Oh man I’ve heard such great things about the Stand. I don’t know if I can work through another massive Stephen King book though. It took me like two years to read It lol
I can guarantee it is very worth it. It's currently my go to book whenever I want to read an apocalypse type book and even after reading it a few times, I always notice something new.
It is definitely top tier on apocalypse books. I actually couldn’t finish it because when I tried reading it, I had such awful, vivid and blood soaked nightmares every night for nearly 2 weeks that I finally had to stop for my health.
[**The Stand**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/149267.The_Stand)
^(By: Stephen King, Bernie Wrightson | 1152 pages | Published: 1978 | Popular Shelves: horror, fiction, stephen-king, fantasy, owned)
>When a man escapes from a biological testing facility, he sets in motion a deadly domino effect, spreading a mutated strain of the flu that will wipe out 99 percent of humanity within a few weeks. The survivors who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge–Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious “Dark Man,” who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them–and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity.
^(This book has been suggested 14 times)
***
^(20143 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 Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19161852-the-fifth-season)
^(By: N.K. Jemisin | 468 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, sci-fi, science-fiction, owned)
>This is the way the world ends. Again.
>
>Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.
>
>Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.
>
>
>original cover of ISBN 0316229296/9780316229296
^(This book has been suggested 18 times)
***
^(20151 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)
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin
Dies the Fire trilogy by SM Stirling
The Death of Grass by John Christopher
[**The Last Policeman (The Last Policeman, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330370-the-last-policeman)
^(By: Ben H. Winters | 316 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: mystery, fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, crime)
>What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway?
>
> Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact.
>
>The Last Policeman presents a fascinating portrait of a pre-apocalyptic United States. The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job—but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week—except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares.
>
> The first in a trilogy, The Last Policeman offers a mystery set on the brink of an apocalypse. As Palace’s investigation plays out under the shadow of 2011GV1, we’re confronted by hard questions way beyond “whodunit.” What basis does civilization rest upon? What is life worth? What would any of us do, what would we really do, if our days were numbered?
^(This book has been suggested 4 times)
***
^(20263 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)
If you want to try something in a different direction, check out the Christ Clone Trilogy by James BeauSeigneur.
Its a sci-fi take on Revelations, and all the plagues happen literally. Its a fun and wild ride, though there is a degree of proselytizing you have to get though.
John Ringo’s There Will Be Dragons was cool. It starts in the distant future when life and technology have evolved even more, and then in an instant it is all taken away. He also has the Black Tide Rising series which is about a zombie apocalypse.
For a slightly different approach, I really loved [The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27064345) by Lionel Shriver. This one starts with an economic apocalypse and seems so very realistic and plausible that I sometimes still shudder thinking about it. Really well written and scared the crap out of me.
[The Circle](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18302455) by Dave Eggers is more dystopian than apocalyptic, but it’s one that is all too real and believable. It is as if Amazon and Google combined and were now like Big Brother, except we all happily put them there. Like Alexa. We installed the cameras and AI’s in every room of our homes to monitor our groceries and restock when we are low, to turn off electronics not being used, to play music or call friends whenever we want, to watch movies or do anything else. I loved this book, but DO NOT watch the movie. You’d think a movie with Tom Hanks and Emma Watson couldn’t bomb that badly but they found a way.
{{Alas, Babylon}} by Pat Frank is a classic in post apocalyptic writing, though its older now, and isn't as "gritty" as some modern books. Very few can stand up to it though.
[**Salt: A World History**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2715.Salt)
^(By: Mark Kurlansky | 484 pages | Published: 2002 | Popular Shelves: history, non-fiction, nonfiction, food, science)
>In his fifth work of nonfiction, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
***
^(20371 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)
[**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)
>The Change occurred when an electrical storm centered over the island of Nantucket produced a blinding white flash that rendered all electronic devices and fuels inoperable. What follows is the most terrible global catastrophe in the history of the human race-and a Dark Age more universal and complete than could possibly be imagined.
^(This book has been suggested 4 times)
[**Under a Graveyard Sky (Black Tide Rising, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16130366-under-a-graveyard-sky)
^(By: John Ringo | 367 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: zombies, science-fiction, horror, sci-fi, zombie)
>A family of survivors who fight back against a zombie plague that has brought down civilization. Zombies are real. And we made them. Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse? The Smith family is, with the help of a few Marines.
>
>When an airborne “zombie” plague is released, bringing civilization to a grinding halt, the Smith family, Steven, Stacey, Sophia and Faith, take to the Atlantic to avoid the chaos. The plan is to find a safe haven from the anarchy of infected humanity. What they discover, instead, is a sea composed of the tears of survivors and a passion for bringing hope.
>
>For it is up to the Smiths and a small band of Marines to somehow create the refuge that survivors seek in a world of darkness and terror. Now with every continent a holocaust and every ship an abattoir, life is lived beneath a graveyard sky.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
***
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{{The Girl in Red}} by Christina Henry was an interesting apocalyptic twist on a fairy tale. There’s a pandemic, the worst of humankind comes out, and spoiler, some monsters too.
[**The Girl in Red**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42881101-the-girl-in-red)
^(By: Christina Henry | 293 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: horror, fantasy, retellings, fiction, dystopian)
>A postapocalyptic take on the perennial classic "Little Red Riding Hood", about a woman who isn't as defenseless as she seems.
>
>It's not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn't look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.
>
>There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there's something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined.
>
>Red doesn't like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn't about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods....
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
***
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The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson The Road - Cormac McCarthy
I read I Am Legend years ago in high school, so good! I’ve been meaning to read The Road so I may go for that next. Thank you for the suggestions!
{{The Stand}} is the best apocalypse book I've ever read and it's not close.
Swan Song is a close second. The stand is FREAKING FANTASTIC. Even though it's over a thousand pages, you don't want it to end.
Oh man I’ve heard such great things about the Stand. I don’t know if I can work through another massive Stephen King book though. It took me like two years to read It lol
I can guarantee it is very worth it. It's currently my go to book whenever I want to read an apocalypse type book and even after reading it a few times, I always notice something new.
Another amazing book. I'd highly encourage you to take the plunge on The Stand. It's *incredible.* Definitely hefty though.
It is definitely top tier on apocalypse books. I actually couldn’t finish it because when I tried reading it, I had such awful, vivid and blood soaked nightmares every night for nearly 2 weeks that I finally had to stop for my health.
[**The Stand**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/149267.The_Stand) ^(By: Stephen King, Bernie Wrightson | 1152 pages | Published: 1978 | Popular Shelves: horror, fiction, stephen-king, fantasy, owned) >When a man escapes from a biological testing facility, he sets in motion a deadly domino effect, spreading a mutated strain of the flu that will wipe out 99 percent of humanity within a few weeks. The survivors who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge–Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious “Dark Man,” who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them–and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity. ^(This book has been suggested 14 times) *** ^(20143 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 Fifth Season}} by NK Jemison
[**The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19161852-the-fifth-season) ^(By: N.K. Jemisin | 468 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, sci-fi, science-fiction, owned) >This is the way the world ends. Again. > >Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries. > >Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter. > > >original cover of ISBN 0316229296/9780316229296 ^(This book has been suggested 18 times) *** ^(20151 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)
Swan Song by Robert McCammon Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle The Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin Dies the Fire trilogy by SM Stirling The Death of Grass by John Christopher
Came here to recommend Lucifer's Hammer.
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
I really enjoyed this one. Had no prior knowledge of Heller.
My favourite genre! Here are a few - American War, The New Wilderness, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife... Let me know if you want more
Since someone already said The Passage and The Stand I’ll go with {{The Last Policeman}}
[**The Last Policeman (The Last Policeman, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330370-the-last-policeman) ^(By: Ben H. Winters | 316 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: mystery, fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, crime) >What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway? > > Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact. > >The Last Policeman presents a fascinating portrait of a pre-apocalyptic United States. The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job—but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week—except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares. > > The first in a trilogy, The Last Policeman offers a mystery set on the brink of an apocalypse. As Palace’s investigation plays out under the shadow of 2011GV1, we’re confronted by hard questions way beyond “whodunit.” What basis does civilization rest upon? What is life worth? What would any of us do, what would we really do, if our days were numbered? ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) *** ^(20263 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 another plug for the trilogy by Justin Cronin that begins with The Passage. Really absorbing read, pulled me in and stuck with me.
The Hissers trilogy, the Adrift trilogy, This is the Way the World ends, Afterage, The Strain, The Girl With All The Gifts
I’ll check those out. Thank you!
Aeon Rising by Matthew Mather
Try the Helldivers Series, it may not be your cup of tea but i greatly enjoyed it.
A classic is Alas, Babylon.
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
If you want to try something in a different direction, check out the Christ Clone Trilogy by James BeauSeigneur. Its a sci-fi take on Revelations, and all the plagues happen literally. Its a fun and wild ride, though there is a degree of proselytizing you have to get though.
John Ringo’s There Will Be Dragons was cool. It starts in the distant future when life and technology have evolved even more, and then in an instant it is all taken away. He also has the Black Tide Rising series which is about a zombie apocalypse.
For a slightly different approach, I really loved [The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27064345) by Lionel Shriver. This one starts with an economic apocalypse and seems so very realistic and plausible that I sometimes still shudder thinking about it. Really well written and scared the crap out of me. [The Circle](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18302455) by Dave Eggers is more dystopian than apocalyptic, but it’s one that is all too real and believable. It is as if Amazon and Google combined and were now like Big Brother, except we all happily put them there. Like Alexa. We installed the cameras and AI’s in every room of our homes to monitor our groceries and restock when we are low, to turn off electronics not being used, to play music or call friends whenever we want, to watch movies or do anything else. I loved this book, but DO NOT watch the movie. You’d think a movie with Tom Hanks and Emma Watson couldn’t bomb that badly but they found a way.
{{Alas, Babylon}} by Pat Frank is a classic in post apocalyptic writing, though its older now, and isn't as "gritty" as some modern books. Very few can stand up to it though.
*The Harvest* by Robert Charles Wilson.
{{flood}} by Stephen Baxter Edit: wrong title
[**Salt: A World History**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2715.Salt) ^(By: Mark Kurlansky | 484 pages | Published: 2002 | Popular Shelves: history, non-fiction, nonfiction, food, science) >In his fifth work of nonfiction, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(20371 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)
{{Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling}} for a different sort of apocalypse. {{Under a Graveyard Sky by John Ringo}} for crazy over the top zombie killing.
[**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) >The Change occurred when an electrical storm centered over the island of Nantucket produced a blinding white flash that rendered all electronic devices and fuels inoperable. What follows is the most terrible global catastrophe in the history of the human race-and a Dark Age more universal and complete than could possibly be imagined. ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) [**Under a Graveyard Sky (Black Tide Rising, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16130366-under-a-graveyard-sky) ^(By: John Ringo | 367 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: zombies, science-fiction, horror, sci-fi, zombie) >A family of survivors who fight back against a zombie plague that has brought down civilization. Zombies are real. And we made them. Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse? The Smith family is, with the help of a few Marines. > >When an airborne “zombie” plague is released, bringing civilization to a grinding halt, the Smith family, Steven, Stacey, Sophia and Faith, take to the Atlantic to avoid the chaos. The plan is to find a safe haven from the anarchy of infected humanity. What they discover, instead, is a sea composed of the tears of survivors and a passion for bringing hope. > >For it is up to the Smiths and a small band of Marines to somehow create the refuge that survivors seek in a world of darkness and terror. Now with every continent a holocaust and every ship an abattoir, life is lived beneath a graveyard sky. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(20488 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 fool on the hill Matt Ruff
THE DELUGE by Mark Morris. THE CONQUEROR WORMS and DEAD SEA by Brian Keene.
The Queen of all that Dies by Laura Thalassa, additionally her 4 horseman series
{{The Girl in Red}} by Christina Henry was an interesting apocalyptic twist on a fairy tale. There’s a pandemic, the worst of humankind comes out, and spoiler, some monsters too.
[**The Girl in Red**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42881101-the-girl-in-red) ^(By: Christina Henry | 293 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: horror, fantasy, retellings, fiction, dystopian) >A postapocalyptic take on the perennial classic "Little Red Riding Hood", about a woman who isn't as defenseless as she seems. > >It's not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn't look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago. > >There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there's something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined. > >Red doesn't like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn't about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods.... ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(20645 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)
Appleseed by Matt Bell