10 books like The War of the Worlds

It's too easy to dismiss the Second World War. To relegate that epochal conflict into realms of ancient history, action films, kitset models, unread Father's day gifts, and black & white footage. But we all live through the consequences of this epic global struggle. This was the last time western civilisation brought itself close to destruction and it was a close call. 60 million lives were lost and no one died easily. The war was also raging just shy of 80 years ago. In the scheme of human history, that's recent.

Beevor's history of the global conflict - and it was global - is a page-turning affair. Vivid, engaging, heartbreaking, shocking. Really fine storytelling and a first class history, encompassing the great conflicts of east and west (China's experience of the war is much overlooked in the west but not in these pages). I found myself engrossed by this monumental… show more.

I’m often attracted to characters who seem to be haunted – whether by places, people, or their own past. Stanislaw Lem ups the ante a good deal by having his cast of characters apparently haunted by the entire ocean of the planet they’ve landed on. But that isn’t why I find Solaris so moving and intriguing. Just as we’re starting to orientate ourselves to how the planet can bend reality for the astronauts who are based there, Lem throws an entirely unexpected question into the mix – what if the ‘monsters’ don’t realise they’re ‘monsters’, what if they’re as bewildered by the situation as the ‘victims’? That blindsided me (which is another thing I like stories to do) and, for me, it adds a special layer of poignancy to the book.

Diamond shows, with a stunning depth and range of reference, how a failure to live within ecological limits has been the ultimate cause of the collapse of human societies through the ages. A riveting and terrifying read, and a stark warning of the consequences of our blind fixation on growth – at a planetary level as well as that of individual societies.

I read The Road when I was working three jobs, enrolled in university full-time, and trying to figure out what it meant to be an adult. I felt the gut-punch bleakness of McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic future, and yet despite all the gray, grim privation, I found hope in the Man and the Boy’s march toward…something. While it’s not quite a fantasy, the ashen world rendered in McCarthy’s beautifully austere language changed the way I write, and changed the way I read. There is a sobering warning that I hear echoed in The Odyssey and Gilgamesh; something like an Ozymandian warning: look upon the works of man, ye mortal: all this shall fade. The Road stays with you like a scar, but one you earned, that taught you something.

A well-written erudite work that explores all aspects of civilization relative to the degree and rate of global warming. It illustrates a broad and compelling narrative of all the plant aspects, from Hunger to Policy. It uses language that is incredibly descriptive, and very relatable to bring the impact of climate change home to readers who may be unfamiliar with all of the complexities of climate change.

One of my favorite novels of all time, Dune is probably a tough read for newcomers to speculative fiction in general—but veteran fantasy readers should feel right at home. Set in a far future where feudal lords rule entire planets in a empire encompassing multiple galaxies, Dune has everything fantasy fans know and love: warring houses, intricate plots, strange worldbuilding, a kind of magic, ancient conspiracies, and larger-than-life heroes and villains. It’s probably science fiction’s single most-famous novel these days, and it deserves its reputation—though it probably needs little introduction from me.

I think a lot of the reluctance fantasy readers feel about leaping into science fiction is the difficulty adapting to very strange new worlds. Elves and dwarves are comfortable and familiar at this point, likewise dragons and goblins and trolls, but the various alien creatures and terms sci-fi writers invent are less likely to be drawn from such… show more.

This book is so good it is insane. That being said, it will definitely mess with your head. Picture it, you’re a political prisoner doing forced labor and stumble on secret communications with aliens. Your planet is Earth. Present-day Earth. Your government is regressive and your family is all but gone because of them. The aliens only need an invitation to come. Except, there’s a possibility they might not come in peace. What would you do? I know what I would do. Not what the main character of this book did. I won’t spoil it for you as it is only the first book in a truly excellent series. Smart, compelling, and riveting. Definitely a must-read. It deserved every award it won.

A globe-spanning story of a zombie apocalypse.

One journalist travels the world in the aftermath and interviews the heroes, villains, and ordinary people who survived. It was made into a film with Brad Pitt, which is quite different, but I love anything with a fast zombie. The whole book makes you glad to live in a non-apocalypse.

(If the apocalypse has broken out between me writing this and you reading it, I’m not surprised, but I am sorry. Seriously, find a copy of WWZ as it’s full of good tips for your current predicament.) 

Ted Chiang is one of the most creative authors of my generation. Each of the stories in this collection builds exquisite worlds. Take, for instance, Story of Your Life (the book is named after this novel, which was later adapted into the movie Arrival). It features a linguist who, to decipher an alien language, must learn to shift her time perspective from the usual past-to-future flow into one where all events are simultaneous. Chiang skillfully builds his narrative to allow us to savor this perplexing atemporal frame. And he still manages to deliver a delicate picture of a mother who can’t do anything to change tragic events in her daughter's life. I defy you not to finish this book and immediately jump to Chiang’s second story collection, Exhalation.

As dark and depressing as this Cold War cautionary tale is, the author’s use of creeping ecological doom in the aftermath of a world-shattering war was profound to me. The story is told from several points of view by characters who have different motivations. I found their choices to be just as understandable as they were heartbreaking. This isn’t a “happily ever after” story. Even so, I found myself appreciating the whole story, from start to end.