Optimistic post-apocalyptic?

[Anna]

Cheryl, let me know if you want me to remove that rec! I didn't look at the blurb earlier, so didn't catch this!

[Eva]

Hi Cheryl: I don't know if this applies to HIM, but it certainly applies to my recommendations you rejected earlier as not being optimistic: the blurb describes the apocalypse that is the premise, the start of the books. From that dark apocalyptic start then arises an optimistic story in which the world is saved and restored to how to should be.

I mean, apocalypse means destruction of the world, right? It has to have been destroyed in order to meet your first criterion. And the optimism comes in with the story, with what the characters do and achieve, right?

If you don't want the world to be destroyed at the beginning, then what exactly do you mean with post-apocalyptic? I'm not sure I understand that part. How can you have a post-apocalyptic world that isn't really post-apocalyptic at the start (and then blossoms into beauty and goodness toward the end)?

It would be helpful if you defined this a bit more and specified how destroyed the world can be at the start of the book. :-)

[Cheryl]

Eva, you make a good point. But the thing is, most of the rec's I've rejected spend time on the apocalypse and on the immediate recovery. HIM's blurb says that it's even more focused on the warrior seeking revenge, and the world is currently being ruled by that evil presence.

I'm seeking *post* apocalyptic. The apocalypse happened in the past, it's history, we're moving on now, we're *rebuilding.* The nature of the apocalypse is not likely to be particularly relevant (except for the limitations it imposes on the survivors' resources), and so it doesn't matter to me exactly what happened.

(Just don't go on and on about it. Station Eleven was borderline for me if we're going to define how much focus there can be on the bad stuff. I loved it despite the bad stuff, because it had so much optimism and such beautiful writing.)

Anna, no deletions necessary, leave it in to keep the clarification sub-discussion intact. But thank you for the offer.

[Cheryl]

Eva wrote: "How can you have a post-apocalyptic world that isn't really post-apocalyptic at the start (and then blossoms into beauty and goodness toward the end)? ..."

Specifically, I want to focus on the middle of what you suggested as an arc. There *was* bad stuff. Now we're exploring how humans who are trying to rebuild can manage to work together to make that happen. The beauty and goodness don't even have to be achieved by the end... we're ppl after all and will never be able to achieve a perfect society.

Because the thing is, I want hope. I want to think that things like climate change and overpopulation and the pandemics could get much worse, but not kill off humanity altogether, and our descendants could do a much better job than we're doing. And I want to see *how,* rather than having the rebuilding in the past, because if I don't see the rebuilding, I can't as readily believe it... too much 'hope-punk' seems like a fairy-tale.

[Eva]

Thank you for explaining it more, this makes it much clearer.

I haven't read these myself, but you could try:
The City, Not Long After
Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (re-building society on other planets)
MaddAddam (and, to a lesser extent, its prequels)
The Wild Shore (the whole trilogy sounds perfect)

[Cheryl]

Thank you!

[Cheryl]

Do y'all think Oil and Dust fits?

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "Do y'all think Oil and Dust fits?"

I've read it and yes, it's pretty optimistic and post apocalyptic. Was surprised by how much I liked it.

You may want to put Corinth 2642 AD by Bindiya Schaefer on your list too.

[Karin]

Eva wrote: "Thank you for explaining it more, this makes it much clearer.

I haven't read these myself, but you could try:
The City, Not Long After
Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang
[..."

I wouldn't personally agree with Maccaddam, but I hated the book since it's so dark. As for the prequels, very disturbing and not optimistic, IMO, and I did like the second book at 3 stars. For me to give anything by Atwood 3 or 4 stars is amazing and has happened only twice (I gave 4 stars to A Handmaid's Tale which is also very dark--it would have had a 5 but for the ending plus one other thing.) As a Canadian I had to read three of her books in university and even back then when I liked dark novels, I didn't like her writing. Plus she's never seemed that Canadian as compared with other Canadian literary authors of her generation, or older, or even younger, which I am sure is why she's the most popular one outside of Canada.

I've read 8of her books. I struggled through a very thoughtful gift by an American high school friend who first learned of her while at Princeton--he loves her writing.

[Colin]

The question I would ask for clarification is: does the entire book need to be optimistic or can it work toward an optimistic conclusion? Along the lines of the latter possibility, you could consider Davy. This book goes back close to six decades (published in the mid-sixties), but I remember it as a good read, with excellent post-apocalyptic world-building and genuine characters.

[Rick]

Depends what you're after. A couple of of L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s books are set after some kind of huge, cataclysmic event but the feel of the world is much like ours but with some future tech and changes... there are two books: https://www.goodreads.com/series/4277...

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Ryan wrote: "Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "Do y'all think Oil and Dust fits?"

I've read it and yes, it's pretty optimistic and post apocalyptic. Was surprised by how much I liked it.

You ..."

I could say more about these books but I think the blurbs do a good job of letting you know what's in store.

[Cheryl]

I think that I'd prefer the whole book, except maybe for a 'prequel' of sorts, or a setting up of what's going on, to be optimistic.

Maybe it would help some of you if I explain that I want something comforting, something that gives me hope that we'll get beyond the kind of crap that Trump and Putin are spewing on us. That somehow we'll survive this current pessimistic outlook, or that maybe next time we'll get it right.

Thank you for all the rec's. I do investigate every one, in light of their inclusion on this thread, even if they're ones I've read or rejected before.

[Xandria]

So I’ll begin by admitting that I am an absolute fantasy hoe and though I love syfy, I do read fantasy the majority of the time; so I may not be the best judge…however
At Pensacon last summer, I met an author, LK Hingey. She was promoting her new release, Orion (which happens to be my sons name) so of course I had to buy it, along with the first book, Kimber. I honestly didn’t expect to fall in love them as much as I did! Although they may be set in a dystopian future where the world has gone to shit, they are filled with hope and the power of perseverance.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

^^

[Cheryl]

ORION: Book Two of The Elyrian Chronicles by L.K. Hingey and Kimber for the links.

Thank you... a book that has an appeal that transcends genre is especially appealing.