Sometimes I get on a apocalyptic / post-apocalyptic reading kick. I don’t know what it is about imagining the “what if” of the end of civilization that’s so interesting to me. Maybe it’s imagining myself in the characters’ shoes and wondering if I’d do any better than they did.
At any rate, here are short reviews of four novels in which the young adult characters have to deal with some type of civilization-ending tragedy. And be sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom — there are some honorable mentions down there that look promising.
Life as We Knew It (Life as We Knew It Series, Book #1)
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Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies Series, Book #1)by Isaac Marion Maybe you saw the movie version. I promise you, the book is better. If you don’t know the premise, the world has recently been through the zombie apocalypse. I know you think you’ve heard every zombie tale there is to tell, but you haven’t heard this one. Because this one is told from the point of view of the zombie. R is a zombie who’s trying to hang onto the last shreds of his humanity. A human girl comes into his world and he decides not to eat her. Instead, he befriends her. And little by little, they discover a cure for the zombie apocalypse. It’s a love story, it’s a comedy, it’s a social commentary. And of course, it’s post-apocalyptic. Technically, these characters are more NA than YA, but I include it in the list because it’s just so darn awesome. |
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Liam’s Promise (The Doomsday Kids, Book #1)by Karyn Langhorne Folan I got two books in this series when it was being promoted on one of the many free book lists I’m on. In short, nuclear bombs are dropped on the United States, and Liam is the son of an alcoholic veteran who’s an obsessive “prepper.” (If you don’t already know, a “prepper” is a person who’s convinced that some sort of horrible tragedy is coming and we’d all better be prepared to survive the nuclear winter in the wilderness with only our wits and Boy Scout techniques.) Liam has to get his little sister, who has Down syndrome, along with other kids from his high school to safety. It’s a prepper story, for sure. But before you roll your eyes, I’ll be honest with you and say that I seriously thought about stocking my home with food and potable water after reading this tale. |
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No Safety in Numbers (No Safety in Numbers Series, Book #1)
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Honorable Mentions
I haven’t read the following apocalypse / post-apocalypse books, but they look good and all come from my fellow indie authors.
Night of the Purple Moon (The Toucan Trilogy, Book #1)
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Flicker (The Shine On Trilogy, Book #1)
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High Pressure System: Part One
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Voices of the Apocalypse: The Collection (10 short stories)
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Todd Mitchell, author of the young adult novel Backwards and other books, believes that the post-apocalyptic angle seen in so many YA novels today is a response to a deep-seated social need or anxiety.
I’d agree with that.