66 books like Zombie Apocalypse!

I listened to this whole series while climbing mind-numbing stacks of backlogged legal work as an Assistant Attorney General. My vision was clogged with the vivid scenes of Bourne's books, legal folders, paper clips, and coffee stains. It actually inspired the fourth book of my zombie series.   

Told in the diary format common to many books of the zombie epic subgenre, this journal depicts one man's struggle for survival. The unnamed narrator is a naval officer who was just returning home to Texas from visiting his parents in Arkansas when the zombie apocalypse hits. John, another survivor, and Annabell, John's miniature greyhound, work together with the narrator to survive, hoping to find some last working vestige of the US government. 

There are some cool elements to this zombie epic that I haven't found anywhere else. They shelter in a functional missile silo at one point. The clunk, clunk… show more.

This book is gorgeous. It’s about a group of spoiled-rotten high school friends who have started to drift apart after attending college. There’s an interesting backstory to this novel, too: Ellis wrote the first draft in eight weeks while high on crystal meth (don’t believe me? Read the Rolling Stone interview).

The minimalist prose and haunting theme of how overindulgence leads to chronic emptiness make a nihilistic meditation on excess.

The governor series satisfied my Walking Dead craving without being redundant. It gave me a deeper look into the bad guy we all just love to hate so much. There were twists and turns in this story and once I hit the end my jaw was literally dropped from the shock of all that was revealed about this character’s back story. 

Wastelands is an anthology of short stories, all obviously focused on the apocalypse, but not all including zombies. One memorable story was titled When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth by Cory Doctorow, which features the communications between tech geeks who are safely ensconced within blast-resistant data hosting centers when the apocalypse begins. Working in server hosting centers are equipped with their own power sources, air filtering systems, and an abundance of junk food vending machines, the author creates a scenario where truly the geeks shall inherit the earth.

This one was one of the first Zombie Apocalypse books I read, and it still sticks with me to this day. The main character, Nina, is both realistic and relatable. She can be hard to like at times, hiding her inner self behind a wall of snark and attitude. There were moments when I wanted to wring her neck, but she always won me over again with her bravery and selflessness.

A thrill ride from beginning to end, this remains one of my favorites, and I eagerly devour each new book in the series as they’re released. 

Zompoc novels that involve kids are a tough pill to swallow, but David and Wesley have done something totally different with their story of a field trip gone awry in the early days of the apocalypse. One part Lord of the Flies, one part Night of the Living Dead, the three books in the Feral Children series sees school kids surviving the zombie apocalypse trapped in the city zoo, and it follows them as they befriend the animals there, and then step out with those animals at their backs. The Feral Children gives you the opportunity to read about clever kids surviving the horrors of the undead, as well as getting the chance to read about what a bear might do when faced with the undead.

This is a gem of a novel and one that should not ever be skipped over. The author’s humor bleeds through every page. This novel, and the entire series, literally had me in tears of laughter at many points. Even though the comedic aspect does tend to be the overarching theme, it does not detract from the horror of the situations the main characters find themselves in. The main character is obviously based on the author himself, as well as his family and his dog. This is fascinating because many authors may take certain aspects of themselves or loved ones and create characters with a trait or two, but Tufo goes all out and just makes himself a (hopefully!) exaggerated character in his own novel. The series starts small and centralized and builds itself into an entire world (or ten) of horrific and hilarious zombie craziness. You love many of… show more.

We’ve somehow managed to make it to the end of a list of post-apocalyptic fiction without mentioning zombies, but I’m here to remedy that with this book. It has everything you love about zombie apocalypses but with the added element of a sweet, sizzling romance between a capable, kickass heroine and a dreamy former Marine.

This novel kicks off a series with plenty of zombies, spice, and even a mystery or two. Both main characters are compelling, and I enjoyed following their journey over the three books in this series.

Miranda Tucci is looking for love during a zombie apocalypse but finding love is hard when the majority of available partners are either zombies or psychopaths.

On top of that Miranda has a lead on a cure for the virus, but the government is trying to control it. Can she get the cure and save civilization?

I enjoyed the character development, especially around trying to find love and surviving the zombie apocalypse.

This is one of those books that starts off slow and gradually pulls you into its embrace until you’re hooked. As an adrenalin junkie, I was uncertain at first. Could this story keep me entertained until the action kicked off? The answer is yes.

Not only did I grow to like and admire the main protagonist, Brianna, but I soon became engrossed in her adventures. She’s smart. Almost too smart. A nerd with little practical knowledge or expertise of the real world and its dangers, especially when the apocalypse kicks off. Her odds of survival are on par with my own. Not good. And that’s what makes her so relatable. That and her sense of humor.

Imagine my delight when I found out this was only the first book in a very long series. Time to dust off the lazy boy and prepare for an epic binge-read!