20 Post-Apocalyptic Stories That Aren’t Totally Depressing

MaddAddam cover Image via Bloomsbury)

16. MaddAddam

The MaddAddam trilogy by famed Canadian writer Margaret Atwood has become one of the more recent and beloved sagas of life in a post-apocalyptic world. The series presents an uncompromising portrait of humanity’s greed and hubris that will make you shrink back in your seat as you read. However, it ultimately ends on a hopeful note.

The series begins with Oryx and Crake, published in 2003. Snowman, the main character, lives and interacts with the Crakers, a humanoid society that experiences no sexuality and eats only plants. In his previous life, Snowman was once known as Jimmy, a young man who befriended another man named Glenn, and more often called “Crake.”

Crake, a pre-apocalypse scientist, engineers the destruction of humanity, whom he has judged to become far too selfish and destructive. The protagonists of The Year of the Flood, which occurs more or less simultaneously to the events of Oryx and Crake, manages to survive this bioengineered pandemic. Some of them are members of a religious group known as God’s Gardeners, an association of environmentalist vegetarians who may or may not be a cult.

MaddAddam, the final entry, ties together both previous stories. Although Atwood does not hold back her characteristically dark wit, the series ends on a hopeful note.