Books like 'The Way the World Ends'
Readers who enjoyed The Way the World Ends by Jess Walter also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
40 ratingsForced to flee an America where anarchy and violence have completely taken over, empath Lauren Olamina--who can feel the pain of others and is crippled by it--becomes a prophet carrying the hope of a new world and a new faith christened "Earthseed". A stirring portrait of 21st-century America by the author of "Wild Seed"... -
Fever by Deon Meyer
18 ratingsNico Storm and his father Willem drive a truck filled with essential supplies through a desolate land. They are among the few in South Africa--and the world, as far as they know--to have survived a devastating virus which has swept through the country... -
Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker
12 ratingsThe baker's dozen stories gathered here (including a new, previously unpublished story) turn readers into travelers to the past, the future, and explorers of the weirder points of the present...Categorized as:
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Breakdown by Bruno Miller
14 ratingsA Post-Apocalyptic Survival seriesDo you have what it takes to survive? Ben Davis was prepared for disaster. He just didn’t know it would come so soon. He and his teenage son, Joel, are miles deep in the backcountry of the San Juan Mountains when high-altitude nuclear electromagnetic detonations light up the pre-dawn sky...Categorized as:
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The Warrior Race by T.C. Edge
6 ratingsKira Blackstone’s reputation precedes her. Rebel, warrior, genetically enhanced killer. She’s fought since she was a girl to save the city of Haven. Now, unfortunately, her friends are going to have to fight their war without her. Kidnapped during a fight by a group of mysterious soldiers, garbed in fine silver armour and flowing red robes, Kira finds herself waking in total darkness... -
Falling Stars by Kyla Stone
6 ratingsThey survived the Grand Voyager. They believed they were safe. They were wrong. After a violent ambush, the survivors find themselves thrust into a harsh, unrecognizable world. No communications. No shelter. No food. All they have is each other—a ragtag group of elites and misfits. Amelia faces her deadliest test yet. Guilt-ridden Willow must save her brother at any cost...Categorized as:
disaster dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic action-adventure aliens apocalyptic book -
America Falls: On the Run by Scott Medbury
8 ratingsNo Mazes. No factions. No games. AMERICA FALLS The only adult in the group has been shot. Can Isaac and Luke save Sonny? And if they can, how can they escape and get him and the rest of their group, to safety? They have transport and a destination, but the gang of killers is closing in fast - not to mention the occupying forces, armed to the teeth and hunting down America's survivors...Categorized as:
disaster dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book contemporary -
Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones by Torrey Peters
10 ratingsIn the future, everyone will be trans. So says Lexi. She's a charismatic trans woman furious with the way she sees her trans friends treated by society and resentful of the girl who spurned her love...Categorized as:
dystopia lgbtq literary-fiction post-apocalyptic 21st-century adult book contemporary -
We of the Forsaken World... by Kiran Bhat
12 ratingsIn a distant corner of the globe, a man journeys to the birthplace of his mother, a tourist town destroyed by an industrial spill. In a nameless remote tribe, the chief’s second son is born, creating a scramble for succession as their jungles are being destroyed by loggers... -
Eagle One by Noah Mann
6 ratingsBook 2 in The Bugging Out SeriesAn apocalyptic blight has long since turned the green earth grey. The world's few survivors face a never ending search for food, and a constant fight against those who have cast aside all morality in a bid to survive.But in the midst of the worldwide horror, rumors of a sanctuary spread. Eagle One, the enigmatic destination, might be the last hope for civilization...Categorized as:
dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult apocalyptic book contemporary fiction -
The Maerlande Chronicles by Élisabeth Vonarburg
6 ratingsA future society, where women far outnumber men, has abandoned the models of patriarchy and matriarchy and established new gender roles. But Lisbei, a young thinker whose gift is exploring the past, confronts the new establishment in order to force changes of her own. The Maerlande Chronicles is a sequel to the critically-acclaimed novel The Silent City... -
Heading Home by Susan Kiernan-Lewis
6 ratingsWhat happens when the one thing you’ve been praying for turns out to be the one thing that will destroy you and everything you love? After two years of living and adjusting to life after the bomb, Sarah and her son, John, have discovered that happiness can trump grief and loss... -
Under the Blue by Oana Aristide
10 ratingsA road trip beneath clear blue skies and a blazing sun: a reclusive artist is forced to abandon his home and follow two young sisters across a post-pandemic Europe in search of a safe place. Is this the end of the world?Meanwhile two computer scientists have been educating their baby in a remote location. Their baby is called Talos, and he is an advanced AI program... -
Seeking Justice by T.L. Payne
12 ratingsRaine Caldwell and the other survivors from St. Louis thought getting out of the city would be the answer to their problems. They quickly learn that violence and winter’s fury aren’t exclusive to the city.The group is tested far beyond anything they could imagine as they begin to settle in and survive life without modern conveniences...Categorized as:
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The Virility Factor by Robert Merle, Martin Sokolinsky
12 ratingsThe time: the 1970s. The place: America. A menacing epidemic, Encephalitis 16, sweeps the nation. Women, boys and men over sixty are mysteriously immune. Too late, the President realizes that the male population is dying. Congressmen appoint their wives to succeed them. The Administration changes hands: the new President, a woman. Government and business are ruled by elite wonder-women... -
When the Power Is Gone by P.A. Glaspy
12 ratingsRuss and Anne Mathews live in a rural suburb in Tennessee. Regular people, with regular jobs, living a normal life - except for one thing. They are what many people call "preppers." They have stocked up on supplies to survive any kind of event they can think of that may occur to disrupt life as they know it. When that event comes, they start preparing for the new way of life they will face...Categorized as:
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Dreamland by Rosa Rankin-Gee
14 ratings'You said that you would come back. You looked me in the eye and said that. Well, if you had, this is what you would have seen: soft wood, black cracks, fridges in the road. The broken spines of old rides at Dreamland.'In the coastal resort of Margate, hotels lie empty and sun-faded 'For Sale' signs line the streets. The sea is higher - it's higher everywhere - and those who can are moving inland...Categorized as:
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Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders
20 ratingsMacArthur genius and Booker Prize winner George Saunders returns with a collection of short stories that make sense of our increasingly troubled world, his first since the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist Tenth of DecemberThe "best short story writer in English" (Time) is back with a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice, and cuts to the... -
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
18 ratingsIn the far distant future, the country laid waste by nuclear holocaust, twelve-year-old Riddley Walker tells his story in a language as fractured as the world in which he lives. As Riddley steps outside the confines of his small world, he finds himself caught up in intrigue and a frantic quest for power, desperately trying to make sense of things... -
A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker
16 ratingsIn this captivating science fiction novel from an award-winning author, public gatherings are illegal making concerts impossible, except for those willing to break the law for the love of music, and for one chance at human connection.In the Before, when the government didn't prohibit large public gatherings, Luce Cannon was on top of the world...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dystopia lgbtq literary-fiction post-apocalyptic 21st-century adult apocalyptic -
The High House by Jessie Greengrass
12 ratingsIn this powerful, highly anticipated novel from an award-winning author, four people attempt to make a home in the midst of environmental disaster.Perched on a sloping hill, set away from a small town by the sea, the High House has a tide pool and a mill, a vegetable garden, and, most importantly, a barn full of supplies... -
Bugging Out by Noah Mann
8 ratingsGet out. Hunker down. Stay alive. It came without warning. A microscopic enemy that methodically turned the green earth grey. Decimating the food chain until only the prepared were left.But preparation alone is not enough to shelter Eric Fletcher from the chaos to befall the world as governments fail their citizens...Categorized as:
disaster dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult apocalyptic book contemporary -
Green Rising by Lauren James
6 ratingsSet in a near-future world on the brink of ecological catastrophe, Lauren James’ novel is a gripping, witty and romantic call to arms.Gabrielle is a climate-change activist who shoots to fame when she becomes the first teenager to display a supernatural ability to grow plants from her skin. Hester is the millionaire daughter of an oil tycoon and the face of the family business...Categorized as:
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Timeless by Rachel Spangler
6 ratingsWhat would you change about your past if you had the chance? What if you didn't have a choice? Stevie Geller doesn't do conflict. She likes her job as a successful novelist and playwright because it allows her to peacefully ensconce herself in her New York City loft, avoid human interactions, and leave personal drama for the page and stage... -
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EVER by Blake Butler
6 ratingsFiction. Within the psychic architecture that is EVER, Blake Butler explores the way bodies swell and contract, going from skin to house and back again. And the way houses too shrink to fit us first like clothing and then like skin and then tighter still. The result is a strange, visionary ontological dismemberment that takes you well beyond what you'd ever expect--Brian Evenson... -
Tma 2.0 by Ondřej Neff
6 ratingsOndrej Neff originally released the first version of this book in 1998; however, he never stopped developing the story and as a result of his improvements (but also his disillusionment with the conditions in the post-communist Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic) he later released a darker version of the story.Tma 2... -
The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey
19 ratingsBeyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable world. A world where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly vines and seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don't get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will.Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He knows the first rule of survival is that you don't venture beyond the walls... -
Lawless by Tarah Benner
10 ratingsFrom the author of The Fringe comes an addictive new dystopian saga.When Lark was sentenced to twenty-five years behind bars, she thought San Judas was her lucky break. The primitive 16,000-acre community in rural New Mexico isn’t like any other prison. There are no cells, there is no warden, and Mother Mercy is the law...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult apocalyptic audiobook book -
Wolfe Island by Lucy Treloar
10 ratingsFor years Kitty Hawke has lived alone on Wolfe Island, witness to the island’s erosion and clinging to the ghosts of her past. Her work as a sculptor and her wolfdog Girl are enough. News of mainland turmoil is as distant as myth until refugees from that world arrive: her granddaughter Cat, and Luis and Alejandra, a brother and sister escaping persecution...Categorized as:
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Milo and Marcos at the End of the World by Kevin Christopher Snipes
10 ratingsWhen Marcos moves to town, Milo is forced to acknowledge the feelings he's kept hidden, especially from his religious parents. But as natural disasters begin to befall them the closer they become, Milo and Marcos soon begin to wonder if the universe itself is plotting against them in this young adult debut by playwright and creator of The Two Princes podcast, Kevin Christopher Snipes... -
Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories by Maureen F. McHugh
8 ratingsIn her debut collection, Maureen F. McHugh examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction adult anthologies contemporary family female-author fiction -
Dance Dance Revolution by Cathy Park Hong
8 ratings"The Guide" is a former South Korean dissident and tour guide who speaks a fluid fabricated language; "the Historian" interviews the Guide and annotates the commentaries. Cathy Park Hong's passionate and artful poem sequence weaves an ultimately revitalizing dialogue on shared experience in a globalized world, using language as subversion and disguise... -
Apocalypse Law by John Grit
8 ratingsA plague wipes out ninety-five percent of the world's population, taking Nate Williams' wife and daughter and leaving him with his thirteen-year-old son to survive on their farm. In the bedlam of lawlessness and starvation, hungry, desperate men arrive from the nearest town to take their meager supplies. A benevolent stranger keeps coming in the night to steal food...Categorized as:
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All is Silence by Robert L. Slater
6 ratingsAwards: 2015 WATTYS-Dream Collection. 2014 Dante Rossetti YA Dystopian. IndieReader NextPicks #1-April 2014. 2015 Cygnus YA 1st place.In a future that could be ours, Lizzie, a suicidal teen-age girl, barely navigates her own life. Then everything falls apart. In an apocalyptic land nearly deserted by disease, she lacks reasons to live until a shocking turn of events reveals a phone number...Categorized as:
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Low Flying Aircraft And Other Stories by J.G. Ballard
6 ratingsContents:The Ultimate CityLow-Flying AircraftThe Dead AstronautMy Dream of Flying to Wake IslandThe Life and Death of GodThe Greatest Television Show on EarthA Place and a Time to DieThe Comsat AngelsThe Beach...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction -
No Dominion by Louise Welsh
6 ratingsIt is seven years after the first outbreak of "the Sweats" destroyed the world, almost overnight. Two refugees from the death and decay of London, Stevie Flint and Magnus McFall, have both washed up on Orkney. A rural community clinging to survival, the islands are home to a generation of youth who barely remember a time before the pandemic... -
Palestine +100: Stories from a Century after the Nakba by Basma Ghalayini, Mazen Maarouf
6 ratingsPalestine + 100 poses a question to twelve Palestinian writers: what might your country look like in the year 2048 – a century after the tragedies and trauma of what has come to be called the Nakba? How might this event – which, in 1948, saw the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs from their homes – reach across a century of occupation, oppression, and political isolation, to shape the...Categorized as:
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My Chemical Mountain by Corina Vacco
6 ratingsRocked by his father's recent death and his mother's sudden compulsion to overeat, Jason lashes out by breaking into the abandoned mills and factories that plague his run-down town. Always by his side are his two best friends, Charlie, a fearless thrill junkie, and Cornpup, a geek inventor whose back is covered with cysts... -
Winter's Truth by Leta Blake
6 ratingsWinter-fox brings Viro some surprising truths for the holiday Viro Sabel is eleven years old and still entirely innocent about life. This year winter-fox brings him some surprising truths that alter the way he sees the world and his place in it. Learn more about the character of Viro, Slow Heat’s Vale and Jason’s son, in this winter holiday-themed novella... -
The Bear by Andrew Krivak
18 ratingsFrom National Book Award in Fiction finalist Andrew Krivak comes a gorgeous fable of Earth’s last two human inhabitants and a girl's journey home.In an Eden-like future, a girl and her father live close to the land in the shadow of a lone mountain. They own a few remnants of civilization: some books, a pane of glass, a set of flint and steel, a comb... -
The Last Tribe by Brad Manuel
16 ratingsImagine being alone in the world, one of only a handful to survive a global pandemic. Not only do you struggle to find food, water, and shelter, you deal with the sadness and loss of everyone you know, and everything you have. Fourteen year old Greg Dixon is living that nightmare. Attending boarding school outside of Boston, he is separated from his family when a pandemic strikes...Categorized as:
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Beauty Salon by Mario Bellatin
14 ratings"Like much of Mr. Bellatin’s work, Beauty Salon is pithy, allegorical and profoundly disturbing, with a plot that evokes The Plague by Camus or Blindness by José Saramago."--New York Times"Including a few details that may linger uncomfortably with the reader for a long time, this is contemporary naturalism as disturbing as it gets."--BooklistA strange plague appears in a large city... -
In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster
24 ratingsIn a distant and unsettling future, Anna Blume is on a mission in an unnamed city of chaos and disaster. Its destitute inhabitants scavenge garbage for food and shelter, no industry exists, and an elusive government provides nothing but corruption. Anna wades through the filth to find her long-lost brother, a one-time journalist who may or may not be alive...Categorized as:
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Dissipatio H.G.: The Vanishing by Guido Morselli
12 ratingsFrom his solitary buen retiro in the mountains, the last man on earth drives to the capital Chrysopolis to see if anyone else has survived the Vanishing. But there’s no one else, living or dead, in that city of “holy plutocracy,” with its fifty-six banks and as many churches...Categorized as:
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Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman
12 ratingsA dark and witty story of environmental collapse and runaway capitalism from the Booker-listed author of The Teleportation Accident.The near future. Tens of thousands of species are going extinct every year. And a whole industry has sprung up around their extinctions, to help us preserve the remnants, or perhaps just assuage our guilt...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction pollution-climate-change disaster fiction sci-fi outdoors audiobook -
Extinction Journals by Jeremy Robert Johnson
10 ratingsYou can survive a nuclear blast. All you need is some luck, and maybe a customized business suit coated in cockroaches. It could work. At least that's what Dean believed before the bombs actually dropped and his suit led him to murder a Very Important Man at the foot of a blackened obelisk. Now D.C. is looking awfully empty. Life on Earth is pretty much coming to an end...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult apocalyptic book contemporary -
Noah's Ark: Survivors by Harry Dayle
10 ratingsMay 1st 2014 the Earth is scorched by a stray asteroid, wiping out almost all life. Almost, but not quite. Three thousand souls aboard a cruise ship visiting the north pole are spared by a freak of nature.The ship’s First Officer, Jake Noah, was looking forward to getting back to dry land once and for all...Categorized as:
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The Glad Shout by Alice Robinson
8 ratingsAfter a catastrophic storm destroys Melbourne, Isobel flees to higher ground with her husband and young daughter. Food and supplies run low, panic sets in and still no help arrives. To protect her daughter, Isobel must take drastic action. The Glad Shout is an extraordinary novel of rare depth and texture... -
Meet Us by the Roaring Sea by Akil Kumarasamy
8 ratingsIn the near future, a young woman finds her mother's body starfished on the kitchen floor in Queens and sets on a journey through language, archives, artificial intelligence, and TV for a way back into herself...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction lgbtq fiction sci-fi contemporary historical-fiction magical-realism -
Milk Teeth by Helene Bukowski
8 ratingsSkalde writes her thoughts on pieces of paper, making new discoveries and revelations, and finding scraps with which to understand her limited world. Her mother Edith tells her little, preferring the solitude of her room. Their house is full of silence, and secrets...Categorized as:
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