Looking for an unforgettable collection of dystopian books you’ll devour if you liked The Stand by Stephen King? As an award-winning author and veteran blogger, I’ve spent over a decade analyzing and recommending the most impactful apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, and dystopian novels that reveal the complexities of human relationships during times of extinction-level stress.
You’ll find detailed reviews of more than a dozen novels in the roundup below. Some are classics. Some are young adult novels you may have never seen. All of them have page-turning plots, compelling characters, and thought-provoking themes about humanity at the end of the world.
Coywood Creek by Khristina Chess
Why it’s like the Stand
Apocolypse by coronal mass ejection (CME)
What it’s about
A lighthearted dystopian thriller about teen battling anxiety and binge eating disorder, forced to adopt new coping strategies as society crumbles around her.
Why I Love It - Book Review
“With an unremarkable click, like a period at the end of a sentence, the world ended.” ― Khristina Chess from Coywood Creek
This hilariously smart YA novel will wreck you—in the best way possible!
For readers drawn to the slow unraveling of society in dystopian fiction, Coywood Creek delivers a comical journey through the eyes of a teenager with binge eating disorder.
At first, Zoey brushes off the blackout, the dead cell service, and the eerie northern lights. But as reality sets in, she knows one thing: she can’t stay in her parents’ condo alone with no power. So she packs her snacks and sets out for Coywood Creek, hoping to find safety with her uncle and grandmother. Instead, she finds something else entirely.
What makes this novel so engrossing is Zoey’s sharp, relatable, and often humorous response to navigating the collapse of civilization with her signature sarcasm (and a bag of OREO cookies). Her delicious banter with Kent made me laugh out loud, even as the novel’s deeper themes—resilience, uncertainty, and survival—kept me hooked.
But more than anything, Coywood Creek forces you to ask: How fragile are we without our technology?
I highly recommend this YA novel about the end of the world. You have to meet the sassiest survivor since Katniss—and don’t forget to bring snacks.
Z for Zachariah by Robert O’Brien
Why it’s like the Stand
Apocalypse by nuclear war
What it’s about
A resourceful and resilient teen who survived nuclear war in a protected valley lets her guard down to help a stranger—and this turns out to be a mistake.
Why I Love It - Book Review
“I am afraid. Someone is coming.” ― Robert C O’Brien from Z for Zachariah
I remember reading this book in our school library in high school, and it was chilling. Now an adult, decades later, I bought a copy of it to see if it was really as good as I remembered.
Yes, yes it is!
Young adult fiction wasn't even "a thing" when this book was written, and yet, it's a thrilling, roller-coaster true YA novel about a 15-year-old girl (who turns 16 during the events) who believes she's the last person alive after a nuclear war. She's resilient, resourceful, wary, hopeful, and that mix of both childlike and wise that you would expect from a teen in this situation.
When a stranger arrives in the valley, a man, she is cautious, but as events unfold and he becomes sick, she lets her guard down to help him. This turns out to be a mistake.
The Hollywood movie version gets this book wrong: the female is older, and there are two men. If you love dystopian YA novels and haven't picked this one up, I highly recommend it!
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
Why it’s like the Stand
Post-apocalyptic tribal dystopia
What it’s about
Quarantined students in a girls' boarding school grapple with a terrifying and mutilating disease
Why I Love It - Book Review
“…we’ve learned that all we can do is look after our own. Reese and Byatt, they’re mine and I’m theirs.” ― Rory Power from Wilder Girls
I wanted to read Wilder Girls for many years on the basis of its cover alone. It’s one of my top-10 YA favorite covers of all time. It’s so beautiful and intriguing, without even knowing what the story is about.
An all-girls school on an island is quarantined because of a mysterious plague that has killed a significant portion of both the student and faculty population, as well as animals, and the remaining people are infected. This disease does terrible things to them. Now, they’re waiting for a cure. It’s been promised. They just have to stay alive until it comes.
The pacing is fast, and I was drawn into the relationships between the girls. They are gritty heroines. I couldn’t wait to discover what was truly going on and how this situation would ultimately be resolved.
If you liked The Stand by Stephen King and are looking for an unusual YA dystopian novel, you won’t be able to put this one down.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Why it’s like the Stand
Apocalypse by nuclear war
What it’s about
A boy and his father seek a place to live after the world is destroyed.
Why I Love It - Book Review
“You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget.” ― Cormac McCarthy from The Road
Maybe you’re looking for something similar to King’s The Stand. If so, pick up The Road. This dystopian, post-apocalyptic book is gripping from the very first page. A man and his son are on the road, and something truly awful has happened. What?
The story unfolds at a delicious crawl. You can feel the agony and terror of their situation. There are a couple of scenes that are truly chilling. The horror of them has remained with me forever.
There’s a reason this novel won a Pulitzer Prize. Read it. You won’t regret it.
The Razorland Trilogy: Enclave, Outpost, Horde by Ann Aguirre
Why it’s like the Stand
Post-apocalyptic tribal dystopia
What it’s about
Survivors of a toxic apocolypse must fight tribes and mutated creatures to survive and form new societies.
Why I Love It - Book Review
The Razorland Trilogy were the first apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, and dystopian YA science fiction books that I read, and from the very first pages, I was hooked! The novels are set in a dark future where the cities are ruined by plague, war, “tunnel monsters,” and ongoing skirmishes between the surviving gangs that roam in this world. In the first book, Enclave, we meet the heroine, a fifteen-year-old girl named Deuce who lives in the New York subway in a community called an enclave. Life is hard. It becomes even harder when she and another teenage Hunter are exiled from their enclave and must go to the surface to live.
The next two books, Outpost and Horde, follow Deuce in her new life above ground, and all three novels are fast-paced, engrossing reads that I couldn’t put down. Each book was as good as the last, very immersive, and Deuce is a well-drawn, fighting heroine that I rooted for every step of the way.
Fans of Stephen King’s classic novel The Stand will love this series. Check it out.
Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis
Why it’s like the Stand
Apocolypse by poison water
What it’s about
A young girl must defend her family's water source to survive.
Why I Love It - Book Review
“There's different ways of doing things wrong, Lynn, and not all of it is choosing to hurt others. Sometimes it's the things you don't do that make you feel the worst.” ― Mindy McGinnis from Not a Drop to Drink
Set in an apocalyptic future where drinking water is scarce and people fight for survival in a wild frontier, Lynn is a young woman in rural Ohio defending a pond and her homestead. Her mother raised her to distrust, to fight, and to live, and that's what she intends to do.
I enjoyed watching Lynn's fierce character evolve into a person who was willing to allow others into her life, to trust and even love. Despite her hardness, she had a kind heart. There were some interesting scenes in interactions with other people, like the stranger on the road, that tested her humanity.
Not a Drop to Drink was also a fast, thrilling YA book about dystopian survival, and its sequel, In a Handful of Dust, follows Lynn and her adopted daughter Lucy into the unknown after a mysterious plague drives them away from their home and community and into the wilderness.
If you’re looking for compelling and apocalyptic and dystopian YA books like The Stand, give these two a try. In fact, Mindy McGinnis is so awesome she’s on my list of Best YA Authors to Binge on Kindle Unlimited.
Darkness Begins (After the EMP) by Harley Tate
Why it’s like the Stand
Apocolypse by electromagnetic pulse (EMP)
What it’s about
Survivors of a civilization-crushing EMP try to navigate new dangers in a world without power.
Why I Love It - Book Review
My edition actually had the first 3 books together, but I didn't realize this until the transition to the second book.
Harley Tate gives an excellent story about a woman, daughter, and husband who are separated when the power goes out around the world. The daughter has 3 college friends with her. The viewpoint alternates between the mother, daughter, and father as they attempt to find one another in the immediate chaos.
The narrative is fast-paced, and the characters face many serious challenges in their journey. I became invested in the characters and their efforts to reunite, and then, I wanted them to achieve their goal of finding safety at the college roommate's parents' house in the mountains.
If you like The Stand, this is good book and new author to check out. She has a lot of others in her backlist too.
1984 by George Orwell
Why it’s like the Stand
Totalitarianism dystopia
What it’s about
A harrowing story of a man's resistance to "Big Brother," capture, torture, and re-education to return to society.
Why I Love It - Book Review
This one is another dystopian classic. In modern times, it is eerily disturbing and relevant. Sometimes the story is dense and difficult to read, but it’s worth the time if you liked The Stand. The rat scene is particularly disturbing. It’s not an easy read, but it’s a very good one overall. I definitely recommend reading it.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Why it’s like the Stand
Totalitarianism dystopia
What it’s about
A philosophical and cerebral epic about a group of creators who go on strike against society--causing global economic collapse.
Why I Love It - Book Review
As a young person, I read Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and We the Living and was so enamored with Ayn Rand’s work, philosophy, and political ideas.
As an adult, when I reread Atlas Shrugged, I found the story to be must slower and more dense to go through, but I’m still including it as an important, classic book that explores good and evil during a dystopian future. The plot is that the world is falling apart, and in rejection of the social and governmental causes of this, people begin disappearing. I don’t want to give too much away. If you loved the deeper questions in The Stand, then you want to read Atlas Shrugged.
Cell by Stephen King
Why it’s like the Stand
Apocalypse by cell phone & another King bestseller!
What it’s about
When a strange tone converts people into violent zombies, a handful of survivors must navigate the chaos.
Why I Love It - Book Review
In fact, if you are interested in the political tensions between collectivism/socialism versus individualism, read Stephen King’s own Cell. These themes are painted with subtle and beautiful strokes.
I recently read it a second time because I remembered two things: it was a great, fast read and I didn't like the ending (but didn't remember what it was). Now, some 15 years later, I can honestly say that the book remains a fabulous, fast-paced and engrossing read, and I appreciated the ending much better.
The novel is a zombie pandemic of sorts, set off with cell phones, and I read it during quarantine of the cornavirus pandemic of 2020. In Cell, the end of the world came with a single, abrupt pulse that changes everything, and it sends a group of survivors on a journey to find one man's son. Along the way, we learn what happened and is still evolving as a result of the pulse.
If you’re looking for compelling apocalyptic and dystopian books like The Stand, you will love this one.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Why it’s like the Stand
Totalitarianism dystopia
What it’s about
A teenage girl takes her sister's place to participate in the a life-or-death TV show.
Why I Love It - Book Review
There’s a reason that The Hunger Games always appears at the top of lists for apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, and dystopian YA science fiction books. This series has everything: a relatable and flawed heroine in Katniss, a love triangle, life-and-death adventure, good and evil, a stark world of intense poverty contrasted against ridiculous gluttony, and deeper themes about society at large.
This series is amazing. I could read it multiple times and still find new things to love. I have seen the movies multiple times, but there are things in the books that are just wonderful.
Don’t miss these lovely books.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Why it’s like the Stand
Technocratic dystopia
What it’s about
Characters fight to stay alive after being selected for "unwinding"--which is being cut up for parts and donated to others.
Why I Love It - Book Review
“You see, a conflict always begins with an issue - a difference of opinion, an argument. But by the time it turns into a war, the issue doesn't matter anymore, because now it's about one thing and one thing only: how much each side hates the other.” ― Neal Shusterman, quote from Unwind
Unwind is Book #1 in a 5-part dystopian YA series in which teens may be sent to "Harvest Camps" to be chopped up for parts if their parents sign the papers. No part is wasted.
Some, like Connor, are signed over because of behavior problems. Others, like Risa, are wards of the state who simply don't make the cut in terms of protegee status. Lev begins as a religious tithe, a willing victim, but after being kidnapped and freed by Connor, he also changes.
The concept of this series and the plotting are great, and I'm interested to see where the rest of the books go. There were moments, though, where I thought the book fell short of greatness. For example:
If a parent is able to bring all the parts of their child back together again, can they recover their child?
Where do the souls of these children go?
There are some attempts at these questions, but I wanted the book to go deeper. The fact that I keep thinking about the unwinding process means that something important is being covered here.
You definitely want to add Unwind to your TBR pile of apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, and dystopian books like The Stand.
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Why it’s like the Stand
Tribal dystopia
What it’s about
In a tribal society, a young "divergent" girl cannot be categorized—and this makes her a dangerous person.
Why I Love It - Book Review
Like The Hunger Games, there’s a reason that Veronica Roth’s Divergent series has become a classic series in the category of apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, and dystopian YA science fiction books.
For me, I loved the heroine, Tris, who finds herself thrust into this whole new environment that tests her core character and everything she knew about herself. The book grabs you and takes off running! There’s adventure, moral ambiguity, love, and tons of conflict. What more do you need? It’s very well written and engrossing.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Why it’s like the Stand
Totalitarianism dystopia
What it’s about
Genetic engineering and pharmaceuticals suppress dissent in a futuristic society that values consumerism and technology above all.
Why I Love It - Book Review
This is another classic in the list of compelling apocalyptic books similar to The Stand by Stephen King. It as assigned reading in college, and I found it so compelling! It’s a fast read and much shorter than some of the other lengthy offerings in this list. The ideas about genetic engineering and humanity are important. When considering some of the technology advances in our current times, the dystopian future of this novel don’t seem so farfetched. Scary, huh?
Other Books You’ll Devour If You Liked The Stand by Stephen King
If you are looking for other books like The Stand by Stephen King, Goodreads also offers a list of Readers Who Enjoyed The Stand.
You might also be interested in my post, Other Good Reads, which has a comprehensive list of binge-worthy book reviews.
Author Bio
Khristina Chess is an award-winning author of a dozen young adult novels, including The Cutting Edge of Friendship, The Delinquent Hero, and Junior Missing. Hollow Beauty, her book about eating disorders, was named a finalist in the Next Generation India Book Awards. She tackles tough teen topics and writes binge-worthy books across multiple genres, including contemporary, thriller, mystery, and adventure.
In a recent interview from her alma mater, she described how her experience in the creative writing program prepared her for success.
