What's the best post-apocalyptic book you've read?

@shellyg3072

4 жыл бұрын

One Second After by William Forstchen started my post-apocalyptic fiction journey and is still one of my favorites!

@marigabyteyssier2279

4 жыл бұрын

Can dystopia count as post-apocalyptic? If that's the case, V for Vendetta

@SuavisTea

4 жыл бұрын

Metro 2033, 2034 and 2035 ;-)

@greymyers4087

4 жыл бұрын

I really loved The Girl with All the Gifts. 😂

@fenellaevangela

4 жыл бұрын

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. I also like The Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes by the same author, but those are set during apocalyptic events. The Chrysalids is set many centuries later. In Canada!

This is like a COVID-19 quarantine tbr list

@BookswithEmilyFox

4 жыл бұрын

Perfect timing XD

@bluelily4893

4 жыл бұрын

same thoughts here

@biankatoth1786

4 жыл бұрын

my workplace just closed for a month so I will really have time to read...

That timing though...

THIS IS EXACTLY THE VIDEO I NEEDED THANK YOU. I mean, am I the only one who wants to read this stuff during this international crisis? Am I weird?

@dianaleander8140

4 жыл бұрын

Haha SAME!

@Monitimberlake55

4 жыл бұрын

You're not alone. I feel it too. Also thanks for the video Emily!😘

@BookswithEmilyFox

4 жыл бұрын

It's easier to deal with when it's fiction :P

@kristina_rr

4 жыл бұрын

YES! I was reading the stand back in January when the virus started to spread and I was like: is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? I feel like our current situation just made my reading experience more enjoyable 🙈🙈 So I need to read more post apocalyptic asap

You should do this for Horror and Fantasy too.

The Passage is one of my all time favorite books! The third book in the series is amazing. It is worth reading the other two books just to be able to appreciate the third one.

@smoothjamskillmoure

2 жыл бұрын

I didn't even realize that was a series, I've just read the passage and thought that was it.

The Road is more than my favorite post-apocalyptic book. It’s my favorite book.

@omarcook3663

4 жыл бұрын

I was waiting for someone to mention it. Reading threw it now.

@Cwagify

4 жыл бұрын

Same. The Road is actually one of my favorite books of all time.

I literally finished "A Canticle for Leibowitz" today, nice timing. It's a 60 year old post apo classic that aged surprisingly well.

@PaulDL

3 жыл бұрын

Adam Owczarczyk the sort of sequel, “Saint Leibowitz and the wild horsewoman” is also excellent

The audiobook of World War Z is AMAZING :)

I read The Road as an audiobook and it was amazing. I love apocalyptic books. Great video.💖💖💖

Severance by Ling Ma is worth adding to this list too. One of my favorite plague books! The Dog Stars has been on my TBR for awhile....might finally make time for it

Thanks for your insights on these books! You might want to add the post-apoc survival series the Three Sisters Trilogy to your shelves.

One of my favourites that always comes to mind in this genre is Richard Matheson's - I Am Legend. Apparently the first peice of literature to bring 'vampires' out of the fantasy world to be given a scientific description. The end is epic, I love it to bits.

Love your recommendations Em! You have no idea how I needed these books right now.

SO glad you picked Oryx and Crake for your TBR list. It is amazing.

Yay! I'm so excited for this list! Post-Apocalyptic is a huge favorite of mine as well and I've been looking for new ones to read.

I'm going to read The Stand soon. I'm sooo excited 😜. I liked the suspense/horror aspects of Bird Box, but not so much the post-apocalyptic elements. Great list! I'm going to have to check out a few more of these.

Omg I loved War World Z! I found it very readable in book form especially since you could read it interview by interview. It was so so good. CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT STORYLINE!?!?!

@skippyflapper

2 жыл бұрын

The Chinese government is always the part I bring up, whem recommending that book. I would love if the made a tv series about it. The movie didn't do the book justice.

@michelea2326

2 жыл бұрын

@@skippyflapper you're right... it would make a great tv series! The Chinese government storyline would need a couple of episodes but it would be SO GOOD!

I love Station Eleven ~ And lately with all this coronavirus going around made me want to reread it again😅...

@nistha9953

4 жыл бұрын

Now i have to read it 😅😂

@eynuh

4 жыл бұрын

Me too!

I love post apocalyptic fiction although I really need to read more. Station Eleven is still one of my favourite books of all time. I felt similar about the Passage and the Girl with All the Gifts. Read those two a couple years ago and I cannot remember much from either. I recently read the Book Of M by Peng Shepherd which is a debut novel from 2018 that is also post apocalyptic. It's about a world in which people start to lose their shadows and when they do they start forgetting things. It was also character driven so it kinda had a Station Eleven vibe, at least for the first hundred pages or so. Great video as always :D

@hollyc4624

4 жыл бұрын

Maren B. The Book of M came to mind for me also. The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker fits too.

I really enjoyed Year One by Nora Roberts. It’s a good “unknown disease” kills them all kind of apocalyptic story with the remaining series going into post-apocalyptic.

booktube talks about post apocalyptic books all the time but there are so many books here that I’ve never heard of! I can’t wait to check some of these out!

I highly recommend The Book of M by Peng Shepherd for people who liked Station Eleven. Same type of literary fiction vibe. In this one, the world ends because people begin to forget everything after their shadows disappear, including basic body functions like eating and breathing. It does have a fantasy spin to it and an ending that is bittersweet, but definitely worth a read!

Metro 2033 is a post apocalyptic book I’ve been dying to read. I love the video game universe so I really need to just pick it up already!

@whatkaylasays

4 жыл бұрын

I keep eyeing this one as well!

@SufficientlyAdvancedLena

4 жыл бұрын

Metro 2033 is fantastic but the sequels not as much, especially the third one 🙈🙈

@insanebutterfly3439

4 жыл бұрын

A friend just recommended that book to me

Thank you so much for this video! I love apocalyptic books and need some good tips. :)

Parable of the Sower and it's sequel, Parable of the Talents, are both very good and VERY timely for books published in the late 90's. You should give them a try. Somebody also mentioned A Canticle for Lebowitz (spelling?) which is more of a post-post apocalyptic scifi novel, but is also very very good.

I liked Wool and the other two books were such a drag. Definitely recommend The Wanderers. I know you were part way through. I really liked it and thought the ending seems to imply a second book. You should also read The Silence. It's like Bird Box in theme but you are told directly how it is happening.

I recently read Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice and really enjoyed it! It’s an Indigenous Canadian apocalyptic story about what happens when a Northern Anishinaabe reserve suddenly loses power/communication with the rest of the world. It was different from a lot of other apocalyptic books I’ve read, but really fantastic!

I remember really loving the girl with all the gifts a few years ago. I'm planning to reread it this year and read the boy on the bridge as well. Station eleven I gave three stars when I read it but it is one that resonated with me so I think that one is also time for a reread I do agree with your opinions on the fireman, loved scenes and concepts but others just dragged I think you would like the generation trilogy by Scott Sigler, can't say you what the element is without spoilers but it's really good

I really enjoyed goodmorning, midnight! I'm planning on reading the dog stars someday, the premise is so interesting

For The Road, it took me a while to get into but once I (and others I talked to) read passed page ~50, I could not put it down. Oryx and Crake is probably one of my absolute favorite books (and trilogies) ever. But the first book is definitely the best.

Girl, give WWZ audiobook a chance. I loved it. Good list btw! I just bought two audiobooks from it. Thanks!!!!

One Second After was really good...and alarmingly realistic. Highly recommend. The audio was good too.

@alfonsorodriguez9055

4 жыл бұрын

Great series!

Never cared for the post - apocalyptic setting in general (not just in books) but I'll give some of these a shot, thank you for the recommendations and for the video, was a delight to watch as always. Also, happy international women's day, cheers

The Crystal World by JG Ballard. Trippy and different.

I just recently ordered swan song off of an old video I watched of yours recently. I knew about the stand before but not Swan. Going to get the stand hardcover.

Read Recursion based on your recommendation. Enjoyed reading it as it was quite a fast-paced book. Kind of curious about your thoughts regarding the ending ...

Thank you for your reviews!!

I would absolutley recommend On the beach be Nevil Shute. That book really hit me and even though it has been almost four years since I read it I remember everything about it. Which I never do, really. Would also recommend Oryx and crake even though I didn't continue on in that series.

I read Oryx and Crake for my literature class and I really liked it, would recommend! :)

Hi Emily! I'm going to go back and finish reading Empire of the East (actually a trilogy not a novel). I have a (selfish) suggestion. Can you do a list of "soft" science fiction, stories where social forces, not hard science or technology are the focus? Everyone knows about The Handmaid's Tale, and that is the right idea. But I know books like Left Hand of Darkness and Brave New World are also popular examples. What else should we be reading, especially underappreciated books?

Station Eleven is amazing and still underrated I feel like. I added World War Z and I am legend to my library wait list as I am trying to see how many books I can read while off on spring break. March is starting off slowly but I aim to read as many as I can. I totally feel you on the fireman my thoughts are so conflicted on that one. I need to read more of these types of books so excited to see which ones I like.

Definitely put Oryx & Crake higher up on ur list! Soooo good!

Post Apocalyptic books are sooooo scary to me for some reason! I do want to read some of your faves though

HUGE caveat regarding the World War Z audiobook: make sure that if you get the audiobook, get the one that is called the "Complete Movie Tie In" edition!!! The edition of the audiobook that's just called "World War Z" is abridged (meaning it both omits whole chapters and omits/changes sections within the chapters it includes) and NOWHERE on Amazon or on the cover of the audiobook does it mention this. You would never know unless you read reviews or, like me, started listening to it while following along in the book. The performances were definitely great but it was so disappointing for me to figure out halfway through that I couldn't even listen to it if I wanted to actually read the whole book.

@dianeismyname250

3 жыл бұрын

thank you!

Stephen King wrote in "Danse Macabre" that "Earth Abides" by George R. Stewart was one of his chief influences for The Stand, it is also a quite memorable book. Another good one is "Lucifer's Hammer" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

Bird Box!! I loved both the book and the movie! This was one of the books where not knowing what the threat was made me more interested, if that makes sense? I liked not knowing

@berenicethegirl

4 жыл бұрын

Not me, I was anticipating a reveal SO BAD and was ultimately so disappointed haha

Oooh. I've been looking forward to this.

I didn't even know I needed this recommendations

Any suggestion for a post-apocalyptic book with a smart main character who makes the right choices? Just so we can learn how to deal with our own end 🌚

Great review! Thank you!

Check out the In the After duology by Demetria Lunetta. The audiobooks are superb! Also, Warm Bodies is really good. Much darker than the movie and the Isaac Marion's prose is quite beautiful

Not sure if you'd like it but Day of the Triffids is an early post apocalyptic book and is only really short!

I've waited for this video for years. I'm currently reading Station Eleven and with the coronavirus going around it's.. stressful 😅

I love post-apocalyptic stories but haven't read any in a LONG time! I will have to pick up some of these for sure. I need to pick up : I am Legend" I loved the movie but never read the book, so I need to read the book because I want the title to make sense. I have also been wanting to pick up The GIrl with all the Gifts!

I loved Oryx and Crake - it's probably my favorite Atwood. However, Year of the Flood (Book 2) was just OK and I haven't been able to bring myself to read Maddaddam (Book 3). If anyone in the comments here has read book 3 and loved it, please let me know XD I need a reason to finish this trilogy!

Omg! I'm so excited for this! One of my faves genre! Not that I want to happen. I dont know if it's weird. Haha

The Stand is one of my all time favourite books.

Earth abides ! YES , I've read it like 3 years ago but i still think abt it

Sleeping Beauties was my first King novel and it may have been a mistake... but I enjoyed the story even though i was confused about who was who the entire time.

This is my favourite genre. Always trying to find more!

Check out William R Forstchen After series. It more "Military" but based on your list it will fill a hole. 48 hours is another of his you might like if you enjoy the others. Great list, I've read nearly all of them. I did enjoy The Passage a bit more than you it seems. I will also take your advice and have a go at Pines.

Day of the Triffids!

I always love a good apocalyptic book. I am adding these to my tbr/wishlist

This is a difficult genre for me, but I seem to read a lot of it. My favorite so far is probably The Last Policeman. I have the second book in that trilogy but haven't read it yet. Least favorite is probably Good Morning, Midnight. It's...well, it's not science fiction, just for starters. It's a bunch of navel-gazing on the topic of loneliness and regret.

The Hopkins Manuscript by RC Sherriff ! Premise-wise it may be similar to the Last Policeman, where there's a catastrophic event that the world is aware of. It's told as a memoir by a guy who survived the catastrophe, telling the story about it starting when he learned of the catastrophe. A HUGE recommendation if you read it: the Preface is actually part of the book and you should read it before you start the novel.

Reading Lucifers Hammer right now. So far so good. Just finished Swan Song it was awesome! Read The Stand in 2016 its what led me to Swan Song...Nice Video!

You should do a Beginner Thriller video and an Advanced Thriller video. I’d be really interested in the Advanced one because I tend to guess endings of a lot of thrillers.

Enclave by Ann Aguirre (the Razorland trilogy) and the Testing by Joelle Charbonneau (The Testing Series). Both are post-apocalyptic and YA. You get through them really quickly. There is also Partials by Dan Wells. I loved Station Eleven! It also has a local link to me. Denman Island is mentioned in it and that’s a small island off the coast of where I live 😁

@ChristmasLore

3 жыл бұрын

Loved Partials! Enclave was quite nice. It's YA, but it's bearable, and the stories are nice!

so did you say which ones were your favorites? great recs

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller is one of my all time favorite books! Peter Heller is a writers writer!

One underrated series is the Killer Of Enemies trilogy by Joseph Bruchac. It's about a girl named Lozen (who is Apache/Navajo/Pueblo Native American) who survives a fantasy/sci-fi apocalypse with her family and companions

I read Swan Song and I really did enjoy it. I don't normally read these kinds of books but I was on vacation at the time and my friend recommended me to read it and I'm glad I did.

Hello, I am just getting into survival/post acopalyptic books and I’ve read I am legend. I really enjoyed the way the vampires were described and the feelings the main character got from them. I was hoping someone could tell me which one of these books in this review I would enjoy.

You should read Rot and Ruin. It's the only post apocalyptic series I've read, but it was really good. There's four books. There is a fifth book with one of the main character journal entry's, because she writes a lot, but I've never actually read that one. But I haven't read it in a while and I just ordered them today so that I can finally re-read them and I'm so excited.

I vote for Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer. I got so submerged in the story that when I got back to real life I couldn't believe that didn't actually happen. Totally recommend it!

@ChristmasLore

3 жыл бұрын

It's an amazing serie (book)! Read it a long time ago, and I still remember the feeling. It all felt so real.

Read I Am Legend several times (I've been around a while) and it's a quick read. If you listened to The Road and the No country for Old Men without knowing who wrote them, you would certainly guess that they were written by the same author even though one story has no resemblance to the other. Both excellent stories and ones I will return to one day. The Last Policeman trilogy I also enjoyed very much. And On The Beach is a newly acquired book that I will be reading. I have seen both films and enjoyed them appreciating for the times they were made. One to recommend is The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker.

The road was really good. I read it years and years ago. The stand was amazing. I read it last year and yes, i got sick while reading it. I saw the movie when I was a kid (way to go, mom and dad lol) and I remembered it being really cheesy even then. I enjoyed bird box better than the movie. I didn’t know they were releasing another book. Good to know! I enjoyed the girl with all the gifts, too. I added the last policeman and a few others to my list! Thanks for the recommendations!

I really enjoyed Station Eleven and can’t wait for her new novel!!! I have it on my list

I actually loved the Cronin trilogy, the books get better as you go and the ending is haunting. The Road eviscerated me…

Survivors, the novel by Terry Nation, is very good. It’s premise is a major pandemic. It accompanied the 1970s BBC tv series of the same name (episodes of which can be found on KZread). There was also a series the BBC made in 2008.

Dystopia/PA (I count them as one) is one of my newest fav genres and I've read all sorts including some adrenaline-fueled action 'movie in a book' versions both adult and YA, and some romance versions, as well as some meatier, more literary ones. All varieties interest me and I've so many more still waiting to be read! Queen Octavia E. Butlers Earthseed duology, The Parable of the Sower and The Parable of the Talents is incredible and the best of all the D/PA books I've read. It's almost like she had a crystal ball when she wrote them and could see where somethings would be at this current point in time. And out of all her books that I've read so far (7) these are my favorites by far. Others I've enjoyed are Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman, American War by Omar El Akkad and Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice which is also a suspense/thriller too and like the wonderful Station Eleven is a _quiet_ much more contemplative tale that is very atmospheric and character driven. I even enjoyed The Chronicles of the One trilogy by Nora Roberts as it was mixed with fantasy. And I recently came across and loved The Line Between duology by Tosca Lee which is a PA/thriller mash-up with the MC an former member of a doomsday cult. TFS :)

That is exactly how I explained I am Legend after I read it. The title actually makes sense in the book!

At the risk of excessive rhyming: I love the way you say "Tremblay". I liked "Head Full of Ghosts", and will read more.

You should definitely read the Road. Me I fell for A.G. Riddle books. I recommend the last three series.

'Prey World' by A. Merow is also a great dystopian series from Germany

There are three movies based on Matheson's I Am Legend: The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971) and of course I Am Legend (2007)

Swan Song and the Stand are two of my most favourite books ever!

@insanebutterfly3439

4 жыл бұрын

In the middle of swan song now. On chapter 25

ending for the the stand was so bad i avoided all things king related for 10+ years

@Lazarus745

3 жыл бұрын

I loved the Stand right up to that horrible ending.

If you like plague books, you might try The Red Plague by Jack London.

I really enjoyed the Metro series, definitely recommend.

Super late to this but if you haven't yet read Earth Abides or On The Beach I loved them, two of my favourite books. But be warned I was sobbing by the end of them both, especially OTB. I absolutely reccommend them though!!!

Older OOP novel you might check out if you can find a copy. Malevil, by Robert Merle

"The Death of Grass" John Christopher.

You should try The Line Between by Tosca Lee because it’s a ‘the apocalypse is happening’ book.

One Second After by William Forstchen should be in that group! And the Going Home series by A. American is great fun.

You should check out The Earth Abides, I cant remember the author, I havent read it but heard great things and will prolly get to it by the end of this month.

@BookswithEmilyFox

4 жыл бұрын

It's in the TBR section! I've heard great things about it too!

@AndrewWatsonChangingWay

4 жыл бұрын

George R. Stewart. I read it a long time ago, remember liking it but no being blown away. I'll put it on my TBRR (to be re-read) list.

I enjoyed the girl with all the gifts. You should review the book of M. I enjoyed it

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton is a fantastic post apocalyptic book from the perspective of a domesticated crow. It’s both heartwarming and heart braking and it honestly made me cry at least 5 times. I can never recommend it highly enough.

Theres another movie called Omega Man with Charleton Heston thats based on I am Legend, I think.