Most post-Apocalyptic novels portray a world gone irretrievably mad. Books such as Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, On the Beach by Nevil Shute, and Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon, depict human life reduced to its lowest common denominator. But Alice Sabo’s A Changed World series presents a very different picture. In five short, character-driven novels, she relates the story of an American community called High Meadow as it steadily reclaims its humanity, recovering from the Apocalypse. It’s a heart-warming affirmation of the human potential to rise above mere survival and build a livable future.
Admittedly, the best-known books on this theme assume a nuclear holocaust has devastated the planet. Sabo writes about the aftermath of a catastrophic engineered virus that has eliminated a majority of the world’s population—and continues to take a further toll, year after year.
Below you’ll find the five books, listed in chronological order. Links lead to my reviews.
Lethal Seasons (2014) 371 pages ★★★★☆—The Apocalypse unfolds in this gripping science fiction novel
Seven years have passed since a madman sent a lethal engineered virus out into the world. Although his intention may have been to kill the genetically engineered “biobots” that have aroused panic in many, the effect instead is to decimate the human population. And the disease, called the “flu,” reappears every spring, killing even more. But survivors have begun to cluster around the High Meadow Med Center, where a middle-aged couple name Angus and Tilly Moss have begun to build the makings of a community. And they’re getting organized.
Scattered Seeds (2015) 366 pages ★★★★☆—Eking out existence in a fast-changing world
The community, now known simply as High Meadow, is growing. Scouts from the high school where the leadership lives have been fanning out in the region, contacting isolated groups of survivors. Some join them directly. Others maintain the farms with which the community trades by barter. And High Meadow’s defenses are strengthening. A former special forces soldier recruits and trains other men, building a militia to fend off the feral bands that roam the region, preying on the defenseless.
Gleanings (2016) 365 pages ★★★★★—Humanity begins to recover from the Apocalypse
High Meadow is growing, adding hundreds of people at a time as word spreads of its success. Farmers join them, cultivating more of the land surrounding the settlement. They begin to retrieve horses, pigs, chickens, and other livestock from the region and raise them at High Meadow. And now the leadership has set up a school to ensure that the growing number of children will learn to read and write and understand history. Meanwhile, Angus Moss and his inner circle are moving ever closer to setting up formal government structures as the population reaches a few thousand.
Lessons Learned (2018) 183 pages ★★★★☆—Recovering from the Apocalypse
As High Meadow continues to grow through an influx of other survivors, two prominent new characters surface. One is a woman who has been hiding out nearby in the forest with a small community of her own. At High Meadow, she is in awe of what people have managed to accomplish there. Through her eyes we view the growing complexity of the society that’s emerging. But the other newcomer, a man named Jackson accompanied by tough-looking men in suits, styles himself as President of the United States—the government has long since collapsed—and he makes a play to take over, ousting Angus Moss as High Meadow’s leader.
Desperate Measures (2018) 243 pages ★★★★☆—A hopeful post-Apocalyptic series concludes
High Meadow’s population has passed 5,000. It’s ten years after Year Zero, when the “flu” first hit. The community’s trade relations with the surrounding farms and small communities are robust. Stores are opening as people take up specialized professions and trades. The community’s diet is varied, with vegetables, eggs, and meat reaching the cafeteria’s tables from High Meadow’s own farms and trade with others. Government structures are becoming formalized as the community looks to a future governed by a new generation. High Meadow is truly recovering from the Apocalypse.
About the author
Alice Sabo describes herself as “the author of character driven stories in post-apocalyptic, space opera, fantasy and mystery series.” She has written more than twenty-five novels in seven series of books. Sabo is an independent author who publishes and promotes her own work.
Sabo writes that she “grew up in suburban New Jersey with a brother and three sisters. . . After attending college in New Jersey and Massachusetts, she finished her Bachelors in Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico. Since that time, she has worked a variety of jobs on both coasts and in the middle—Boston, Los Angeles, Grand Junction, Long Beach Island. And now she lives in Asheville, NC, where she gardens and writes.”
For related reading
For more good reading, check out:
- The top science fiction novels
- These novels won both Hugo and Nebula Awards
- The ultimate guide to the all-time best science fiction novels
- 10 new science fiction authors worth reading now
And you can always find my most popular reviews, and the most recent ones, on the Home Page.
