Adventure Fiction - Wilderness/Survival - Christchurch City Libraries
Misadventure in the great outdoors has always made for a great story, with all the bad decision making, perilous undertakings, and life-threatening action that will carry through to the thrilling end. From classical times to a dystopian near future, we're only ever a moment away from the need to survive in the wild and these stories represent humanity at its most desperate and resourceful. A Christchurch City Libraries list.
This latest novel by Peter Heller is about survival and friendship. When two men, Jess and Storey, reach a small town after two weeks off the grid, they are shocked to find buildings destroyed, bridges burned, and dangerous men with guns and no…
What happens when reality TV goes wrong? This engrossing debut novel is a classic survival-in-the-wilderness tale with a modern twist. When things start to unravel during the filming of Civilization, a Survivor-esque reality show taking place in a…
This is a dark and tense survival story. A family lives along an isolated cove off the coast of Newfoundland, largely shut off from the outside world. When 10 and 12-year old Ava and Evered’s parents die in quick succession, they find themselves…
Imagine Jurassic Park written by Barry Crump and you might be somewhere close to this marvelous New Zealand adventure series. A group of scientists escorted by an elite force from the NZDF descends into the wilderness of Te Uruwera, where there’ve…
A modern take on the classic "man left behind" tale. How can one man survive on the hostile environment of Mars? Mark Watney has been left behind by his crewmates, presumed dead. But he's alive, the race is on to rescue him, and he's about to…
A survivalist story set in the American wilderness during the fur trade, in the early stages of the 19th century. A tracker is left for dead after a grizzly bear attack. He struggles to survive and regain his mind, but driving him on is his desire…
Pi lives in India, the son of the city zoo owner, until he decides to emigrate by sea with his family. On the way tragedy strikes, and their ship is sunk. Pi finds himself in a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, a tiger and an orangutan. As the food…
A creeping thriller set on the rivers of northern America. Two young men as close as brothers set out on a long-awaited adventure rafting and camping along a wild river, when events take a serious turn for the worse. How might we respond when…
This novel charts the collective descent into savagery of a group of marooned schoolboys. Allegorical and impactful, Golding looks at the fine line between civilisation and savagery and explores the theme of man’s inhumanity to man. Fascinating and…
The Road has become a contemporary classic of post-apocalyptic fiction, in which a father and son traverse on foot through a blasted America; a freezing wasteland suffused with ash and roaming bands of violent marauders and cannibals. The pair are…
The classic and legendary tale of the wayward sailor. A truly epic adventure tale told in poetic language that paints the perils and upheavals of a soldier’s 10-year return journey from the Trojan War in vivid colour. His love awaits him but before…
In L’Amour’s lost long first book we find ourselves in the midst of WWII with the SS Lichenfield loaded with explosives and traversing the oceans. The misfit band of sailors on board are on tenterhooks while negotiating the adventure of a lifetime…
Monster horror and sci-fi adventure collide here. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the monsters in this book are humans-turned-vampires. The protagonist is the sole human in the world who has not been turned. An often heart-wrenching and depressing…
By blending the tragic true story of the 1845 Franklin Expedition to find a Northwest Passage through the Arctic, with dark supernatural horror, Dan Simmons has created a modern survival horror masterpiece. A story of men driven to dark deeds in the…
One of Stephen King's lesser-known novels, 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' is an intimate, atmospheric story of a 9-year-old girl getting lost in the woods. While on a hike with her mother and brother along the Appalachian Trail, young Trisha…
Wilderness survival combines with suspenseful thriller in this action-packed story of two killers hunting down a teenage witness through the Montana mountains. Jace is only fourteen when he witnesses a brutal murder, and to keep him safe, he's given…
Classic survival adventure story filled with a remarkable amount of science as well as survivalism– ranging from chemistry and geography to hydrology. When their stolen hot air balloon crashes on an uncharted island in the Pacific, a small group of…
