This week’s theme from The Broke and the Bookish is Top Ten Books in X Setting. And X iiiiis… post-disaster settings!
- Magic Bites, by Ilona Andrews. I love magical apocalypses, and this is also snarky and pacy and full of tasty mythology.
- Sunshine, by Robin McKinley. It’s never entirely clear what’s happened, but this is our world aslant: full of magic and magical creatures.
- Santa Olivia, by Jacqueline Carey. Welcome to Outpost: a town forgotten by most Americans, cordoned off as part of a murky war against uncertain opponents.
- Feed, by Mira Grant. Zombies! And also politics. This is mostly about ‘what happens after’; it’s not mindless gore or horror, but about trying to build a life despite a disaster that has changed everything.
- Farthing, by Jo Walton. Hopefully you do agree that compromises with the Nazis qualifies as a disaster for 1940s Britain…
- The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin. I haven’t finished reading it yet, but the idea of cyclical disasters… well, that secures it a place on this list right away, plus it’s N.K. Jemisin, so I know it’s solid.
- The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch. Maybe, anyway. Don’t you wonder about what happened to the Eldren?
- Century Rain, by Alastair Reynolds. Humans wrecked the Earth in all sorts of fun ways, which included sentient algae blooms making rude gestures visible from space. It’s not as quirky as that makes it sound, actually, but the whole story is framed by that disaster and, along with it, the loss of knowledge as humanity’s digital past was all but erased.
- The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham. It’s a classic, and deservedly so.
- City of Bones, by Martha Wells. It’s post-apocalyptic fantasy. I feel like there needs to be tonnes more books like this.
So, what about you? Any you’d recommend for my list? Any TTTs I just have to check out?
I loved Sunshine. I thought it was beautifully written and I really liked the the author didn’t spoon-feed us the history. Lies of Locke Lamora has been on my TBR list for ever and I keep seeing the series on these lists – time to bump it up I think.
Agreed! I need to reread Sunshine, actually, it’s been too long. And I do recommend Scott Lynch!
Nice list – Santa Olivia, The Fifth Season, and The Lies of Locke Lamora are all on my TBR pile.
Oh, I’m surprised you haven’t read them! You always seem to be way ahead of me, haha. I love Scott Lynch’s work.
Awww, I love that Sunshine made a list this week! I need to plan a re-read of that one soon 🙂
My TTT.
I need to reread it, too! I think it’s been years now.
*does the happy disaster dance* (I know, it’s inappropriate, but I do love a good upheaval)
And YES I do wonder about the Eldren. There are so many hints scattered in these books that things are not necessarily what they seem – and let’s face it, the theme from start to finish is things not being as they appear – that I’m absolutely certain we’ll get the rug pulled from under us at some point. But whether that’s by the Eldren, the Bondsmagi, or Whatever Scared The Eldren Away? Who knows.
I must get round to picking up Feed. I keep not getting around to it, and everyone else keeps making it clear that this is a mistake.
(The Chrysalids is one of my lesser-read Wyndhams. I should fix that, too, because it’s really rather good)
Secret: I still need to read Republic of Thieves, because I am terrible. So anything in there about the Eldren, I know nothing of.
I recently reread Feed, and really enjoyed it. I don’t think my review has gone up yet, but yeah, I appreciated so much about it.
Great topic. All of these titles are new to me and I’m quite intrigued by several of them, especially Farthing.
Suzanne recently posted…Top 10 Books Set in New York City
Jo Walton’s work is great, I do recommend it!
I saw a list like this on another blog too but it was post-apocalyptic. I like “post disaster” more because you can expand that to a lot more cool settings and situations. Awesome list!
Exactly! So much extra fun. Thanks!