American War is an extraordinary novel – emotionally powerful, challenging and thought-provoking. Omar El Akkad imagines a second American civil war in the future, that feels as if it could be happening right now, such is the power of his prose, and realism of the conf...

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The starting premise of this novel is familiar – a new strain of flu wipes out 99% of the population, and the few survivors struggle on in a harsh and unforgiving new world. But the author has created an extraordinary novel with...

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Ship Breaker is set in a future world where oil is scare and life for many is harsh. In the Gulf Coast region, grounded oil tankers are scavenged for old copper, and Nailer, a teenage boy, eeks out an existence by working on one of the...

The Girl with all The Gifts by M.J. Carey

This is a mind-bending thriller, with aspects of horror, set in a dystopian world that is completely unputdownable and refreshingly original. Every morning 10-year-old Melanie waits in her cell, eager to go to school and see h...

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

Written in an engaging and unique style, The Dog Stars is a novel that will make you smile, despite it being set in a grim and unrelenting world. A flu epidemic has killed everyone except a few isolated survivors. Hig, traumatised and gri...

America Pacifica by Anna North

This is an amazing piece of speculative fiction. Anna North is certainly a writer to watch. She has created a vivid alternative world in American Pacifica – an island city state that punches all the senses and has its own set of rules an...