7 Books About the End of the World

Do you like books about the end of the world?  Apparently I do.  I tend to read a lot of post-apocalyptic/dystopian stories in which there is a future world that isn't doing too great.  I feel like this has also lead to a lot of anxiety in the past few months as I go through the many scenarios our current world could ease into.  My imagination is a little rampant, but some of these hit a little too close to home!

So read and be wary.  And then encourage everyone you know to read these so they can learn a little more about the consequences of our actions.

***By the way, I review a lot of middle grade books on this site.  In my opinion, none of these books are middle grade appropriate (MAYBE 5th Wave, but it would depend on the kid).  I would suggest them for upper high school and up.  If you have a pretty mature freshman or sophomore, maybe.

If you like your end of the world books hitting a little too close to home, then you should start here.  Taking place in the Southwestern United States, water in such a short supply that states are hording it and if you're rich, then great.  If not, too bad.  The Water Knife's job is to make sure his company has the rights to the water that they want, even if means cutting off water to an entire state full of people.

This is dirty and tough and violent.  Definitely not for kids!






In this story, a young girl has returned home years after she was taken away by her father.  During that time, they lived in a wooded area, far from civilization.  He told her when she was young and they left that the world was ending and they must go into hiding so they could survive.  But she's been found.

Not completely an end of the world story because it's obvious at the beginning that she's been returned to a world that was not destroyed, but she believes it has been.

Aliens send five waves of blights to wipe out humanity.  We start the story with Cassie during the 5th wave as she struggles to keep control of her humanity and find her little brother.

*Upper middle school appropriate.

For the literary fiction lover.  Set in a future American society where classes of people are kept together as laborers or the elites.  We follow one woman who goes in search of the man she loves, leaving all behind that knows and enters the unknown.

One of my favorites this year and actually a bit alarming when taken in context of our current political climate.  Vivian wakes up one morning and her very religious parents are missing and there are two holes in the roof of their bedroom.  The prophecy has come true and now Vivian is left alone to figure out the truth.  With her best friend, and a new ally she isn't sure she should trust, Vivian sets off on a cross country drive to discover the truth about her parents.

This book is beautiful and takes place right before the end of the world, and then jumps ahead about 15 years to the aftermath.  This post-apocalyptic world is terrifying, but there are moments of hope embedded.  It's told from multiple perspectives and jumps time and settings to help tell this story.

In a future where technology, science, and anything unnatural, has been outlawed, Elliot North struggles to keep her family's plantation together.  She feels responsible for the lives of her servants, especially those who are Reduced--members of society whose mental capacity has been diminished due to genetic experiments conducted generations ago.







What other books do you recommend about the end of the world?