2012 has been another great year for Post Apocalyptic Fiction. I think, not since the release of The Road, has this subgenre received this much critical acceptance. With Post Apocalyptic titles topping Best of Lists, classics of the genre finally being released as audiobooks and the surge of independently produced Audiobooks, the number of Post Apocalyptic audiobooks choices can be staggering. In 2012, I listened to 43 audiobooks that could be classified as Post Apocalyptic or Dystopian not including titles dealing with Zombies. Of that number, 40 of them were produced in 2012 as audiobooks. Narrowing down my list was brutal. To make things a bit easier, I attempted to stick with books that you could just sit down and grab without having read others in the series. While a few of these books were released in print for before 2012, they all were produced as audiobooks this year.
Click on the Cover Images for my original review.
A Gift Upon the Shore by M.K. Wren
Read by Gabra Zackman
Audible Frontiers
Type of Apocalypse: Nuclear War
A Gift upon the Shore is one of my all time favorite novels which was finally brought to audiobook format from Audible. Experiencing this novel again, with the wonderful narration by Gabra Zackman, was one of the most emotional and memorable moments in 2012.
Read by Grover Gardner
Type of Apocalypse: Pandemic
The Stand is my favorite novel of all time, and everytime I read it I feel like I’m returning home. Grover Gardner brings these characters that feel like family to me, alive in perfect detail. For me Grover, and not Molly Ringwold, will always be Franny. The only reason this is in the #2 spot, was that I have read this novel so many times that experiencing it again didn’t have as much of an emotional impact on me as A Gift Upon the Shore.
Read by Emily Durante
Type of Apocalypse: Pandemic
White Horse was one of the more unique and creepy Post Apocalyptic novels I have read in a long, long time. White Horse is written with a literary flair, yet full of disturbing images and a compelling main character.
Wool Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey
Read by Minnie Goode
Broad Reach Publishing
Type of Apocalypse: Unspecified, possibly Chemical/Biological/Environmental
Wool was one of a handful of ACX, independently produced audiobooks that found its way onto my MP3 and into my brain, and I am quite glad it did. A near future apocalypse about people who live inside an underground bunker, protected from the toxic air outside. The world Howey creates is vivid and troubling, just the way a Post Apocalyptic world should be.
The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers
Read by Fiona Hardingham
Type of Apocalypse: Infertility/Dystopia
The Testament of Jessie Lamb often left me troubled and disturbed. With it’s frustrating main character and complicated issues, even now I’m not totally sure what I think about the scenarios found within this novel. Yet, that I’m still thinking and struggling with it says something about this novel. Also, the narration is pitch perfect.
Read by Julia Whelan
I was a bit surprised that this was the only Young Adult title to make this list. Partials is just the kind of science fiction based Apocalyptic novel that I love. Full of complicated characters, dark imagery and tons of adventure, Partials is the start of a series you should watch out for.
Exogene by TC McCarthy (The Subterene Trilogy, Book 2)
Read by Bahni Turpin
Type of Apocalypse: Conventional/Limited Nuclear War/Dystopian
While Exogene is the second novel in TC McCarthy’s Subterrene War series, it is a novel you can pick up without having read the first novel in the series. McCarthy has created one of the most visceral worlds blending Apocalyptic and Dystopian elements together into a subgenre all its own.
Read by Mark Deakins
Type of Apocalypse: Pandemic
The Dog Stars is a melancholy look as social isolation and the need for interaction during the apocalypse, Told in a breezy, almost poetic style The Dog Stars is less about the action of survivor than the ability to mentally cope with the changed world.
The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
Read by Peter Berkrot
Type of Apocalypse: Pre-Apocalypse/Asteroid Strike
The Last Policeman is a unique blending of noir detective novels and apocalyptic fiction. With Earth about to be struck by a world killing asteroid, who cares about one murder within the chaos of social upheaval and mass suicides. Winter’s approach breathes fresh air into both subgenres.
Read by Mauro Hantman
Type of Apocalypse: Nuclear War
I went back and forth on my final entry into this list, but ended up choosing Immobility for one reason, it’s world shifty gut punch of an ending. While the road to the ending isn’t always smooth, it’s full of beautiful dark imagery, flawed characters and intriguing scenarios.
The Guilded Earlobe 
Wool (the ebook for me) just kicked butt!!! What an amazing book. I was so blown away. My expectations were low but even had they been sky high this book would have topped them. Glad the audio was enjoyable. I have a few friends that I want to read this and they wouldn’t do so in any other format but audio.
[…] Dog Stars by Peter Heller, and Immobility by Brian Evenson — and that’s just from his Top 10 Post Apocalyptic and Dystopian Audiobooks of 2012, let alone his Top 20 Audiobooks of 2012 (which leads with Wren and King, adds more King (The Wind […]
I have heard great things about Wool, and it’s on my short TBR pile. I also have never read The Stand by King. I made it a reading goal to resolve that issue this year. Wish me luck.
I’m definitely intending on reading Wool. In fact it’s on my tbr. I would also love to read more King this year and have realised that I’ve never read his Tower books so maybe I should make that my mission (although there are quite a lot!)
Lynn 😀