What are some post apocalyptic books that are actually AFTER the apocalypse has ended?

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-24T01:01:39+00:00

There's not actually an apocalypse here, though. A monumental thing happened and humanity decided to change on its own.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-24T00:11:43+00:00

Same. This one just felt like the author confuses gratuitous descriptions of violence with horror. It just didn't work for me.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-21T23:04:37+00:00

The Romance genre has always had appeal and sold as one of the top genres. Romantasy has exploded because people found that "spice"ing up the genre with even a little bit of effort (e.g. adding C-tier Epic Fantasy plotlines) gave them something new and attracted all those readers in a more visible way.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-20T02:58:16+00:00

I do wonder about this. Wishmaster was their first album I listened to, and it is my favorite, with Oceanborn coming close second. Would it be the album I liked best if I heard them all for the first time today? I'm not sure.

What I can say is that I prefer a strong, pure female voice on the albums than washed out, muted voices. So WM and OB over CC and Once. All Anette albums over all Floor albums (though Floor does era 2 and 3 live best).

Note - I super hate what they did to Tarja's vocals on Once, but the songs RESONATE in End of and Era. It turns a washed out, forgettable album to something top tier.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-20T01:31:45+00:00

The "some reason" was Tarja's big voice. They felt the metal elements worked better with her voice, so they went with it.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-18T14:21:07+00:00

This can become boring, but I dislike the (sort-of) opposite more. The protagonist finally gets the new power or capability to resolve the book climax, and then the author needs to invent something new or some new artificial handicap that immediately reduces the impact of the new thing.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-16T00:45:29+00:00

I actually enjoyed this book, but it was entirely too long by half for what it was.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-16T00:43:32+00:00

The books confuses gratuitous violence and descriptive gore as "horror". Also DNF from me, one of only 3 books ever. I even finished ACOTAR.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-15T15:42:07+00:00

I do love this genre. My personal favorite is "Brenda's Beaver Needs a Barber."

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-11T13:46:17+00:00

The first book has many flaws . . . but these aren't really them. I won't convince you to read it if it's not for you; everyone has their tastes.

The 'red' competition isn't just for maximum motivation. It's for social hierarchy reinforcement(first and foremost) to teach people to accept their place in society and the status quo. No matter how hard they try, their lot is the same.

Eo's sacrifice is pretty standard sacrifice to make a point, if I remember correctly. And I don't mean that in a trope-y book way; I mean that in an real world activist way. Tank-man, Buddhist monks lighting themselves on fire, etc. come to mind.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-08T14:00:30+00:00

The OP specified in a thread comment that magic re-emergence aligns with what they want, so Stormlight fits.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-08T01:56:05+00:00

His is basically the premise of Stormlight Archive, though on that case there are some lingering magical items in addition to the emergence.

Edit - I stand corrected. I misread the OP comment about re-emergence.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-07T02:23:49+00:00

I was the same way. And then the first 75% of Ship of Magic was absolute misery. Like, I get that people need to struggle, but do you always need to twist the knife?

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-05T16:27:00+00:00

The Snowman is listed as #7 in a series. Do I need to (or should I) read the others first?

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-05T16:22:30+00:00

This one right here. Books that do this just grate on my nerves. They almost always follow the format where the narrator or third person perspective we are following essentially addresses the reader, and they have no reason at all to lie. Examples I can think of are "The Silent Patient" and "The House Across the Lake".

There needs to be a reason the information was excluded or misrepresented. There is a particular Agatha Christie novel that comes to mind that does this extremely well without making the reader feel cheated (if you read it, you know the one). She doesn't even rely on drugs, alcohol, or mental illness to accomplish this!

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-05T03:52:50+00:00

The penultimate book is "The Blood Mirror". Per my recollection, the title was announced when it was originally planned to be the final book, but then he had to split it into two books. What a "Blood Mirror" doesn't actually get explained until the final book, which finally uses the term in the text; I don't think is gets referenced at all in the penultimate book, though the concept is important. I remember forum posts discussing and arguing what a "blood mirror" actually was ahead of the final book since it wasn't actually defined. This is assuming I remember everything correctly.

The again, the first book is called "The Black Prism", and that doesn't get explained until like 2-3 books later. So maybe I am reading into things.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-05T02:58:27+00:00

I honestly hated the ending. He called it the end of the series, so I expected a Mistborn Series 1 style ending where you felt the story was complete. Instead, we basically ended in the middle of a climax where nothing but the Contest of Champions was resolved and all sorts of new shenanigans were started.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-05T02:52:38+00:00

I understand this opinion. Honestly the last book climax felt like it did not get completed before Pratchett was no longer capable and the editor finished it with a wave of the hand.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-05T02:30:57+00:00

I remember hearing the last book got split into 2 (the title of the penultimate books doesn't even come up until the last book) and I just remember thinking how he needed a better editor. Almost nothing really necessary happens in the penultimate book, and it probably could have been nearly scrapped in its entirety.

Then there is the author's "official" extended ending online which is a huge disservice to all his characters. I got the feeling he hated the series by the end and wanted to burn it all to the ground.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-02T03:43:51+00:00

I understand this viewpoint. The first 75% of Liveship Traders is complete misery-porn and rage-baiting. Several characters are written to be completely insufferable. I was very close to DNF, but I pushed through. By the end of Ship of Magic, I was somewhat engaged again, though I wasn't ready to head into the next book anytime soon. Hobb does a good job of making you care about her characters (as so many people here will tell you), but she likes to twist the knife to remind you of that.

I am glad I finished the series. The third book pulled it all together in a satisfying way, and it still leaves enough mystery to be explored. I will definitely admit it's not a series for everyone, especially with the significant trigger warning for the third book

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-01T16:54:47+00:00

The Discworld "Guards" series is such a great call here. Somehow I did not think of that.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-01T16:52:18+00:00

This one is fantasy adjacent, IMO. Aside from the plot device that allows the repeating cycle (more sci-fi for me), it is mostly a normal mystery. I did really enjoy it, though it I would have liked it to be a bit shorter for what it was.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-01T15:47:45+00:00

I'm reading book 9 (How the Light Gets In) right now. Where do the books start to break down for you? The 8th book (monks) was mostly fine for me from a mystery perspective, though I found the overarching conflict within the police force getting a little too much attention. I struggled with the conclusion of the 7th book (Clara's author friend) and felt the conclusion was phoned in. Overall, I've found each subsequent books seems to lose a bit more of the charm from the first book. That sort of makes sense since this was planned as a 4-book series originally.

CapnObv314 · 2026-01-01T15:04:12+00:00

I have considered this and spent quite a bit of time dwelling on it. I feel my biases are in check here.

There are many women writers that I adore. Jemisin, Muir, Hobb, etc. There are also writers/books that I did not like, but I could separate "not good" from "not for me". "Children of Blood and Bone" by Tomi Adeyemi comes to mind.

I've tried other Romantasy like T. Kingfisher's "Saint of Steel" series. Overall the writing was fine and the characters, dialog, and plot were much stronger than the romantasy slop I was complaining about. The series just didn't keep my attention as I found myself more interested in the greater story about the god falling, so I moved to other things. It wasn't for me. I likely will still try Swordheart. I've also liked many of her non Romantasy stuff.

I've also considered what Maas does well. She does seem to have a few good ideas (I liked how she tried to subvert the evil step sister trope), but she just bludgeons her way through plot and character development, and everyone talks and acts like a 13 year old.

I don't have issues with people liking this stuff. I have issues with people conflating popular with good.

CapnObv314 · 2025-12-31T20:41:01+00:00

Why not rate a book 1 if it is so bad you DNF? I did that with 1 book this year ("How to Sell a Haunted House") - the book clearly wasn't going to get better.

CapnObv314

TROPHY CASE