>ASHTALES

List of Post-Apocalyptic Books

A searchable, filterable list of every post-apocalyptic book featured anywhere on Ash Tales.

Cover of 1984

1984

George Orwell • 1949 • Dystopian control

Winston Smith secretly resists a totalitarian state that controls language, history and private thought, but his relationship with Julia draws the Party's attention.

1 referencing article

Cover of A Canticle for Leibowitz

A Canticle for Leibowitz★

Walter M. Miller, Jr. • 1959 • Nuclear war

Centuries after nuclear war, an order of monks preserves fragments of lost knowledge while civilisation rebuilds, prospers and edges towards repeating its destruction.

My rating: 5 / 5 10 referencing articles

Cover of A Matter for Men

A Matter for Men

David Gerrold • 1983 • Alien invasion

Soldier Jim McCarthy joins the fight against the Chtorr, an alien ecology replacing Earth's species while human institutions struggle to understand the invasion.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article Series: The War Against the Chtorr

Cover of Alas, Babylon

Alas, Babylon★

Pat Frank • 1959 • Nuclear war

After a nuclear exchange isolates central Florida, Randy Bragg organises his neighbours to secure food, water, medicine and order in the town of Fort Repose.

My rating: 5 / 5 10 referencing articles

Cover of All You Need Is Kill

All You Need Is Kill

Hiroshi Sakurazaka • 2004 • Alien invasion

Recruit Keiji Kiriya repeatedly relives the same battle against alien Mimics and seeks help from veteran soldier Rita Vrataski to escape the loop.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of American Gods

American Gods

Neil Gaiman • 2001 • Fantasy / fallen world

Ex-convict Shadow crosses America with the mysterious Mr Wednesday, becoming caught in a conflict between old immigrant gods and new deities of technology and media.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of Anathem

Anathem

Neal Stephenson • 2008 • Cosmic / planetary

Scholar-monk Fraa Erasmas leaves his cloistered intellectual order when an extraterrestrial crisis forces the separated worlds of scholarship, religion and politics to work together.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of Blackout

Blackout

Mira Grant • 2012 • Zombie

Shaun's team and a newly awakened Georgia race to expose the conspiracy controlling the outbreak before engineered epidemics erase the evidence.

1 referencing article Series: Newsflesh

Cover of Blindness

Blindness

Jose Saramago • 1995 • Pandemic

A sudden epidemic of blindness confines its first victims in quarantine, where collapsing authority and scarce resources expose the violence of the wider society.

1 referencing article

Cover of Brave New World

Brave New World

Aldous Huxley • 1932 • Dystopian control

Bernard Marx brings outsider John the Savage into a genetically engineered society built on conditioning, consumption and the suppression of lasting attachments.

1 referencing article

Cover of Breathers

Breathers

S.G. Browne • 2009 • Zombie

Newly undead Andy Warner joins a zombie support group and campaigns for civil rights while trying to reconnect with the human world.

1 referencing article

Cover of Bushcraft 101

Bushcraft 101

Dave Canterbury • 2014 • Practical survival

The field guide covers essential tools, shelter, fire, navigation, trapping and campcraft for living safely in the wilderness.

0 referencing articles

Cover of Cell

Cell

Stephen King • 2006 • Zombie

A signal transmitted through mobile phones turns users into violent hive-minded attackers, sending Clay Riddell across New England in search of his son.

My rating: 4 / 5 6 referencing articles

Cover of Childhood's End

Childhood's End

Arthur C. Clarke • 1953 • Alien invasion

Alien Overlords impose peace and prosperity on Earth, but their long plan ultimately transforms humanity and ends the species as it was known.

My rating: 5 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of Children of the Dust

Children of the Dust

Louise Lawrence • 1985 • Nuclear war

Three generations of one family live through a nuclear attack, shelter life and the emergence of children adapted to the radioactive world outside.

0 referencing articles

Cover of Darkness and Dawn

Darkness and Dawn

George Allan England • 1912 • Unexplained

Two people awaken a thousand years after catastrophe destroyed civilisation and attempt to survive among the ruins of New York.

1 referencing article

Cover of Dawn

Dawn★

Octavia E. Butler • 1987 • Alien invasion

Lilith Iyapo awakens aboard an alien ship centuries after nuclear war and must recruit other humans for a return to a biologically transformed Earth.

My rating: 5 / 5 1 referencing article Series: Xenogenesis

Cover of Days Gone Bye

Days Gone Bye

Robert Kirkman • 2003 • Zombie

Police officer Rick Grimes wakes from a coma into a zombie outbreak and travels to Atlanta hoping to find his wife and son.

1 referencing article Series: The Walking Dead

Cover of Deadline

Deadline

Mira Grant • 2011 • Zombie

Journalist Shaun Mason follows evidence of a government conspiracy behind the zombie virus while grieving his sister and protecting his remaining team.

1 referencing article Series: Newsflesh

Cover of Down to a Sunless Sea

Down to a Sunless Sea

David Graham • 1979 • Nuclear war

A commercial airliner remains aloft as nuclear war destroys the world below, forcing its crew and passengers to search for a survivable place to land.

0 referencing articles

Cover of Dust

Dust

Hugh Howey • 2013 • Technology / AI

Juliette connects divided silos and confronts their central authorities while seeking a path beyond the system that has kept survivors underground.

1 referencing article Series: Silo

Cover of Eternity Road

Eternity Road

Jack McDevitt • 1997 • Pandemic

Centuries after a plague ends technological civilisation, a group leaves the Mississippi settlement of Illyria to search eastern ruins for a legendary store of knowledge.

1 referencing article

Cover of Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury • 1953 • Dystopian control

Fireman Guy Montag burns outlawed books until encounters with a curious neighbour and a hunted reader make him question the society he serves.

1 referencing article

Cover of Farnham's Freehold

Farnham's Freehold

Robert A. Heinlein • 1964 • Nuclear war

A family survives a nuclear attack in a private shelter and emerges in a distant future where power and racial hierarchies have been radically reversed.

0 referencing articles

Cover of Fear the Sky

Fear the Sky

Stephen Moss • 2014 • Alien invasion

A scientist detects an approaching alien fleet and forms a covert team to prepare humanity while infiltrators work to prevent an effective defence.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article Series: The Fear Saga

Cover of Flesh

Flesh

Kylie Scott • 2013 • Zombie

Ali and Daniel travel through a zombie outbreak, gathering allies while their survival partnership develops into a complicated romance.

1 referencing article

Cover of Footfall

Footfall

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle • 1985 • Alien invasion

Elephant-like aliens arrive in Earth's orbit and demand submission, prompting fractured governments and scientists to mount an improvised military response.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of Fourteen Days: The Reckoning

Fourteen Days: The Reckoning

Joseph D. Nirmaier • 2024 • EMP

In the second week after an EMP attack, JT Clarke's group struggles to protect its supplies as refugees and armed opportunists overwhelm rural Somerset, Wisconsin.

0 referencing articles Series: Seven Days

Cover of I Am Legend

I Am Legend

Richard Matheson • 1954 • Zombie

Robert Neville, apparently the last uninfected man alive, barricades himself by night and hunts the vampiric victims of a pandemic by day.

"I am legend."

My rating: 5 / 5 7 referencing articles

Cover of Last Light

Last Light

Claire Kent • 2021 • Unexplained

After infrastructure collapse isolates the American South, Layne travels with survivalist Travis as scarcity and danger force them to depend on each other.

1 referencing article

Cover of Maddaddam Trilogy

Maddaddam Trilogy

Margaret Atwood • 2003 • Pandemic

The trilogy follows survivors of a corporate biotech plague as they join engineered humans and attempt to create a new society.

1 referencing article Series: MaddAddam

Cover of Migrations

Migrations

Charlotte McConaghy • 2020 • Climate

As wildlife disappears, Franny Stone joins a fishing vessel to follow the last Arctic terns on what may be their final migration.

1 referencing article

Cover of Monster Island

Monster Island

David Wellington • 2006 • Zombie

A UN weapons officer enters zombie-filled Manhattan to find vital medicine, only to encounter an intelligent undead leader building an army of his own.

My rating: 4 / 5 2 referencing articles

Cover of My Life as a White Trash Zombie

My Life as a White Trash Zombie

Diana Rowland • 2011 • Zombie

Angel Crawford wakes in hospital with a mysterious new job at a morgue and must solve a series of murders while managing her need for human brains.

1 referencing article Series: White Trash Zombie

Cover of Newsflesh

Newsflesh

Mira Grant • 2010 • Zombie

In a world where zombie infection is permanent, a team of bloggers investigates political conspiracies that exploit fear of the virus.

1 referencing article Series: Newsflesh

Cover of Nuclear War Survival Skills

Nuclear War Survival Skills

Cresson H. Kearny • 1979 • Nuclear war

The civil-defence manual gives practical instructions for fallout shelters, radiation measurement, water, food and sanitation after nuclear attack.

0 referencing articles

Cover of On the Beach

On the Beach

Nevil Shute • 1957 • Nuclear war

In Australia, naval officer Peter Holmes and submarine commander Dwight Towers wait as radioactive fallout from a northern nuclear war steadily approaches the last surviving population.

My rating: 4 / 5 6 referencing articles

Cover of One Second After

One Second After

William R. Forstchen • 2009 • EMP

When an EMP destroys the US power grid, history professor John Matherson helps his North Carolina town confront shortages, disease and the collapse of civil authority.

My rating: 4 / 5 7 referencing articles Series: John Matherson

Cover of Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake

Margaret Atwood • 2003 • Pandemic

Snowman recalls how his brilliant friend Crake engineered a plague and a new human species, leaving him to guide the resulting survivors.

My rating: 5 / 5 8 referencing articles Series: MaddAddam

Cover of Parable of the Sower

Parable of the Sower★

Octavia E. Butler • 1993 • Climate

As climate disaster and inequality consume California, teenager Lauren Olamina flees north with other survivors while shaping a new belief system called Earthseed.

"All that you touch You Change."

My rating: 5 / 5 9 referencing articles Series: Earthseed

Cover of Patient Zero

Patient Zero

Jonathan Maberry • 2009 • Zombie

Baltimore detective Joe Ledger joins a covert task force racing to stop terrorists from releasing a pathogen that turns infected people into zombies.

My rating: 4 / 5 2 referencing articles

Cover of Pestilence

Pestilence

Laura Thalassa • 2018 • Supernatural

Sara attempts to stop the horseman Pestilence as he spreads a fatal plague, but captivity turns their conflict into an uneasy journey together.

1 referencing article Series: The Four Horsemen

Cover of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Seth Grahame-Smith • 2009 • Zombie

Elizabeth Bennet balances courtship, family expectations and her growing feelings for Mr Darcy while fighting the undead overrunning Regency England.

My rating: 4 / 5 2 referencing articles

Cover of Red Clocks

Red Clocks

Leni Zumas • 2018 • Dystopian control

Five women in a near-future America navigate pregnancy, adoption and autonomy after abortion and assisted reproduction are outlawed.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of Riddley Walker

Riddley Walker

Russell Hoban • 1980 • Nuclear war

In a primitive England centuries after nuclear destruction, twelve-year-old Riddley becomes entangled in attempts to recover the dangerous knowledge that ended the old world.

My rating: 4 / 5 6 referencing articles

Cover of SAS Survival Handbook

SAS Survival Handbook

John 'Lofty' Wiseman • 1986 • Practical survival

The manual explains shelter, fire, food, first aid, navigation and emergency techniques for surviving in wilderness and disaster conditions.

0 referencing articles

Cover of Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman

Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman

Walter M. Miller, Jr. • 1997 • Nuclear war

In a fragmented post-nuclear America, monk Blacktooth becomes caught between the Leibowitz order, nomadic tribes and expanding political powers.

0 referencing articles

Cover of Shift

Shift

Hugh Howey • 2013 • Technology / AI

The origins of the silos are revealed through the people who designed, governed and resisted the programme that buried humanity underground.

1 referencing article Series: Silo

Cover of Song of Susannah

Song of Susannah

Stephen King • 2004 • Fantasy / fallen world

Susannah, possessed by Mia and carrying a dangerous child, travels to New York while the divided ka-tet races across worlds to find her.

1 referencing article Series: The Dark Tower

Cover of Station Eleven

Station Eleven★

Emily St. John Mandel • 2014 • Pandemic

A travelling troupe performs Shakespeare around the Great Lakes twenty years after a flu pandemic, while linked lives before and after the collapse gradually converge.

My rating: 5 / 5 11 referencing articles

Cover of Swan Song

Swan Song

Robert R. McCammon • 1987 • Nuclear war

After nuclear war devastates the United States, a girl with the power to renew life becomes the focus of a struggle between scattered survivors and a supernatural evil.

My rating: 4 / 5 5 referencing articles

Cover of The Amtrak Wars

The Amtrak Wars

Patrick Tilley • 1983 • Nuclear war

Centuries after nuclear war, technologically advanced Amtrak Federation forces battle surface communities and the mysterious Mutes across a divided America.

1 referencing article Series: The Amtrak Wars

Cover of The Blade Itself

The Blade Itself

Joe Abercrombie • 2006 • Fantasy / fallen world

A crippled torturer, a disgraced warrior and a vain young officer are drawn into the Union's wars and the dangerous plans of the wizard Bayaz.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article Series: The First Law

Cover of The Body Snatchers

The Body Snatchers

Jack Finney • 1955 • Alien invasion

A small-town doctor discovers that alien pods are replacing residents with emotionally empty duplicates, making every familiar person suspect.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of The Book of Etta

The Book of Etta

Meg Elison • 2017 • Pandemic

Generations after a plague devastates the female population, raider Etta crosses hostile settlements and challenges the rigid roles imposed by her own community.

1 referencing article Series: Road to Nowhere

Cover of The Book of Flora

The Book of Flora

Meg Elison • 2019 • Pandemic

Flora records her journey through post-plague America, tracing how captivity, gender, faith and survival shaped the communities she encounters.

1 referencing article Series: Road to Nowhere

Cover of The Buried Giant

The Buried Giant

Kazuo Ishiguro • 2015 • Fantasy / fallen world

An elderly couple crosses a mist-shrouded post-Arthurian Britain to find their son, gradually uncovering the violence that collective forgetfulness has concealed.

1 referencing article

Cover of The Chrysalids

The Chrysalids

John Wyndham • 1955 • Nuclear war

In a post-nuclear religious settlement, David hides his telepathy and helps other gifted children escape a society that destroys physical and mental differences.

0 referencing articles

Cover of The Citadel of the Autarch

The Citadel of the Autarch

Gene Wolfe • 1983 • Cosmic / planetary

Severian enters a war at the edge of the Commonwealth and moves towards the role that will determine both political succession and Urth's future.

1 referencing article Series: The Book of the New Sun

Cover of The City & The City

The City & The City

China Mieville • 2009 • Dystopian control

Detective Tyador Borlú investigates a murder spanning two cities that occupy the same physical space but require citizens to ignore one another.

1 referencing article

Cover of The City of Mirrors

The City of Mirrors

Justin Cronin • 2016 • Zombie

Amy and the surviving colonies prepare for a final confrontation with Subject Zero as his life before the viral outbreak is revealed.

1 referencing article Series: The Passage

Cover of The Claw of the Conciliator

The Claw of the Conciliator

Gene Wolfe • 1981 • Cosmic / planetary

Severian travels north towards his post in Thrax as the mysterious Claw draws him into apparent miracles, political conflict and encounters with forgotten creatures.

1 referencing article Series: The Book of the New Sun

Cover of The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower

Stephen King • 1982 • Fantasy / fallen world

Roland and his ka-tet reach the final stage of their journey to the Dark Tower as the boundaries between worlds continue to fail.

My rating: 5 / 5 6 referencing articles Series: The Dark Tower

Cover of The Dark and Hollow Places

The Dark and Hollow Places

Carrie Ryan • 2011 • Zombie

Annah survives among the ruins of a walled city until the arrival of Catcher and a massive zombie horde forces her to confront her abandoned past.

1 referencing article Series: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Cover of The Day of the Triffids

The Day of the Triffids

John Wyndham • 1951 • Pandemic

After a celestial display blinds most of humanity, sighted survivor Bill Masen navigates a collapsing Britain overrun by mobile, venomous plants.

1 referencing article

Cover of The Dead and the Gone

The Dead and the Gone

Susan Beth Pfeffer • 2008 • Asteroid / comet

After the Moon is knocked closer to Earth, teenager Alex Morales tries to keep his sisters alive in a New York City losing food, power and order.

1 referencing article Series: Last Survivors

Cover of The Dead-Tossed Waves

The Dead-Tossed Waves

Carrie Ryan • 2010 • Zombie

Gabry leaves the safety of her seaside town after a forbidden trip beyond its barriers triggers a zombie attack and exposes secrets about her past.

1 referencing article Series: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Cover of The Dog Stars

The Dog Stars

Peter Heller • 2012 • Pandemic

Nine years after a flu pandemic, pilot Hig lives at an abandoned Colorado airfield until a faint radio message sends him beyond his guarded perimeter.

My rating: 4 / 5 5 referencing articles

Cover of The Drawing of the Three

The Drawing of the Three

Stephen King • 1987 • Fantasy / fallen world

Roland opens doorways into twentieth-century New York to recruit Eddie and Odetta while continuing his journey towards the Dark Tower.

1 referencing article Series: The Dark Tower

Cover of The Drowned World

The Drowned World

JG Ballard • 1962 • Climate

As solar heating floods tropical London, biologist Robert Kerans remains with a research team while the transformed landscape pulls him deeper south.

1 referencing article

Cover of The Fever King

The Fever King

Victoria Lee • 2019 • Pandemic

After surviving a magical viral outbreak, Noam Álvaro enters an authoritarian government training programme and becomes involved in a rebellion over refugee rights.

1 referencing article Series: Feverwake

Cover of The Forge of God

The Forge of God

Greg Bear • 1987 • Alien invasion

Conflicting alien visitors appear as Earth's destruction begins, leaving scientists and families to determine whether any warning or rescue can be trusted.

My rating: 5 / 5 1 referencing article Series: The Forge of God

Cover of The Genocides

The Genocides★

Thomas M. Disch • 1965 • Alien invasion

Alien plants overrun Earth and reduce humanity to a pest species, forcing one isolated farming community into a desperate search for shelter.

My rating: 5 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of The Living Dead

The Living Dead

John Joseph Adams • 2020 • Zombie

This anthology follows people confronting outbreaks, fortified communities and the social aftermath of the dead returning across a wide range of zombie stories.

My rating: 4 / 5 2 referencing articles

Cover of The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings★

J. R. R. Tolkien • 1954 • Fantasy / fallen world

Frodo carries the One Ring across the ruins and battlefields of Middle-earth while a fellowship of allies resists Sauron's attempt to dominate the age.

My rating: 5 / 5 1 referencing article Series: Middle-earth

Cover of The Lost Continent

The Lost Continent

Edgar Rice Burroughs • 1916 • Dystopian control

An American naval officer reaches a future Europe isolated after war and finds Britain divided into rival kingdoms among the ruins.

1 referencing article

Cover of The Magic Goes Away

The Magic Goes Away

Larry Niven • 1978 • Fantasy / fallen world

In an ancient world where magic consumes a finite resource, a band of magicians seeks a legendary reserve as their civilisation runs out of power.

0 referencing articles

Cover of The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner

James Dashner • 2009 • Pandemic

Thomas wakes without memories in a community of boys trapped beside a changing maze, then helps uncover its connection to a devastated outside world.

1 referencing article Series: The Maze Runner

Cover of The Ministry for the Future

The Ministry for the Future

Kim Stanley Robinson • 2020 • Climate

After a lethal Indian heatwave, an international ministry pursues financial, political and technological measures intended to slow climate catastrophe.

1 referencing article

Cover of The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse

The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse

Fernando "FerFAL" Aguirre • 2009 • Practical survival

Drawing on Argentina's financial crisis, the guide covers security, supplies, transport and community risks during prolonged economic breakdown.

0 referencing articles

Cover of The Obelisk Gate

The Obelisk Gate

N.K. Jemisin • 2016 • Climate

Essun learns to control the obelisks while her daughter Nassun develops powers of her own and communities struggle through the new Season.

1 referencing article Series: The Broken Earth

Cover of The Passage

The Passage

Justin Cronin • 2010 • Zombie

A military experiment unleashes vampire-like virals across America, linking an immune girl named Amy to survivors living nearly a century after the outbreak.

My rating: 3 / 5 10 referencing articles Series: The Passage

Cover of The Planet of the Apes

The Planet of the Apes

Pierre Boulle • 1963 • Pandemic

Astronaut Ulysse Mérou lands on a world where intelligent apes rule and humans are treated as animals, then confronts what that society reveals about his own.

0 referencing articles

Cover of The Poison Belt

The Poison Belt

Arthur Conan Doyle • 1913 • Cosmic / planetary

Professor Challenger seals his companions inside an oxygenated room as Earth passes through a poisonous belt that appears to kill the outside world.

1 referencing article

Cover of The Postman

The Postman

David Brin • 1985 • Nuclear war

A drifter in a ruined America adopts a dead postal worker's uniform and inadvertently creates a symbol that helps isolated settlements reconnect and resist a violent militia.

My rating: 4 / 5 6 referencing articles

Cover of The Power

The Power

Naomi Alderman • 2016 • Dystopian control

Teenage girls develop the ability to deliver electrical shocks, overturning gendered power across families, governments and religions around the world.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of The Prince of Nothing

The Prince of Nothing

R. Scott Bakker • 2003 • Fantasy / fallen world

A holy war draws warriors, sorcerers and the manipulative Anasûrimbor Kellhus towards an ancient threat capable of ending civilisation again.

0 referencing articles

Cover of The Puppet Masters

The Puppet Masters

Robert A. Heinlein • 1951 • Alien invasion

US intelligence agents fight parasitic aliens that attach to human hosts, erase free will and spread through positions of power.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of The Road

The Road★

Cormac McCarthy • 2006 • Unexplained

A father and son travel south through an ash-covered, nearly lifeless America, scavenging for food while trying to avoid violent bands of survivors.

"You forget what you want to remember."

My rating: 5 / 5 11 referencing articles

Cover of The School for Good Mothers

The School for Good Mothers

Jessamine Chan • 2022 • Dystopian control

After leaving her toddler alone, Frida Liu is sent to a state institution where surveillance and robotic children are used to judge whether mothers deserve custody.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of The Shade of the Moon

The Shade of the Moon

Susan Beth Pfeffer • 2013 • Asteroid / comet

Years after the lunar disaster, Jon lives inside a protected enclave until inequality and violence force him to choose between privilege and his family.

1 referencing article Series: Last Survivors

Cover of The Shadow of the Torturer

The Shadow of the Torturer

Gene Wolfe • 1980 • Cosmic / planetary

Apprentice torturer Severian is exiled for showing mercy and begins a journey across the ancient city of Nessus carrying a powerful relic.

1 referencing article Series: The Book of the New Sun

Cover of The Stand

The Stand

Stephen King • 1978 • Pandemic

After a weaponised flu kills most of humanity, survivors gather around two opposing figures and are drawn into a final struggle between their new communities.

"No great loss."

My rating: 5 / 5 8 referencing articles

Cover of The Stone Sky

The Stone Sky

N.K. Jemisin • 2017 • Climate

Essun and Nassun pursue opposing plans for the Moon and the future of the Stillness as the origins of the shattered Earth come to light.

1 referencing article Series: The Broken Earth

Cover of The Sword of the Lictor

The Sword of the Lictor

Gene Wolfe • 1982 • Cosmic / planetary

After serving as Thrax's lictor, Severian abandons the city and journeys deeper into Urth's mountains, confronting monsters and the consequences of his past.

1 referencing article Series: The Book of the New Sun

Cover of The Three Californias Trilogy

The Three Californias Trilogy

Kim Stanley Robinson • 1984 • Nuclear war

Three separate futures imagine Orange County after nuclear devastation, under corporate authoritarianism and within an ecological utopia.

0 referencing articles Series: The Three Californias

Cover of The Three-Body Problem

The Three-Body Problem

Cixin Liu • 2008 • Alien invasion

A physicist investigating scientific deaths discovers a secret contact with an alien civilisation whose invasion fleet is already travelling towards Earth.

My rating: 5 / 5 1 referencing article Series: Remembrance of Earth's Past

Cover of The War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds★

H. G. Wells • 1898 • Alien invasion

A narrator flees across southern England as technologically superior Martians destroy towns and overwhelm the military with heat-rays and poison gas.

My rating: 5 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of The Warded Man

The Warded Man

Peter V. Brett • 2008 • Fantasy / fallen world

In a world besieged by demons each night, three survivors develop new ways to fight creatures that humanity has endured behind protective wards for generations.

0 referencing articles Series: The Demon Cycle

Cover of The Waste Lands

The Waste Lands

Stephen King • 1991 • Fantasy / fallen world

Roland's ka-tet follows the Beam through a collapsing Mid-World, rescuing Jake and confronting an insane monorail on the path to the Dark Tower.

1 referencing article Series: The Dark Tower

Cover of The Water Knife

The Water Knife

Paolo Bacigalupi • 2015 • Climate

Water operative Angel Velasquez enters a drought-stricken Phoenix to investigate a valuable water claim as refugees and rival states fight over the Colorado River.

1 referencing article

Cover of The White Mountains

The White Mountains

John Christopher • 1967 • Alien invasion

In a world ruled by alien Tripods, thirteen-year-old Will escapes compulsory mind control and journeys towards a hidden resistance in the mountains.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article Series: The Tripods

Cover of The Wild Shore

The Wild Shore

Kim Stanley Robinson • 1984 • Nuclear war

Decades after a nuclear attack isolates America, a young man in coastal California encounters outsiders whose political plans threaten his small community.

0 referencing articles

Cover of The Wind Through the Keyhole

The Wind Through the Keyhole

Stephen King • 2012 • Fantasy / fallen world

Sheltering from a lethal storm, Roland tells his companions a story from his youth that contains another tale about a boy facing a shape-shifting killer.

1 referencing article Series: The Dark Tower

Cover of The Windup Girl

The Windup Girl

Paolo Bacigalupi • 2009 • Climate

In a climate-altered Bangkok ruled by calorie companies, investigator Anderson Lake and engineered woman Emiko become caught in a struggle over resistant seed stock.

1 referencing article

Cover of The Year of the Flood

The Year of the Flood

Margaret Atwood • 2009 • Pandemic

Two women from very different lives survive the engineered plague and draw on lessons from the eco-religious God's Gardeners while searching for other survivors.

6 referencing articles Series: MaddAddam

Cover of Things We Didn't See Coming

Things We Didn't See Coming

Steven Amsterdam • 2009 • Pandemic

Linked episodes follow one man from a feared millennium crisis through pandemics, environmental breakdown and increasingly authoritarian responses to disaster.

My rating: 2 / 5 2 referencing articles

Cover of This Crowded Earth

This Crowded Earth

Robert Bloch • 1958 • Dystopian control

In an overcrowded future America, government schemes for population control transform cities, family life and individual freedom.

1 referencing article

Cover of This World We Live In

This World We Live In

Susan Beth Pfeffer • 2010 • Asteroid / comet

Miranda's family takes in new survivors, including Alex Morales, as continuing climate disruption makes food, shelter and trust increasingly fragile.

1 referencing article Series: Last Survivors

Cover of Undead Girl Gang

Undead Girl Gang

Lily Anderson • 2018 • Zombie

Teen witch Mila Flores resurrects three dead classmates to investigate their deaths, but has only seven days before the spell ends.

1 referencing article

Cover of Vox

Vox

Christina Dalcher • 2018 • Dystopian control

When American women are limited to one hundred spoken words a day, neuroscientist Jean McClellan is recruited by the regime and searches for a way to resist.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of War Girls

War Girls

Tochi Onyebuchi • 2019 • Nuclear war

Sisters Onyii and Ify fight on opposing sides of a technologically advanced Nigerian civil war in a future already damaged by climate and nuclear catastrophe.

1 referencing article

Cover of Warday

Warday

Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka • 1984 • Nuclear war

Two writers travel across the United States five years after a limited nuclear exchange, documenting fractured regions, damaged infrastructure and an uneven national recovery.

My rating: 4 / 5 5 referencing articles

Cover of We

We

Yevgeny Zamyatin • 1924 • Dystopian control

Engineer D-503 begins a forbidden relationship while documenting life in the glass-walled OneState, causing him to question its mathematical control of every citizen.

1 referencing article

Cover of When the Wind Blows

When the Wind Blows

Raymond Briggs • 1982 • Nuclear war

An elderly English couple follows outdated civil-defence advice after a nuclear strike, slowly succumbing to radiation while believing help will arrive.

My rating: 4 / 5 1 referencing article

Cover of Where There is No Doctor

Where There is No Doctor

David Werner • 1977 • Practical survival

The community health guide explains diagnosis, treatment, prevention and basic medical care for places without reliable access to clinicians.

0 referencing articles

Cover of Wizard and Glass

Wizard and Glass

Stephen King • 1997 • Fantasy / fallen world

While Roland's group shelters from a deadly storm, he recounts his youth in Mejis, his love for Susan Delgado and the betrayal that shaped his quest.

1 referencing article Series: The Dark Tower

Cover of Wolves of the Calla

Wolves of the Calla

Stephen King • 2003 • Fantasy / fallen world

Roland and his companions pause their quest to help a farming village defend its children from masked raiders who return once every generation.

1 referencing article Series: The Dark Tower

Cover of Wool

Wool

Hugh Howey • 2011 • Technology / AI

In a sealed underground silo, engineer Juliette investigates a sheriff's death and uncovers secrets about the toxic world outside and the rules keeping residents underground.

My rating: 4 / 5 6 referencing articles Series: Silo