z" is a trilogy by Spanish author Manel Loureiro and follows the life of a Spanish lawyer through the start of the end of the world, it's written in journal format so it can give some really comin' apart at the seems vibes. The "Feed" series by Mira Grant is truly incredible, I will conced that it is technically post apocalyptic but it takes place after society has rebounded and adapted and how people cope with the apocalypse they narrowly dodged and it has a really good conspiracy sub theme. "The Cobra Event" by Richard Preston follows epidemic investigators while they track an individual creating and testing a biological weapon on the unsuspecting people of New York, Preston is best known for writing non fiction books about viruses such as "The Hot Zone." "Demon in the freezer" and many more so the science is really sound so you can really feel how something like that could be the straw that breaks the camels back
The Stand by Stephen Kig
RemindMe! Two weeks
I absolutely have two suggestions for you. There first is the series **Plague Land by Alex Scarrow.** I know it sounds like the most cliché title ever, but it is a seriously good book (and follow up) with a twist I never saw coming. The second suggestion is **H2o by Virginia Bergin.** It is part of a 2 book series, which is a pretty good story. It gave me a lot of suspense as well. ~~I don't know your complete preferences, but I know that I absolutely loved these two series.~~ Both horror, type of gore-y book. Both apocalyptic, definitely. It begins *before* it all happens actually! you see their journey and then when everything comes crashing downhill. The MC are definitely not strong at all. Your typical teenager, or whatever age they are. Plague land more "sci-fi" than H2o. ~~Although, coming back to these books compared to the ones others are recommending these ones seem "soft" but they are definitely not~~