Good Minds Suggest—Alex Adams's Favorite Post-Apocalyptic Books for Adults

April, 2012

The Hunger Games may be fueling an explosion of teenage post-apocalyptic fiction, but this eerie genre seems to be just as thrilling for adult readers. Oregon author Alex Adams offers one more sophisticated tale of literary horror with her debut novel,White Horse. The story opens in Italy 18 months after a plague called "White Horse" has decimated 90 percent of the world's population. Immune to the disease, 30-year-old Zoe clings to what's left of her own humanity as she begins a dangerous journey to Greece, tracking the father of her unborn child across a chaotic landscape. Adams, a New Zealand transplant who has also lived in Greece and Australia, is now writing a follow-up to White Horse, the first of a trilogy. She shares with Goodreads her top five books to read when the world is ending. 

The Stand by Stephen King

"A book so huge, it could double as a weapon after the apocalypse, whether we're battling zombies, robots, or radioactive ninjas. The Standis where it all started for me, this love for apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic fiction."

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

"I blame this book for my lifelong inability to love gardening. A meteor shower leads to death, blindness, and killer plants wandering the earth. Is it any wonder I get twitchy when a daffodil's head swivels my way?"

World War Z by Max Brooks (Goodreads Author)

"Brooks breathes minty freshness into the zombie apocalypse by delivering his tale in a series of interviews. The result is a realistic and horrifying story of face-saving cover-ups and acts of amazing bravery."

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson (Goodreads Author)

"It's not just your pet robot plotting your demise, but also your car, microwave, and nose-hair trimmer. Robopocalypse makes me want to hug my iPad so it shows me mercy if Skynet becomes self-aware."

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (Goodreads Author)

"OK, so I'm cheating a little. Prince of Thorns takes place a long, long time after our world ends, but it's just so much fun pointing at the details and going, "It's a skyscraper! And that's a thingmabob!" It's a little bit epic fantasy, a little bit post-apocalyptic, and all tied up with delicious literary prose."