I’ve a big thank you out to Toolman Tim Cook for inspiring me to write this post. If you’re not familiar with Tim, he’s on The Survival Podcast Expert Council, a fellow Firestarter on Fireside Freedom with me, and he’s got his own podcast and show. Now, back in April, Tim did a surprise livestream where he discussed his Top 5 Post-Apocalyptic novel series he’s read, and it was a great discussion. I’ve read a lot of the series he mentioned, and have added a few to my “To Read List” because I had never heard of them. He also did an episode with his Top 5 Post-Apocalyptic Comedies, which was great, but didn’t include Idiocracy, to my disappointment. The past few months, we’ve had some great side conversations about books, films, and series we’ve enjoyed. Be sure to scroll through his YouTube videos for some other fun videos on the subject.

Anywhoo…Tim has now started a book club, where each month, we will be discussing a different post-apocalyptic book. We are starting with the “Going Home” series (this month, the discussion was on Book One: “Going Home”), and I am SUPER excited for the opportunity to go back and re-read the 11 books again each month, and to get Squatch involved. He’s excited to get involved in the book club as well! But, the decision for the book club gave me the inspiration for this week’s post – Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic Novels I have read.

There are spoilers ahead, so if you are not a fan, just check out the different series I cover and then go ahead and read them.

First up, we have the Razorland Series, by Ann Aguirre. Now, when I read it years ago, it was just a trilogy. You have no idea how excited I was to see there is a fourth book in the series, Vanguard. The series stars Deuce, a teenage girl who has lived her entire life in the sewers batting “Freaks” under New York City years after war and plague have spread. She is exiled from the enclave with Fade, and they have to learn how to live in the daylight world up above. Outpost brings Deuce and Fade to Salvation, a small town that has mostly shut itself out from the rest of the world, with a religious bent on everything that has happened in the past. In Outpost, Deuce learns that there are indeed other communities that survived the initial outbreak of disease, and she begins to venture out. Horde has Deuce recruiting an army in order to defeat the horde of “Muties” (as the Freaks are known on the surface) that is threatening to overrun the various communities that are in the region. Vanguard takes place after the Battle of the River, with an uneasy peace established between the “Uroch” (what the Muties/Freaks call themselves) and the humans, as the various factions learn how to live in the new world.

The Freaks Deuce and Fade encounter we find out are the result of a vaccine that was created to counter a plague that spread, and as we go through the four novels, we realize that the Freaks evolve…an amazing result we learn more about in Vanguard. I really enjoyed this series. I actually just read all four books in the past four days, because I did not know about Vanguard when I initially read the series way back when. The plague and vaccine were eerily reminiscent to everything that has happened the past two years with COVID-19, and have me wondering what, if anything, these hastily rushed vaccines are doing to the people who have taken them.

The Maze Runner series was not just the films…It started as a trilogy. There are two prequels, The Kill Order and Fever Code, which I have not read, so we shall focus on the main trilogy: Maze Runner, Scorch Trials, and Death Cure. Maze Runner is set in “The Glade,” where teenagers spend their days trying to find a way out of the Maze that surrounds them, which changes every day. The teens find out they are being used by a corporation called “Wicked” (I know, right?), and in Scorch Trials, they are set across The Scorch, a barren wasteland inhabited by people sick with “The Flare.” Death Cure brings the teenagers to find out that they are immune to The Flare, and join forces with “Right Arm” in order to battle Wicked.

I enjoyed these books, but I cannot say they are something I would want to go back and read again.

In the Declaration Trilogy, we learn about a world where all illnesses have been cured, and the people aspire to have eternal life. As a result, while people still age, they continue to have children, leading to an overpopulation problem. The title “The Declaration” refers to a document that must be signed before an individual can take Longevity, the drug that prevents death, as long as they promise to not have children. The families who ignore the Declaration have children, who are known as “Surplus,” and depending on the country in which they are born they are either killed at birth or sent to “Surplus Halls.” At the Surplus Halls, the children are taught that their existences are a crime against nature, and the way to atone for the crimes of their parents is through labour.

In The Declaration, Anna is a “surplus,” who learns that she does indeed have parents who wish she had not been taken away. She does reunite with them, and learns she has a younger brother, but they are discovered, and as they are being taken into custody, her parents kill themselves, thereby making Anna and Ben legals. The Resistance introduces the Underground that is fighting against Longevity and the Declaration. In The Legacy, The Underground storms the pharmaceutical company and finds not drugs, but corpses…Longevity apparently doesn’t work as well as they say it does, and the Underground are blamed for contaminating a batch of the drugs that have gone out.

This was a fun series to read, but not very memorable. The search for immortality rings inside of all of us because who really wants to accept the fact that they will one day die? Before reading the books, though, I never paid a second thought to overpopulation if we were to cure illness and not be able to die.

Divergent Series – If you watched the films, skip the books. If you read the books, skip the films. That is all. The books were DEFINITELY better…Especially coming from a Chicago-land native.

I know, I know…I didn’t even mention the most famous of all YA Post-Apocalyptic Series – The Hunger Games. Yes…I’ve read them. Yes…I’ve seen the films. And, to tell you the truth…I wish I had not seen the films. The books were so much better. I also know that there is really no need to discuss them, because EVERYONE knows Hunger Games.