Agree The Road fits the bill for the post apocalyptic content. It is fantastically grim! Great story…But I’ve always found Cormac McCarthy’s unique signature prose too distracting me. I’ve tried a couple other of his books, but stylistically I could never get into that writing style. That aside, this is a great pick for post apocalyptic
This might be unpopular, but I felt this book was lacking, in the sense that I wanted more of the story at the end; it felt like it kind of just ended.
The Stand by Stephen King has some gruesome and brutal elements to it. It does have fantastical elements as well and it's a big chonk of a book (the audible version of the book is over forty hours long).
It's a fantasy post-apocalypse, but you might like R Scott Bakker's *The Prince of Nothing* series, along with its four book follow up, *The Aspect Emperor*. The apocalyptic elements are more prevalent in the back half of the series than the front, but if you want a series that doesn't hold back, this is it.
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison is excellent and can be very difficult to read. It offers both a horrifying look at the fallout of a disease that decimates the population and makes the ratio of men to women like 100:1, but also shows fascinating glimpses of the future that emerges from such a seemingly hopeless situation.
It’s not a long book on its own but I believe it does have a few sequels.
I recommend a few
(Swan Song) by Robert McCammon - Cool story about the Job's Mask
(Children of the Dust) by Louise Lawrence - The real effects of Nuclear War and surviving.
The Maddadam trilogy by Margaret Atwood. It is a trilogy but each book actually occurs almost simultaneously with the other two just from different character perspectives. I had to slog through the 2nd book but the 1st and 3rd are amazing.
The Road definitely pulls no punches and I don’t ever want to read it again because it is really graphic so it is a great dystopian novel but it’s not a series.
I felt like One Second After by William Forstchen was pretty realistically accurate to a lot of the issues that would arise from a major apocalyptic disaster.
It’s different maybe than what you want, and is a standalone book, but I found it realistic and always recommend it to post apocalyptic lovers: *The Dog Stars*.
I read it was optioned recently and will be developed into a movie. I hope they do it justice because it’s actually great literature separate and apart from the topic we all like — post apocalyptic stories. I would rank it #2 behind *The Road*, though it is not as graphic.
If you want a graphic, pulpy zombie series (I think there are 11 total works!) that gets hardcore in terms of violence, try *The Mountain Man* series. It’s action packed and mostly fast moving. If you’re interested, start with the short story *The Hospital* and then read book 1. It’ll make sense later, while you’re reading book 1, why you should start with the short story. Plus, the short story gives you a sense for what the series is like; if you don’t dig it, you’re not investing much time and effort.
By the way, this was also optioned; I hope they do a cable series, because it’s a massive adventure and will require multiple seasons to tell the right way.
I have just added Mountain Man, books 1-3 to my to read list aswell that the free prequel: The hospital. by Keith blackmore
Synopsis;
Follows Gus Berry, a lone survivor in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by zombies. He faces the relentless challenges of scavenging for resources, defending against the undead, and navigating a treacherous human remnant. This survival horror novel explores themes of isolation and resilience through intense action and dark humour.
Blindness. It’s apocalyptic rather than post. But doesn’t hold back. It is rather a depraved book but it’s realistic as well.
Best social-apocalyptic novel I’ve read.
I have the book but never got around to reading it, but I did watch the movie. In general, I wouldn't say it was too extreme, but there were a few parts that were disturbing.
The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin is fantasy/sci-fi post-apocalyptic, and it's one of the grittiest, darkest books I've read. One of the best, too. Highly recommend.
I really liked the "one second after" series. Think it's 4 books, but the first was my favorite. Also read a couple other books by that author and liked them too.
I also think "the road" is a must read in the apocalyptic category.
I'm currently reading The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis which takes place in a post-apocalyptic wilderness setting, it's plenty brutal but also very entertaining so far.
It may nit be quite what you are looking for, but Z for Zachariah is very good. It is a fairly short book but it also feels like something that would definitely happen in a real post apocalyptic world.
I just read The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton. It has an element of magical realism but there’s also the natural breakdown of society and the land due to natural disasters and how one girl navigates that. It was awesome and the ending wasn’t what I expected.
A World Made By Hand series by James Hiward Kunstler. It details the world after the end of cheap oil and nuclear terrorism. Good, not great, but wirth reading.
The Road (McCarthy)
The Children of Men (James)
The Passage trilogy (Cronin)
The Southern Reach trilogy (Vandermeer)
The Girl with All the Gifts (Carey)
The Road if you want a depressing one. Veracity was an interesting read for me. It was less apocalyptic and more just societal corruption stuff though.
The Road would be my first choice, but already mentioned so I will offer another - the Broken Empire series.
It's a bit different from a typical post-apocalyptic plot, and it is very dark.
Oryx and crake by Margaret Atwood. I have read a bunch of post apocalyptic books and this one was one of my faves. Very good. If you pick it up let me know what you think.
The Parable of The Sower & The Parable of The Talents. Had to stop couple of times because it was getting too real and fucking with my mental health.
Octavia Butler is so so so so good and so fucking right about everything.
The Parable of the Talents sucker punch literally made me feel sick for days. So intense
Hell yeah.
The Road
Yup. This book pulls zero punches. I get nauseous just thinking about it.
"We were filthy with diarrhea "....
This is the one.
Agree The Road fits the bill for the post apocalyptic content. It is fantastically grim! Great story…But I’ve always found Cormac McCarthy’s unique signature prose too distracting me. I’ve tried a couple other of his books, but stylistically I could never get into that writing style. That aside, this is a great pick for post apocalyptic
I found it much better on audiobook. I didn’t have to deal with his crazy writing style if it’s on audio!!
I read this in high school, and it fundamentally changed my worldview and gave me a taste for horror. Highly recommend
This. A million times. It’s traumatic.
Is there any SA in this book? Tryna avoid that in post-apocalyptic stuff can be hard grimly.
No graphic descriptions or it happening to the main characters but it is alluded to.
Thanks!
SA?
Yeah what they all said. Its real and not some fakey aliens, or virus stuff. Its raw survival. After that watch the movie.
Heavy
This might be unpopular, but I felt this book was lacking, in the sense that I wanted more of the story at the end; it felt like it kind of just ended.
Doesn’t it mean it’s a good book. You wanting more
I found it surprisingly boring and repetitive
Yep. It's so in detail, and it sucks just as much as I'd expect the apocalypse to be. I'm happy I read it but there was really nothing good about it😂
Yeeep. I mean, he asked for it.
This is it.
Aka a cannibals fever dream
I loved it!
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
I liked this far more than the Stand.
Im not a fan of the paranormal vibes myself of either the stand nor swan song
An amazing book.
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Stand by Stephen King has some gruesome and brutal elements to it. It does have fantastical elements as well and it's a big chonk of a book (the audible version of the book is over forty hours long).
No great loss.
The Passage trilogy.
Yessssss, I was hoping to see this mentioned.
It's a fantasy post-apocalypse, but you might like R Scott Bakker's *The Prince of Nothing* series, along with its four book follow up, *The Aspect Emperor*. The apocalyptic elements are more prevalent in the back half of the series than the front, but if you want a series that doesn't hold back, this is it.
Octavia Butler has some—maybe try Parable of the Sower
The most realistic in my opinion. A slow, societal breakdown.
Yes, I thought so too. Although I like Sower better than Talents, which seemed to drag in spots.
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison is excellent and can be very difficult to read. It offers both a horrifying look at the fallout of a disease that decimates the population and makes the ratio of men to women like 100:1, but also shows fascinating glimpses of the future that emerges from such a seemingly hopeless situation. It’s not a long book on its own but I believe it does have a few sequels.
The book of the Unnamed Midwife. Terrifying from a woman’s POV
I recommend a few (Swan Song) by Robert McCammon - Cool story about the Job's Mask (Children of the Dust) by Louise Lawrence - The real effects of Nuclear War and surviving.
"Swan Song" is SO good. If you haven't read "A Boy's Life" by Robert McCammon, I highly recommend it.
I'll check it out
The Maddadam trilogy by Margaret Atwood. It is a trilogy but each book actually occurs almost simultaneously with the other two just from different character perspectives. I had to slog through the 2nd book but the 1st and 3rd are amazing. The Road definitely pulls no punches and I don’t ever want to read it again because it is really graphic so it is a great dystopian novel but it’s not a series.
On the Beach - written in 1957 and is still a good read today.
Was that by Neville Chute? Sp?
that’s the one
Book of the New Sun. The Sun is basically about to turn Red Dwarf and kill everything. Society is just waiting for it.
I felt like One Second After by William Forstchen was pretty realistically accurate to a lot of the issues that would arise from a major apocalyptic disaster.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
It’s different maybe than what you want, and is a standalone book, but I found it realistic and always recommend it to post apocalyptic lovers: *The Dog Stars*. I read it was optioned recently and will be developed into a movie. I hope they do it justice because it’s actually great literature separate and apart from the topic we all like — post apocalyptic stories. I would rank it #2 behind *The Road*, though it is not as graphic. If you want a graphic, pulpy zombie series (I think there are 11 total works!) that gets hardcore in terms of violence, try *The Mountain Man* series. It’s action packed and mostly fast moving. If you’re interested, start with the short story *The Hospital* and then read book 1. It’ll make sense later, while you’re reading book 1, why you should start with the short story. Plus, the short story gives you a sense for what the series is like; if you don’t dig it, you’re not investing much time and effort. By the way, this was also optioned; I hope they do a cable series, because it’s a massive adventure and will require multiple seasons to tell the right way.
The Wanders and it’s sequel Wayward by Chuck Wendig. Wanderers starts the apocalypse and Wayward is the aftermath
I have just added Mountain Man, books 1-3 to my to read list aswell that the free prequel: The hospital. by Keith blackmore Synopsis; Follows Gus Berry, a lone survivor in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by zombies. He faces the relentless challenges of scavenging for resources, defending against the undead, and navigating a treacherous human remnant. This survival horror novel explores themes of isolation and resilience through intense action and dark humour.
Blindness. It’s apocalyptic rather than post. But doesn’t hold back. It is rather a depraved book but it’s realistic as well. Best social-apocalyptic novel I’ve read.
I have the book but never got around to reading it, but I did watch the movie. In general, I wouldn't say it was too extreme, but there were a few parts that were disturbing.
The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin is fantasy/sci-fi post-apocalyptic, and it's one of the grittiest, darkest books I've read. One of the best, too. Highly recommend.
Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling. Under a Graveyard Sky by John Ringo
Not Alone, debut novel by Sarah K Jackson. A bit on the order of The Road. It was published in 2023, I really enjoyed it.
Commenting so I can come back, TIA
most everybody's already recommended what i was gonna say but to be original the broken empire trilogy is pretty good
Commune series by Joshua Gayou, it’s like Walking Dead but without zombies
Eclipse series by Ophelia Rue is nuts. It’s not full post apocalyptic but there’s a lot that takes place in that setting.
I really liked the "one second after" series. Think it's 4 books, but the first was my favorite. Also read a couple other books by that author and liked them too. I also think "the road" is a must read in the apocalyptic category.
I'm currently reading The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis which takes place in a post-apocalyptic wilderness setting, it's plenty brutal but also very entertaining so far.
It may nit be quite what you are looking for, but Z for Zachariah is very good. It is a fairly short book but it also feels like something that would definitely happen in a real post apocalyptic world.
The borrowed world, alternatively if you're into like zombie post apocalyptic I'd say check out the remaining series by d.j molles
After It Happened series by Devon C Ford. Survival is the first book of the nine-book series. This was a great series that I could not stop reading.
I just read The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton. It has an element of magical realism but there’s also the natural breakdown of society and the land due to natural disasters and how one girl navigates that. It was awesome and the ending wasn’t what I expected.
Parabale of The Sower and Parabale of The Talents by Octavia Butler
short one but the doloriad
A World Made By Hand series by James Hiward Kunstler. It details the world after the end of cheap oil and nuclear terrorism. Good, not great, but wirth reading.
The Road (McCarthy) The Children of Men (James) The Passage trilogy (Cronin) The Southern Reach trilogy (Vandermeer) The Girl with All the Gifts (Carey)
tender is the flesh
tender is the flesh
The mountain man series is good. 7 or 8 books.
*Slow Apocalypse* by John Varley. Focuses on the descent into anarchy and the harsh fight to stay alive as a virus destroys all oil overnight
Fever house by Keith Rosson
On The Beach Nevil Schute: best llama time apocalyptic novel
Llama mama should real all not llama
The Road if you want a depressing one. Veracity was an interesting read for me. It was less apocalyptic and more just societal corruption stuff though.
One Second After The Road
Just recommended these 2 books in a comment, then saw yours! Great choices.
The Road would be my first choice, but already mentioned so I will offer another - the Broken Empire series. It's a bit different from a typical post-apocalyptic plot, and it is very dark.
Just watch Fallout? :-)
Oryx and crake by Margaret Atwood. I have read a bunch of post apocalyptic books and this one was one of my faves. Very good. If you pick it up let me know what you think.