If you’re like me and love great survival stories, here are some works of fiction that are enjoyable to read, as well as enlightening and educational. a good survival story needs to have several elements to be considered one of the best.
It has to be engaging and really draw readers in and keep them reading, it has to be believable, it has to teach the reader something, and lastly, it has to be able to be remembered later.
You are reading: Best fiction survival books
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1. ay, babylon, by pat frank: this book often ranks number one on many lists. is a story about a small Florida town and its residents struggling to survive after a nuclear attack occurred.
2. Robert Crawford’s Lights Out: A story about a man who finds himself far from home when the entire power grid goes down. he must find the strength and courage to travel back across the country to reunite with his family.
3. one second later, by william r. forstchen – an emp is released by a high-altitude nuclear explosion that turns off lights across the country and disables nearly every available electronic device.
history profession john matherson must learn to survive with his two daughters as the world as they know it descends into chaos. read our full review before here.
4. one year later, by willam r. forstchen – continuation of the bestseller, a second later.
This novel goes back to the town where John Masterson and his two daughters struggled to survive and revisits their plight a year later.
5. no blade of grass by john christopher – a story about london survivors struggling to survive after a terrible plague wipes out the grain supply.
6. Patriots: Surviving the Coming Crash, by james wesley rawles – a very educational survival book. it is a fictional story but the amount of educational elements make it seem like reference material.
7. Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse by James Wesley Rawles – the next installment in the popular patriots.
8. Founders: A Coming Crash Novel by James Wesley Rawles, the next installment in the popular “The Coming Crash” series.
9. survivors, by terry nation – a group of survivors travel south to avoid crazy neighbors.
10. z for zachariah by robert c. o’brien – z for zachariah is the story of a girl trying to survive on her own after a nuclear attack wipes out most of the world’s population. a classic read.
11. preppers on the run, by dan f. sullivan and megan stewart – a story about one woman’s struggle to survive when the unthinkable happens. preppers on the run, you’ll be hooked from the start.
12. the stand, by steven king: classic story of good versus evil. the stand chronicles the lives of several survivors who survived a global plague that wiped out 99% of the planet’s population.
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Their survival was just the beginning, as they were chosen by the forces of good and evil for a final showdown.
13. footfall by larry niven – footfall is a story of survival when aliens invade earth.
14. wastelands, a collection by john joseph adams: a collection of stories to detail armageddon and the chaos that follows.
15. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven: A giant comet crashes into the earth causing catastrophic earthquakes and tidal waves and turning coastal cities into oceans. excellent book of apocalyptic disasters.
16. on the beach by nevil shute – after the third world war, most of the world’s population has been wiped out. A small town of residents in South Australia waits in fearful anticipation as a cloud of radiation moves towards them.
A weak Morse code message comes from the United States and a naval officer sets off to find the source of the message.
17. The Scattered and the Dead by Tim McBain – In a world that has just lost 99.7% of its population, a small handful of survivors must survive in an empty world. they are the leftovers; they are the scattered.
18. the earth respects george r. stewart – an unprecedented and destructive disease wipes out the human race.
A survivor who is for some reason immune to the destructive force of the disease ventures out and must learn to live in his new world… one without man.
19. A Song for Leibowitz, by Walter M. miller – a book about a post-apocalyptic world that wakes up after a long sleep in the dark. all facets of a post-apocalyptic world are examined.
20. the postman, by david brin: after a devastating war that paralyzes the united states, a survivor; A man with dreams of rebuilding his home fights to establish order and rebuild America’s government infrastructure.
21. the road, by cormac mccarthy: a story about a father and son struggling to survive after an unnamed apocalyptic event changes the lives of them and everyone around them. the road paints a gray picture of a cold world devoid of color and love.
22. robert mccammon’s swan song – A fear-inspiring and vengeful wasteland populated by mutated monstrous animals and marauding gangs must be traversed by a group of survivors whose only hope is to make it to the next day. a heartwarming story of apocalypse and survival.
23. frontier justice (the surviving book 1) by arthur t. bradley – superpox-99 has wiped out most of the human race, societies and governments have collapsed, and cities have become mass cemeteries for the dead.
US Deputy Sheriff Mason Raines must stay alive by using his survival skills to sustain his life and avoid gangs of thieves looking to take advantage of the collapse of society.
24. Children of Hell: A post-apocalyptic survival thriller from John L. monk – the world has gone to hell and will not return. after a mysterious plague kills all the world’s adults, the world is left in the hands of the young survivors; children.
Children without adults to guide them besiege a world without order. If you think that children in today’s world with adults are bad, imagine what they will be like without them.
A small group of good kids struggle to survive the chaos after surviving the plague.
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25. stranded nowhere (nowhere apocalypse book 1) by e. a. lake: The world of the 21st century and its inhabitants date back to the 19th century.
nobody saw teotwawki coming. no one was prepared. but still he came and with a vengeance. the first book in the “nowhere apocalypse” series is definitely engaging, making the transition to books #2 and #3 easy.
26. state of panic: a jack hunt post-apocalyptic survival thriller: a nation descends into darkness, a society in peril, and a world in panic.
Panic State is a story of what happens to a community of people when the lights go out. this story is gripping from the first page and exciting to read.
27. on the edge by martyn j. Pass: After a year of hiding underground, Alan Harding emerges into a society facing extinction as he relies on solar power to light his world. a slow death brought about by the collapse of a society only beckons the worst fate yet.
28. enduring the crisis by k.d. kinney – the prepping powell family has been preparing for this event for years. But when a nuclear attack impoverishes the network, they realize they weren’t as prepared as they thought.
Enduring the Crisis is the story of one family’s journey of survival through one of man’s darkest periods.
29. Riding the Storm (The Storm Series, Book 1) by Jennifer Brooks: Superstorm Nicole hits the entire US East Coast at once.
Chaos ensues when the eastern power grid fails and cuts power to millions upon millions of residences and businesses.
Without power, gangs rule the streets, leaving residents with only two options: leave their homes or stay and fight to protect themselves against gangs hell-bent on stealing everything in sight.
a harrowing story of survival after the lights go out.
30. under a revealing sky: a post-apocalyptic journey of r. me. mcdermott: Captain Jordan Hughes is trapped at sea when an employee disables the power grid.
His crew is restless, the shore dwellers are becoming more violent, and to make matters worse, he and his crew are transporting one of the most precious commodities on the planet…oil and fuel.
It’s a race against time as Captain Hughes weighs his options before deciding what he must do to protect his cargo and the lives of his crew before time runs out.
final words
I hope you get a chance to see some of these amazing reads.
There are many more out there, but these were carefully selected as some of the best. they are full of action, suspense and teach the reader something about survival.
Ultimately, the reader will decide whether or not to like these books, but they have received high ratings and reviews across the board. Happy reading!
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