Books You Should Read If You Like ‘The Last of Us’
The Last of Us is now a major series on HBO and the pilot episode has made waves for Sunday night television.
In case you didn’t know The Last of Us is more than just a video game, it is a four-issue miniseries published by Dark Horse Comics.
Neil Druckmann wrote the series and he was also the lead artist. The Last of Us: American Dreams follows Ellie and a survivor named Riley prior to events in the video game.
The Last of Us: American Dreams
Synopsis: Nineteen years ago, a parasitic fungal outbreak killed most of the world’s population. In one of the few remaining quarantine zones, thirteen-year-old Ellie begins her new life as a ward of a military boarding school, where a friendship with fellow student Riley leads to her first trip into the outside world. Beyond the walls of the regimented civil order they know, Ellie and Riley are soon confronted with a violent way of life.
If you enjoyed reading the four-issue miniseries, there are more books like The Last of Us: American Dreams to explore.
Here are the seven books (Update URL) you should read to get the same post-apocalyptic thrills as The Last of Us:
The Last of Us by Rob Ewing
Synopsis: When a pandemic wipes out the entire population of a remote Scottish island, only a small group of children survive. How will they fend for themselves? Since the last adult died, sensible Elizabeth has been the group leader, testing for a radio signal, playing teacher and keeping an eye on Alex, the littlest, whose insulin can only last so long. With adults to rebel against, squabbles threaten the fragile family they have formed.
The book plays out like a similar version of Lord of the Flies and focuses on the children finding their own form of survival. What would children do without adults in their life? They need to become responsible adults themselves. This is interesting in regards to which children become that authoritative figure.
Hunting by Stars by Cherie Dimaline
Synopsis: Years ago, when plagues and natural disasters killed millions of people, much of the world stopped dreaming. Without dreams, people are haunted, sick, mad, and unable to rebuild. The government soon finds that Indigenous people of North America have retained their dreams, an ability rumoured to be housed in the very marrow of their bones.
The concept of dreams has always been fascinating and Dimaline digs deep into Indigenous lore to tell this story. It is the second part in The Marrow of Thieves collection. It is an important futuristic world that explores climate change and what the world could possibly become in this universe.
The Way the World Ends by Jess Walter
Synopsis: For three strangers whose paths will cross, the storm hasn’t even reached its peak. Two of them are the kind of climate scientists no one ever listens to in the disaster movies. The third, against even icier opposition, has just moved to the magnolia state to come out. Soon they’ll all be pushed closer to the edge, where the bracing winds of cataclysmic change can be so wildly liberating.
When you have climate scientists who have studied the global scale of what could possibly happen to the human race, people should listen to them. It’s interesting to see what they express in this novel about this particular storm and what it could mean for everyone living in Magnolia state. There are seven books in the Warmer Series that highlights different tomorrows through different perspectives.
Wake Me After the Apocalypse by Jordan Rivet
Synopsis: When a killer comet hurtles for the earth, 18-year-old Joanna Murphy is selected to wait out the apocalypse in an underground bunker. She enters cryosleep with her close-knit team, preparing to resettle the planet after the atmosphere clears in two hundred years. Joanna is the only one who wakes up. Faced with a bunker full of bones and a blocked exit, Joanna must claw her way to the surface, figure out what happened to her team, and try not to panic – or die.
Being the only one who wakes up after a seismic apocalyptic event can be terrifying. But Joanna is a tough character and she does find her way through the wilderness. She meets people along the way who end up helping her. This shows perseverence in the face of multiple obstacles that one person is not fully equipped for.
Edge of Collapse by Kyla Stone
Synopsis: In the dead of winter, an EMP attack destroys the U.S. power grid. No electricity. No cars or phones. The country is plunged into instant chaos. But for Hannah Sheridan, it’s the best day of her life. For the last five years, she’s been the captive of a sadistic psychopath — until the EMP releases the lock of her prison. She emerges from her underground cell into a hostile winter wilderness with nothing but her determination to survive.
The Edge of Collapse series has a total of nine books. There is one separate prologue and epilogue short stories that tie the entire series together. It does sound a bit like stockholm syndrome and once Hannah breaks through it all, the journey she goes on in each book just adds to her freedom.
The Q by Amy Tintera
Synopsis: Two teenagers from opposite worlds must fight their way through a vast walled quarantine zone in a dystopian America towards their only chance for survival. Seventeen-year-old Maisie Rojas has spent her entire life in the Q – a post-pandemic quarantine zone that was once Austin, Texas. Born and raised behind high-security walls that sealed their fate, she’s now a trusted lieutenant for one of the territory’s controlling families.
Having two teenagers from opposite worlds is almost always a surefire way to create an engaging story. You will easily become invested in Maisie’s storyline as she naviagates this post-pandemic world. It is an action-packed thriller that shows two sides of the world by Tintera through the eyes of two teens.
The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Synopsis: Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels gradually wreak havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker; his pregnant wife, Frida; and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. The boys end up going missing before the hurricane hits, and Kirby heads out in high winds to go search for them. Frida goes into premature labour and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the storm.
There are many things that happen at once with all of these characters and it’s a pretty emotional story. Once we realize that Frida is in labor and she’s on her own while hoping that her sons return home safely with her husband, it’s just heartbreaking. The worry and the anticipation begins at the very beginning and does not waiver as the book goes on.
