“Feel, he told himself, feel, feel, feel. Even if what you feel is pain, only let yourself feel.”
The Children of Men is a dystopian sci-fi novel by P.D. James. Blending thought-provoking themes through an eerily plausible scenario and gripping storytelling, the book is set in a world where humanity faces extinction due to declining birthrates. Under the authoritarian rule of a repressive regime led by Xan Lyppiatt, an alternate United Kingdom is a place where the elderly are despairing and the young are cruel. One of the most famous dystopian reads of all time, we here at What We Reading thought we would compile some of our favourite books like The Children of Men for any fans of P.D. James looking for another tale filled with societal collapse, dark atmospheres, and philosophical meditations on power, hope and survival.
The Day Of The Triffids (Triffids #1) – John Wyndham
Kicking off our list of the best books like The Children of Men is John Wyndham’s classic sci-fi story, The Day of the Triffids. The story centres around Bill Masen, a biologist who has made a living working with triffids – huge, venomous and carnivorous plants. Whilst in hospital after being stung by triffid poison, Bill learns of an unexpected green meteor shower. When he leaves the hospital, he finds that anyone who watches the shower has been rendered blind.
So long as conditions that give humans control are preserved, the triffid plants are a valuable asset to mankind. However, amongst the chaos of the meteor disaster, these conditions are upended and the triffid plants are able to seize their opportunity. What occurs next is a thrilling story of survival told by the few survivors fortunate enough to escape the disaster.
Blindness (Blindness #1) – José Saramago
In his classic dystopia story, Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago introduces a city rocked by an epidemic of ‘white blindness’ that spares no one. The blind are confined to an empty mental hospital. There, the criminal class soon take control, taking prisoners captive, hoarding food rations and assaulting women.
Similar to The Children of Men, Blindness is an exploration of a breakdown in society, the human response to such a catastrophe, and the loss of practical abilities in its aftermath. Through Saramago’s distinctive lack of punctuation and matter-of-fact delivery, it is a fast-paced, traumatic and thought-provoking tale that fans of P.D. James are sure to enjoy.
The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid’s Tale #1) – Margaret Atwood
No list of books similar to The Children of Men would be complete without mentioning Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She is permitted to leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets. The signs have become pictures rather than words because women are no longer allowed to read.
Similar to the dystopian world in James’ story, this is another world where declining births threaten humanity. Handmaidens such as Offred are only valued if they are capable of having children. Nevertheless, Offred can still remember the years before, when she had a loving husband, a daughter, a job and access to knowledge now hidden from her. Funny and horrifying in equal measure, The Handmaid’s Tale is a scathing piece of satire and a dire warning of a possible future.
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Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
Hailsham appears to be a picture-perfect English boarding school. Far from the influences of the city, the students are well looked after and supported, educated in art and literature and how to become the sorts of people the world wants them to be. Curiously though, they are taught nothing of the world outside Hailsham and are allowed very little contact with it.
Within Hailsham, Kathy grows from a child to a young woman. However, it is only when she and her best friends, Tommy and Ruth, leave the grounds of the school that they begin to realise the full harrowing truth of what Hailsham really is. Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go is another one of the best dystopian novels similar to The Children of Men where sci-fi elements are used to meditate on friendship, loss and identity.
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Gather The Daughters – Jennie Melamed
Years ago, just before the country was incinerated to wasteland, ten men and their families colonised an island off the coast. They built a radical new society of controlled breeding, ancestor worship and tightly rationed access to knowledge. Only the original male descendants of the original ten families are allowed to cross the wastelands.
As for the women, at the first sign of puberty, they face the Summer of Fruition, a ritualistic season that sees them hauled from adolescence to matrimony. During the summer, the younger children reign supreme. When one of these children sees something horrifying that threatens to upend the status quo of the island and its laws, seventeen-year-old Janey Solomon, so desperate to avoid becoming a woman, sets out to uncover the truth in Jennie Melamed’s stunning dystopian debut novel, Gather the Daughters.
The Left Hand Of Darkness (Hainish Cycle #4) – Ursula K. Le Guin
Another one of the most groundbreaking science fiction books like The Children of Men, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants spend most of their days without a gender. This emissary’s goal is to incorporate Winter into a growing intergalactic civilisation. However, to do this, he must suspend his own views and beliefs and attempt to assimilate into this completely alien culture he has encountered.
Embracing psychology, sociology and human emotion, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Hugo Award-winning story was far ahead of its time in its exploration of complex social structure, dynamics and relationships.
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
A father and his son trek alone across a burned United States of America. It is cold enough to crack stones, the sky is dark and, when the snow falls it is grey. The pair of them are heading for the coast. Though, they don’t know what, if anything, is waiting for them when they reach it. All they have between them are the clothes they are wearing, a cobbled-together cart of scavenged food, and a single pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bandits stalking the roads. And each other.
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is one of the most famous dystopian novels of all time and one of the best books similar to The Children of Men. It is a profoundly moving story of a journey, one that explores the very best and worst humanity is capable of, and the unshakeable tenderness that keeps two people going even in the face of total devastation.
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The Power – Naomi Alderman
In Naomi Alderman’s The Power, the world is a recognisable place. A rich Nigerian boy lounges around in the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; a careerist American politician; a tough-looking London girl from a less-than-harmonious family.
Then, a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effects. In this feminist sci-fi novel, teenage girls now have immense physical gifts. Gaining the ability to generate electrical shocks, the world and its traditional power dynamics are all upended in an instant. Like James’ story, Alderman takes aim at the themes of gender, control and societal change in her 2016 book.
Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel
Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the iconic Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage in the middle of a performance of King Lear. That was the night when the deadly Georgia Flu pandemic arrived in the city, wiping out the majority of its population. Within weeks, civilisation as we know it came to a sudden, shocking halt.
Two decades later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of an altered world with a small number of fellow actors and musicians. They have dubbed themselves The Travelling Symphony, and are committed to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But, when they arrive in St. Deborah, they encounter a violent prophet who soon threatens their very existence. Jumping forward and back in time, Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven offers a poignant depiction of the quiet desperation and small glimmer of hope in times of strife that fans of The Children of Men are sure to love.
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Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
