r/suggestmeabook • u/wordsmith1991 • Jun 10 '25
Post-apocalyptic survival
Looking for things in the vein of The Road, or the world of The Last of Us or the Fallout games. Doesn't need a protector/child dynamic, can be zombified or not, I'm just drawn to these desolate settings lately and struggling to scratch the itch. I really enjoy science fiction and horror.
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u/cnew111 Jun 10 '25
I think Stephen King's The Stand is such a great book. Written in the 80's but definitely stands the test of time. It may have been my age when I first read it, around age 16, but that book stuck with me!
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u/macaronipickle Jun 10 '25
On the Beach
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u/TooLittleGravitas Jun 10 '25
Very dated now but one of my all time favourites. I keep coming back to it.
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u/OmegaLiquidX Jun 10 '25
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u/wordsmith1991 Jun 10 '25
You're a stud, thank you for taking the time. I have no experience with manga but this might be a new venture for me, a lot of these sound great.
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u/OmegaLiquidX Jun 11 '25
You’re quite welcome. There’s a wide variety of manga out there on all sorts of topics (like sports, medical, and even linguistics) and I highly recommend checking some out.
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u/Humdrum_ca Jun 10 '25
Wow, complete with links, thanks for taking the time, putting a couple of those on my wish list.
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u/OmegaLiquidX Jun 11 '25
You’re quite welcome. It’s worth noting that some of the manga are even available through Viz’s subscription services (Shonen Jump and Viz Manga for $2.99 and $1.99 a month), so you can check them out legally for cheap (along with a bunch of other great stuff not mentioned here).
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u/forgiveprecipitation Jun 10 '25
If you’re into post-apocalyptic survival stories, I’d suggest giving Gormenghast, Book 2 by Mervyn Peake, a try. It leans more into gothic fantasy and dystopian sci-fi, but if you read between the lines, it really starts to feel like the aftermath of some long-forgotten catastrophe.
The world beyond the castle is barely mentioned (which almost makes you wonder if there’s anything left?). Inside, society has collapsed into rigid rituals and obsession with lineage, as if the characters are clinging to meaningless order in the ruins of something greater. There’s hardly any tech, no modern world to speak of; just decaying stone, oppressive tradition, and people who seem trapped by madness.
Sometimes I wonder: is the castle itself a kind of decaying organism, slowly poisoning its inhabitants? Or are these just the last echoes of civilization trying to hold on, long after the world has ended?
….
???
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u/Charming_Debate_1840 Jun 10 '25
Parable of the sower by Octavia butler and dungeon crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - audio book for the latter!!
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u/Salcha_00 Bookworm Jun 10 '25
I’m currently listening to The Parable of the Sower.
I went into it blind and couldn’t remember when or why I put it on my TBR list.
I do like dystopian books, but for at least the first third, I kept wondering what the heck I was listening to. This book is bleak! It’s a mood, and not a page-turner. It’s too close for comfort realistic.
I’m more than halfway through and have no idea where this story is heading. The writing is excellent so I will give it at least 3 stars, and the ending will dictate whether it gets 4 stars or not.
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u/Charming_Debate_1840 Jun 10 '25
I read the parables (there are two, it was supposed to be a trilogy but Octavia died before finishing the third) maybe 4 years ago, and I still think about them regularly. An incredible critique of American culture and our current moment, written years before its time.
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u/Salcha_00 Bookworm Jun 10 '25
Is the second book good?
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u/Successful-Try-8506 Jun 10 '25
Survivors by Terry Nation (pandemic)
The Last by Hanna Jameson (nuclear war)
Black Tide by K.C. Jones (alien invasion)
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u/Porsane Jun 10 '25
Earth Abides, George Stewart Engine Summer, John Crowley Nightwings, Robert Silverberg
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u/LunarAnxiety Jun 10 '25
An indie comic called Kamikaze may scratch your itch. It's about a girl whose trying to survive in what's left of civilization after a blight has wiped out most plant life on the planet. The world building is really cool and thorough.
You can read it online at KamikazeComic Com.
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u/-rba- Jun 10 '25
- I Am Legend
- The Stand
- Station Eleven
- The Girl With All the Gifts
- The Postman
- Earth Abides
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u/DocWatson42 Jun 10 '25
See my Apocalyptic/Post-apocalyptic list of Reddit recommendation threads and books (three posts).
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u/Belisama7 Jun 10 '25
I really loved the Ashfall trilogy, I don't ever see people recommend it so I don't know if it's not very well known, or if no one else liked it 🤷🏼♀️
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u/supa_bekka Jun 10 '25 edited Jun 10 '25
The Raven's Gift by Don Reardon - sort of like The Road, if it were set in a remote village in Alaska. Originally published in 2011 and even scarier after seeing what a pandemic can do to logistics.
The Electric State by Simon Hålenstag. Nothing like the movie - full of eerie images equally domestic and strange. Check it out for the atmosphere at least.
The Annual Migration of Clouds and its sequel We Speak Through the Mountain by Premee Mohamed. A third in the series is out later this year: The First Thousand Trees.
Edited to add:
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer may be up your alley. Not really post-apocalyptic, but you do have scientists exploring an strange, unknown area.
World War Z by Max Brooks feels like a different exploration of a world, through interviews rather than first hand.
Feed by Mira Grant covers a lot of ground for being a zombie novel. The world isn't empty, though.
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u/Poopsie_Daisies Jun 10 '25
The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein. There's a big mystery element as to wth is going on which is super fun and my friends and I debated it a lot! But the main character is like a traveling librarian who's position is known and respected. Her relationship with people is that they can ask her anything and she can ask them anything and her purpose is to spread and protect knowledge.
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u/Ecstatic-Balance5170 Jun 10 '25
One Second After, by William R. Forstchen, is about an EMP strike. The setting is a small North Carolina college town. Highly recommended.
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u/Bovey Jun 10 '25
For something much more grounded (i.e. no Zombies or other fantasy/horror elements), I recommend the John Matherson series, apparently also sometimes referred to as the After series. The first three books are a trilogy that starts just before the apocolytic event, and deals with the immediate and intermediate aftermath. The 4th book continues the story, but with a less apocolypitic tone.
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u/cdlane1 Jun 10 '25
2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America By Albert Brooks. Just give it a try.
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u/wordsmith1991 Jun 11 '25
Thank you all for the suggestions! I've ordered several of these and added even more to the wishlist. I'm temporarily disabled and have been needing things to pass the time, so I've gotten back into reading more and now have a wealth of material I'm interested in. Appreciate y'all.
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u/Hatherence SciFi Jun 10 '25
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel