The Broke-Ass List of Best Post-Apocalyptic Reads

I’ll let you know right away that this books is about 900 pages. And there are time jumps of over a century. But I promise, you will not want it to end. In fact, I delayed reading the last 50 pages because then it would mean I would have no more to read. Good thing it is the first of a trilogy.The basic premise is that in a not-so distant future, a “vampire bat” virus is found deep in  the jungle which appears to cure all diseases. At a top-secret government compound, the virus is tested on death-row inmates, and- you don’t need to be a scientist to figure this out- it turns them into actual vampires. And not the sexy, smoldering, sparkling kind: the animalistic, bat-like, wipe-out-humanity kind. Which they almost do- save for a few isolated communities struggling to survive.

The thing about The Passage is that sure, it has a plot that sounds like the next Michael Bay movie, but throughout the worldwide catastrophe, it focuses more on the characters and their struggles, conflicts, and relationships, and you grow to really know them (well, after 900 pages, you don’t have a choice, do you?)

Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland

An oldie-but-goodie. Douglas Coupland, fresh off his sudden popularity for writing and coining “Generation X” released this novel to mixed acclaim. It’s got all the hallmarks of a great Coupland novel (disaffected youth, strained family relations, navel-gazing characters) but throw in a mysterious virus that wipes out everyone except for a hipster clique of friends. Think How I Met Your Mother meets Waterworld. But without drinking your own urine.

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Forget the Will Smith movie. The movie took a lot of creative license from the original novella;  namely, changing almost everything. This novella is short, suspenseful,creepy, and to the point. What would you do if you were literally the last man alive? Would you have the determination to try to keep on living? Would there be a point? You know, typical first-date type of conversation starters.

Gone by Michael Grant

Firstly, don’t let the fact that this is a young adult novel or the pretty teen models on the cover deter you. Michael Grant does not screw around with the harsh realities of what happens when everyone over the age of 14 disappears and a small beach town is trapped in a dome. In a very short time, the town’s children descends into Lord of the Flies-like tendencies, with political struggles, warfare and murder. Doesn’t help that some of the kids start developing weird superpowers. Forget those cheesy X-men powers, these kids discover that they can spit flames from their hands and burn their former classmates to a crisp. Which happens. More than once.

This is the first of a series, and although at times is over the top, the development of the town’s children into a (dys)functional society is very nuanced and well-thought out.

The Walking Dead  by Robert Kirkman

Of course, any list about post-apoc stories would not be complete without zombies. You probably know that the television’s The Walking Dead is pretty bad-ass, so why not try the source material? Graphic novels are not everyone’s cup of tea, but as far as graphic novels go, the series is pretty accessible and well-thought out.

Don’t worry too much about me, I do read more uplifting stuff (Devil Wears Prada, anyone?) but I can’t resist spending a rainy day reading a good story about the near-destruction of humanity.

 

Photocredits: goodreads.com

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