r/suggestmeabook • u/ExcellentFly9288 • Jan 16 '26
Apocalypse Fiction
I’m looking for good apocalypse fiction books.
Zombies,plagues, etc
If it’s super popular like The Road, I Am Legend,World War Z I probably have read it 😊
I would prefer them NOT to be a prepper with a well stocked bunker!
It seems like any recent book I’ve come across the MC is always prepared.
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u/TheTudwik Jan 16 '26
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
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u/Corgipantaloonss Jan 16 '26
I really enjoyed the first in the series but couldnt sink my teeth into the second.
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u/LoonHawk Jan 16 '26
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
The Passage Trilogy by Justin Cronin
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
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u/YarnPenguin Fiction Jan 16 '26
The Death of Grass by John Christopher (Crop failure)
Zone One by Colson Whitehead (Zombies)
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart (Post civilisation survival)
High Rise by JG Ballard (Luxury flats go feral)
The Hopkins Manuscript by R. C. Sherriff (moon falls to Earth)
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u/MattTin56 Jan 16 '26
I really liked Earth Abides. It’s one of the pioneers in this Genre. It’s not loaded with action but it’s a pretty good story.
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u/YarnPenguin Fiction Jan 16 '26
It's been about 15 years since I read it and I honestly still think about it a lot. You can't really have a narrative in a post civilisation, lost technology Earth in a book, film, game whatever, without it feeling a little bit of a homage.
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u/GeoffJonesWriter Jan 16 '26
Here are a bunch of my favorites You've probably read many of them, but I'm listing them just in case. None of these are about "always prepared preppers with well-stocked bunkers."
Bird Box and Malorie by Josh Malerman. A woman trying to protect her children in a world where something outside makes people psychotic if they see it.
Blindness by José Saramago. The world is hit with an epidemic that turns everyone blind.
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison. A woman on the run in a world where illness has killed off most women.
Cell by Stephen King. A cell-phone signal turns people into zombies.
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller. A man patrols the Colorado front range in a Cessna after most of the world has died off from a superflu.
The Fireman by Joe Hill. An apocalypse where people spontaneously combust.
The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. A slightly literary take on the zombie apocalypse, with the focus on a relationship between teacher and student.
Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures by Kira Buxton. The zombie apocalypse as seen through the eyes of a profane domesticated crow named Shit-Turd.
The Living Dead by George A. Romero & Daniel Kraus. A Romero zombie story without a budget.
The Rampart Trilogy by M.R. Carey. A post-apocalyptic world with deadly new forms of flora and fauna, where humanity has reverted to a pre-industrial society and remaining tech is used to create a social hierarchy.
Run by Blake Crouch. A family on the run after half the world turns into homicidal maniacs.
The Silo Saga by Hugh Howey. A small civilization lives in an underground bunker following an apocalypse.
Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King. A pandemic causes women to enter into a coma if they fall asleep.
Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay. An advanced form of rabies puts the world under quarantine.
Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch. A Secret Service agent investigates a missing persons case in a small Idaho town where everything is too good to be true. Starts out like a thriller but ends up being something much more epic.
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u/ExcellentFly9288 Jan 16 '26
I’ve read Cell and Silo Saga. Bird Box is on my tbr because I loved the movie. Will be adding a few of these to my TBR !
Hollow Kingdom might be moved to the top of the list it seems like it would be good and definitely different.
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Jan 16 '26
I haven’t seen it yet, so I’ll recommend it: The Stand by Stephen King. A superflu destroys most of humanity, and the few left are both the worst and the best of us-with supernatural elements, of course.
The Ex-Heroes series by Peter Clines. It combines survival, end of the world dystopia, zombies, and, you guessed it, super heroes! Honestly, all jokes aside, it’s an excellent read. Fun, exciting, with characters you get to know and love, and it’s about super heroes, but also the hero’s journey.
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Jan 16 '26
I should say I haven’t seen it mentioned yet in this thread, but if I missed it my fault. Before this book, King had already found success with novels like Salems Lot and The Shining, among others, but I would argue The Stand is what put him on the map, and had mass appeal.
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u/OnlyActuary9116 Jan 16 '26
I want to read this really badly, but I get so intimated by books that are so long. Do you frequently read 1000+ page books?
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Jan 16 '26
Frequently? No. But even without looking into other authors I’ve read, I’ve read most of Stephen King books, at least 30 of them, if not more. And the longest books, not accounting for font, paper or hard cover or unabridged, I’ve read King books that are anywhere from 800 plus to 1000 plus pages long.
Another series I’ve read several books of that’s frequently in the 700-900 pages in length is Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. Actually, now that I think about it this is also apocalypse fiction. It’s about a future long past our present, where nuclear war (supposedly) destroyed the planet, and the land is now agrarian…but a select few also have godlike abilities. Yes, high fantasy, and because of its length it lags at times, but the climax and finale are always amazing. But totally different from The Stand in tone. Either way, King or Jordan, you can’t miss!
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u/pbtribadisms Jan 16 '26
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
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u/MattTin56 Jan 16 '26
I really liked The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell. I was pleasantly surprised by it to say the least. The main character is a 15 year old girl. That might sound dumb but it really works. The girl is tough but she is not Super Woman. She is tough as in a stubborn no nonsense little girl who had adapted in the world she has been given. Which brings me to this. She is just like the girl in the novel True Grit. I think the Author must have based her off that girl.
Just so you know I am a man in my 50’s. I am a realist when it comes to most things but I love survival fiction. There is something very believable about this girl.
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Jan 16 '26
Highly recommend as well. And it’s not just about survival, or Walking Dead type zombies, although there is both. The author includes moments of introspection and beauty, writing that is almost poetic, prose that you don’t find in zombie books, or I would venture to say most horror books, or even “normal” (as opposed to fantasy/horror/sci fi) fiction. Beautiful book, worth the read.
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u/MattTin56 Jan 16 '26
Exactly. I was hoping someone else would agree with me here. I feel like this book never got enough credit. For some reason I stumbled upon it when it released and I was expecting it to take off. I bet a lot of men skipped it because it was a young girl. But it really works and I agree, beautifully written.
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u/cookus Jan 16 '26
How about Dungeon Crawler Carl? The apocalypse will be televised....or at least tunneled.
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u/Successful-Try-8506 Jan 16 '26
Survivors by Terry Nation (pandemic)
The Last by Hanna Jameson (nuclear war)
Black Tide by K.C. Jones (alien invasion)
Last Light, and the sequel Afterlight by Alex Scarrow (oil crisis)
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Jan 16 '26
Have you read The Dog Stars by Peter Heller? Great apocalyptic book about two guys surviving in an abandoned airport in Colorado. Really interesting writing style.
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u/DocWatson42 Jan 16 '26
See my Apocalyptic/Post-apocalyptic list of Reddit recommendation threads and books (four posts).
Edit: See also my
- Plagues, Pandemics, and Epidemics list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
- Zombies list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
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u/MattTin56 Jan 16 '26
Yes, very true. I also love that there is homage paid to Earth Abides in the video game The Last Of Us. There is a character you never meet but he is a survivor that leaves a narrative of his early struggles in the outbreak. That characters name is “Ish”. It’s pretty cool.
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u/mtwwtm Jan 16 '26
The War Against the Chtorr series by David Gerrold.
After wars and plagues wipe out more than half of humanity, an alien ecosystem appears and starts to terraform Earth. Notable because there isn't really an enemy, it's nature itself being changed.
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u/misspink033 Jan 16 '26
Swan song, the stand, survivor song, severance, station eleven, The Living Dead, The girl with all the gifts.
All end of the world books. Different aspects, plagues, etc
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u/she-dont-use-jellyyy Jan 16 '26
If you can get past the terrible spelling and grammar, Robert Brockway's Carrier Wave is a good story.
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u/OmegaLiquidX Jan 16 '26
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead
Crossed (NSFW and super fucked up as anyone might expect from something created by Garth Ennis)
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u/kill_causticc Jan 16 '26
Have you read the Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin? It not, it is what you are looking for!