Do you like reading fiction about climate change?
A growing number of readers are looking for good books about climate change. including but not limited to climate fiction. And a growing number of authors are publishing some of the greatest novels with climate themes that have been published to date. There are also some climate-themed books hitting the shelves that aren’t quite as good from a literary perspective or may not be quite right for you personally in spite of the value they hold for other readers. This being the case, how can you decide what climate change book to read next?
One of the best ways to make this decision is by reading reviews! Not just any old reviews, but book reviews that are written with an emphasis on examining the climate themes present in the book. Because a book that may not resonate with a general interest reviewer may have something vital to say about the climate crisis, and a book that some reviewers love for its literary merits may have next to nothing to say about the climate crisis. Reading a review that examines the climate themes of the book can help you decide whether or not you’d like to add it to your reading list.
The following is a list of climate fiction books with reviews posted here on Climate Change Books. We also have several reading lists that are based on the work of dedicated climate book reviewers who have written many reviews from a climate perspective.
Book Inclusion Criteria
We select books to review based on the following criteria: accuracy, significance, engagement, and popularity. For more information on our book inclusion criteria, please visit our About page.
Do you know of a book that should be on this list? Let us know!
Climate Fiction Book Reviews
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Book Review: Heart Spring Mountain by Robin MacArthur
Heart Spring Mountain by Robin MacArthur is the story of a woman named Vale who returns to her hometown in rural Vermont in search of her missing mother, Bonnie. Along the way, the story touches on the lives of several generations of women in Vale’s family and the role of climate change in the storm […]
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Book Review: Troubled Waters by Mary Annaïse Heglar
There’s more than one way for a family to deal with generational trauma. And there’s more than one way for a family to respond to systemic racism and the climate crisis. Mary Annaïse Heglar’s debut novel, Troubled Waters, tells an intense, compelling, and deeply personal story at the intersection of these themes. After listening to […]
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Book Review: The Deluge by Stephen Markley
What will the climate crisis and the world’s response to it look like over the course of the next decade or two? The Deluge by Stephen Markley offers one of the most thorough and compelling answers to this question that I’ve read to date. This novel explores almost every facet of the climate crisis in […]
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Book Review: New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
New York 2140 is an ambitious novel about what New York City will be like in the year 2140 if human-caused global warming continues unchecked. If you’re interested in New York, global warming, science fiction, political fiction, or all of the above, I strongly recommend that you read this novel.
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Book Review: Metamorphosis: Climate Fiction for a Better Future
Metamorphosis: Climate Fiction for a Better Future is a climate fiction anthology edited by Grist, one of the Internet’s longest-running environmental news and culture websites. It’s available now for pre-order with a release date of October 22, 2024.
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Book Review: Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn
Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn is a murder mystery set in a future where society as we know it has collapsed due to climate change. As the two main characters investigate the crime, their journey reveals more details about what life is like after the collapse. This makes for both a suspenseful murder mystery and a […]
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Book Review: Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson
What would happen if a rogue Texas billionaire launched a massive solar geoengineering project without any international negotiations or government approval? This is the basic premise of Termination Shock, a novel by Neal Stephenson, bestselling author of Snow Crash and many other works of speculative fiction.