Books like The Children Of Men
30 science fiction books to read after The Children Of Men, by P.d. James, the closest match first.
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Maddaddam book 1 Start here
1. Oryx And Crake
by Margaret Atwood
- On the same lists
It's difficult to summarize what this tale is all 'about.' That's maybe the hardest and most challenging aspect of this novel. It starts after the collapse of civilization and focuses...
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2. The Stand
by King, Stephen
- On the same lists
A popular novel, and possibly King's best, is an end-of-the world story caused by the accidental release of a mutating influenza virus that wipes out 99% of humanity.
You either love him or hate him (and if you do hate him, it's probably because every second sentence is a ridiculous metaphor), but there's no denying that Stephen King...
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3. Planet Of The Apes
by Boulle, Pierre
- On the same lists
The book that launched a cinematic saga is a version of Xenofiction taking place on another planet where apes are intelligent and civilized.
In the year 2500, a French journalist joins an expedition to a planet near Betelgeuse and finds a world ruled by intelligent apes, where humans are mute animals kept in...
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4. The Running Man
by Richard Bachman/stephen King
- On the same lists
Believe it or not, Stephen King didn't only write hokey horror novels that weren't particularly scary, with completely convoluted "why the fuck did the clown turn into an alien-spider" plots....
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5. The Chrysalids
by John Wyndham
- On the same lists
A Post-Apocalyptic tale where the apocalyptic event is now seen as God's punishment. The society practices a form of fundamentalist Christianity and genetic variance and mutations are considered impure and caused by the Devil.
Another childhood favorite; I felt slightly ripped off that I didn't have any telepathic abilities, despite how hard I tried to communicate to my sister solely using our minds. The...
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6. Empire Of The East
by Saberhagen, Fred
- On the same lists
ARDNEH (Automatic Restoration Director, National Executive Headquarters) was a super computer that averted nuclear war by—temporarily; or that was the plan—dicking with the local laws of physics and preventing nuclear...
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7. Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut
- On the same lists
Cat's Cradle is written in a style that makes me feel like Vonnegut's sitting back with a joint, having a laugh, in on the joke that is life. It reminds...
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8. The Postman
by Brin, David
- On the same lists
Made into a much—wrongly!—maligned movie, Postman is set in a post-apocalyptic world, in which the United States has fallen apart into a lawless patchwork of civil disorder. That's what powerful...
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Across The Universe book 1 Start here
9. Across The Universe
by Beth Revis
- On the same lists
Stand up; hold one hand to your chest and the other raised. Repeat after me: "I acknowledge it is not a crime to categorize young adult fiction as dystopian science-fiction,...
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10. The Furies
by Keith Roberts
- On the same lists
Dinosaurs popping up everywhere? How about giant, semi-intelligent wasps? In this novel by the late Keith Roberts we get a different kind of menace, unleashed in apparent consequence of the...
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11. Greenhouse Summer
by Norman Spinrad
- On the same lists
A century hence. Melted Antarctic ice cap and flooded coastlines, drowned cities and low-lying inland areas. Temperatures have risen to making Paris a tropical destination, and Siberia a super-fertile growing...
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12. The White Plague
by Herbert, Frank
- On the same lists
This story is set in Ireland, which doesn't happen in most post-apocalyptic tales. Doesn't happen in most of SF, if the truth be told. Molecular biologist becomes bi-polar as a...
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13. Farnham's Freehold
by Heinlein, Robert A.
- On the same lists
This novel was first published in 1964, with the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation—a real apocalypse!—still fresh on people's minds. In this...
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14. The Drowned World
by J. G. Ballard
- On the same lists
Remember the fist apocalypse? You don't? I guess you're not all that old then. It's the one with the flood. Heard of it? Noah and the animals and the ship...
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15. The Quiet Earth
by Craig Harrison
- On the same lists
Here's a very cool novel by a New Zealand author, that was made into a pretty good film as well. Geneticist John Hobson wakes up from a nightmare and finds...
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16. Resurrection Day
by Brendan Dubois
- On the same lists
The British Empire v2.0? Hard to believe, I know. What could precipitate such an event? Well, if's a nuclear conflict in 1982 between the US and the USSR, which leaves...
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17. Atlas Shrugged
by Ayn Rand
- On the same lists
Personally, I think Ayn Rand's novels always deserve a top 25 listing because of their progressive thinking and liberally sexual attitudes. Don't agree with me? Have fun with your Sunday...
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18. The Time Machine
by Wells, H. G.
- On the same lists
Follow a time traveller into an alien-like future Earth to witness the consequences of humanity's social and biological choices and evolution.
A mechanical contraption that lets you travel back in time. Classic steampunk from a classic author.
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19. Lucifer's Hammer
by Larry Niven And Jerry Pournelle
- On the same lists
and Jerry Pournelle. Jerry Pournelle. The villainous asteroid has become a common trope of this sub-genre.
Its anticipated to zip close past Earth, so they send to a space-mission to visit it, and then end up realizing that the damn thing is going to hit us...
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20. Immortality Inc
by Robert Sheckley
- On the same lists
Many of those in the Transhumanist camp believe that sooner or later, in a twisted take on the 'reincarnation' mythos, we'll be able to effectively separate minds from bodies and...
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Quantrill book 1 Start here
21. Systemic Shock
by Dean Ing
- On the same lists
Ted Quantrill is a freak: he fastest gun in the West (and probably the world). After the total collapse of Russia, India and China band together (unlikely, I know, but...
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22. The Road
by Mccarthy, Cormac
- On the same lists
A father and son walk a burned-out America toward the sea, in McCarthy's bleak and beautiful end-of-the-world novel.
robably one of the most depressing books I’ve read in my life. Oh yes, it’s well written, brilliant maybe, and all that. However, this book stripped all hope away and...
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23. I Am Legend
by Matheson, Richard
- On the same lists
One of the first to make vampirism or zombies have a scientific origin with plenty of medical inquiry and rational causation provided.
This is the story that influenced the zombie genre and popularized the concept of a worldwide zombie apocalypse. Robert Neville is the last human on the earth. He is immune...
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24. A Clockwork Orange
by Burgess, Anthony
- On the same lists
Another famous Sci Fi novel made into a popular movie. A take on a future Britain in which behaviour modification is taken to an extreme in the quest for social order. Unique because the dystopia is still forming and is seen through the eyes of an adolescent protagonist.
Great Music, it said, and Great Poetry would like quieten Modern Youth down and make Modern Youth more Civilized. Civilized my syphilised yarbles. A vicious fifteen-year-old droog is the central...
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25. Footprints Of Thunder
by James F. David
- On the same lists
This book was made into a movie, and a pretty good one at that, though by necessity not as complex and in-depth as the book. Crichton does have a habit...
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26. Modern Classics The Death Of Grass
by John Christopher
- On the same lists
Also known as No Blade of Grass, this was one of John Christopher's classic cosy catastrophes, although there is very little that is cosy in this post-apocalyptic tale.In Asia, a...
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27. Fahrenheit 451
by Bradbury, Ray
- On the same lists
A classic "What if?" story about book banning, happiness, and knowledge.
Everyone loves the idea of the thinking man's fireman (particularly middle aged women who read Fifty Shades of Grey), but that's not why Fahrenheit 451 made it to second on...
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28. The Iron Heel
by Jack London
- On the same lists
London succeeds in doing what many men have tried to do over the course of history, and almost every man has failed in doing: understanding how women think. Unlike most...
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29. The Disappearance
by Philip Wylie
- On the same lists
The apocalypse here is kind of personal. The world's just fine to start with, but... From one moment to the next all the women disappear from the world of men—and...
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30. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
by Dick, Philip K.
- On the same lists
A novel that contains images that are Retro Futuristic, but is also a story about a post-apocalyptic Earth.
Set in a post-Nuclear War society, the future is pretty bleak. People are being encouraged to leave the planet for parts unknown and are being given an incentive, their own...
Matches come from series and authors, from the lists the books share, and from the books readers open together. They are rebuilt every night. Back to The Children Of Men.
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