Post Apocalyptic

Children of Time

Adrian Tchaikovsky · Sci-Fi

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home.

space opera · survival · post apocalyptic · first contact

Station Eleven

Emily St. John Mandel · Literary Fiction

One snowy night Arthur Leander, a famous actor, has a heart attack onstage during a production of "King Lear." Jeevan Chaudhary, a…

post apocalyptic · found family · multiple timelines · survival

The Stand

Stephen King · Horror

A patient escapes from a biological testing facility, unknowingly carrying a deadly weapon: a mutated strain of super-flu that will wipe out 99…

post apocalyptic · grimdark · dystopian society · survival · high stakes survival

The Road

Cormac McCarthy · Literary Fiction

The searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.

post apocalyptic · coming of age · survival · found family

Children of Strife

Adrian Tchaikovsky · Sci-Fi

From the award-winning master of sci-fi Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Strife is the unmissable follow-up space opera to the highly acclaimed…

space opera · post apocalyptic · quest · found family

Cloud Atlas

David Stephen Mitchell · Literary Fiction

A stunning, innovative Matyroshka doll of six nested narratives, which start in the 19th century and vault us into a dystopian future.

multiple timelines · magical realism · post apocalyptic · quest

Ensnared

Rebecca Quinn · Romance

Even if the world did end, five is far too many men to handle.

dark romance · post apocalyptic · survival · love triangle

We Call Them Witches

India-Rose Bower · Horror

For fans of The Watchers and T. Kingfisher comes a queer, post-apocalyptic horror following one woman's journey across a merciless wasteland to save…

dark romance · forbidden romance · post apocalyptic · dystopian society · found family · survival

The Dream Hotel

Laila Lalami · Sci-Fi

"From Laila Lalami-the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a "maestra of literary fiction" (NPR)-comes a riveting and utterly…

dystopian society · psychological thriller · survival · post apocalyptic

The End of Everything

M. John Harrison · Literary Fiction

'Harrison is without peer as a chronicler of the fraught, unsteady state we're in' Olivia Laing Phillip Tennent makes his living at the tideline,…

magical realism · post apocalyptic

Swan Song

Robert McCammon · Horror

In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final…

post apocalyptic · chosen one · high stakes survival · grimdark

Moon of the Crusted Snow

Waubgeshig Rice · Literary Fiction

"A daring post-apocalyptic novel from a powerful rising literary voice.

dystopian society · coming of age · survival · post apocalyptic

The Maze Runner

James Dashner · Sci-Fi

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name.

chosen one · survival · dystopian society · post apocalyptic · amnesia · high stakes survival

I Am Legend

Richard Matheson · Horror

Robert Neville may well be the last living man on Earth .

survival · post apocalyptic · vampires

All the Fiends of Hell

Adam Nevill · Horror

The red night of bells heralds global catastrophe.

cosmic horror · high stakes survival · post apocalyptic · grimdark

World War Z

Max Brooks · Horror

“The end was near.” —Voices from the Zombie War The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity.

grimdark · survival · high stakes survival · post apocalyptic

Wool

Hugh Howey · Sci-Fi

In a ruined and toxic landscape, a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep.

dystopian society · survival · closed circle · post apocalyptic

Defy the Dusk

Danielle L. Jensen · Fantasy

When darkness means certain death and survival depends on reaching the dawn, the woman whose magic broke the world will carve another path: defy the…

grimdark · post apocalyptic · survival · redemption arc · dystopian society

Under the Dome

Stephen King · Horror

Under the Dome is a 2009 science fiction novel by the American author, Stephen King.

closed circle · high stakes survival · psychological thriller · post apocalyptic

The Passage

Justin Cronin · Horror

The Passage is a novel by Justin Cronin, published in 2010 by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

survival · grimdark · chosen one · post apocalyptic · cosmic horror

The Day of the Triffids

John Wyndham · Sci-Fi

John Wyndham's 1951 classic post-apocalypse novel introduced the world to triffids, walking man-eating plants, preying on humanity in a world struck…

post apocalyptic · survival · high stakes survival · dystopian society

Dust

Hugh Howey · Sci-Fi

Wool introduced the world of the silo. Shift told the story of its creation. Dust will describe its downfall.

dystopian society · post apocalyptic · survival

Last Light

Claire Kent · Literary Fiction

It only took four years for the world to fall apart.Now the last member of my family has died, and I'm forced to travel across what's left of three…

post apocalyptic · psychological thriller · survival · trauma recovery

Sky Full of Elephants

Cebo Campbell · Sci-Fi

In this “bold and imaginative” (Tananarive Due) “truly powerful and riveting story” (Booklist) set in a world where white people no longer exist,…

dystopian society · post apocalyptic · political intrigue

The Martian Chronicles

Ray Bradbury · Sci-Fi

This is a collection of science fiction short stories, cleverly cobbled together to form a coherent and very readable novel about a future…

space opera · dystopian society · post apocalyptic · survival

Ode to the Half-Broken

Suzanne Palmer · Sci-Fi

In the abandoned New York Botanical Gardens, forty years after the world nearly ended, a worn-out robot is attacked, and realizes old evils are…

found family · post apocalyptic · survival

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances

Glenn Dixon · Sci-Fi

In a near future, where even the smallest of appliances are sentient, a young Roomba vacuum sets out to save the humans of her house from a rising…

dystopian society · survival · post apocalyptic

A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ

Walter M. Miller Jr. · Sci-Fi

dystopian society · post apocalyptic · political intrigue

Overgrowth

Mira Grant · Sci-Fi

Day of the Triffids meets Gretchen Felker-Martin's Cuckoo.

dystopian society · post apocalyptic · unreliable narrator

Nightfall

Daniel Barnett · Sci-Fi

"Tomorrow died on the last morning of May.

dystopian society · post apocalyptic · high stakes survival

American Rapture

CJ Leede · Sci-Fi

An Indie Next Pick! "Blood-soaked, heart-wrenching, grim and glorious.”—Rachel Harrison, national bestselling author of Black Sheep From CJ Leede,…

dystopian society · grimdark · post apocalyptic · high stakes survival

The Stone Sky

N. K. Jemisin · Fantasy

Humanity will finally be saved or destroyed in the shattering conclusion to the post-apocalyptic and highly acclaimed NYT bestselling trilogy that…

grimdark · post apocalyptic · quest · survival

Timelike Infinity

Stephen Baxter · Sci-Fi

Timelike Infinity: the strange region at the end of time where the Xeelee, owners of the universe, are waiting...

space opera · survival · post apocalyptic · high stakes survival · quest

The Dog Stars

Peter Heller · Sci-Fi

His gripping story is "an ode to friendship between two men...the strong bond between a human and a dog, and a reminder of what is worth living for"…

found family · post apocalyptic · survival

I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream

Harlan Ellison · Sci-Fi

The story is set against the backdrop of World War III, where a sentient supercomputer named AM, born from the merging of the world's major defense…

cosmic horror · post apocalyptic · survival · psychological thriller

The Chrysalids

John Wyndham · Sci-Fi

This book is about a post apocalyptic world returned back to the times of the horse and carriage seen through the eyes of a young boy.

post apocalyptic · dystopian society · coming of age · survival

Seveneves

Neal Stephenson · Sci-Fi

"What would happen if the world were ending?

post apocalyptic · survival · high stakes survival · space opera

The 100

Kass Morgan · Sci-Fi

It's been 21 days since the hundred landed on Earth.

dystopian society · survival · post apocalyptic · coming of age

Saltcrop

Yume Kitasei · Sci-Fi

From the acclaimed author of The Stardust Grail comes the epic tale of two sisters who sail across oceans to find their missing third sister—and…

dystopian society · found family · quest · survival · post apocalyptic

The Drowned World

James Graham Ballard · Sci-Fi

Fluctuations in solar radiation have melted the ice caps, sending the planet into a new Triassic Age of unendurable heat.

post apocalyptic · dystopian society · survival

Earth Abides

George Rippey Stewart · Sci-Fi

The story of rebuilding civilization after a plague nearly wipes out the human race.

post apocalyptic · survival · found family

Of Monsters and Mainframes

Barbara Truelove · Sci-Fi

**Spaceships aren't programmed to seek revenge--but for Dracula, Demeter will make an exception.** Demeter just wants to do her job: shuttling…

space opera · revenge plot · survival · post apocalyptic

Juice

Tim Winton · Sci-Fi

One of The Guardian's best sci-fi books of 2024 An edge-of-your-seat post-apocalyptic thriller, perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Road, from…

post apocalyptic · high stakes survival · dystopian society · psychological thriller