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I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what I was getting into when I picked up Wake Me After the Apocalypse by Jordan Rivet. I just knew the premise sounded like exactly my kind of thing. A killer comet heading for Earth, an underground bunker, cryosleep, and a girl who wakes up 200 years later to find out she’s the only one who made it? Yeah, that had my name all over it.
And y’all. I flew through this book.
What’s it about?
The story follows 18-year-old Joanna Murphy, who was selected to ride out the apocalypse in an underground bunker with her team. The plan was simple: go to sleep, wake up when the atmosphere clears, resettle the planet. Except Joanna wakes up alone. The bunker is full of bones, the exit is blocked, and she has absolutely no idea what happened to everyone else. Or if there’s anyone left out there at all.
Who is Jordan Rivet?
Jordan Rivet is an American author of YA science fiction and fantasy, and Wake Me After the Apocalypse is actually her thirteenth novel. She’s written multiple series including The Seabound Chronicles, Steel and Fire, and The Lost Clone, so she is no stranger to building worlds that pull you in fast. She originally hails from Arizona and currently lives in Hong Kong. I hadn’t read anything by her before this series but based on book one alone, she’s absolutely on my radar now.
What I loved about it
The writing style is a huge part of why this book works so well. Rivet writes in a way that’s clean and straightforward – she gives you enough description to picture everything clearly without over-explaining or slowing things down. It keeps the pace moving and your focus locked in. I never felt like I was wading through paragraphs just to get back to the story.
And the story is fast. Like, genuinely fast. There were moments that caught me completely off guard – little twists and turns that made me actually gasp out loud. The kind of moments where you have to put the book down for a second and just stare at the wall. No spoilers, but if you go in expecting a straightforward survival story, the book has some surprises in store for you.
I also really connected with Joanna as a main character. She’s determined and optimistic even when everything is working against her, and I found that genuinely refreshing. Post-apoc fiction can go really dark really fast, and while this book doesn’t shy away from the weight of the situation, there’s a hopeful thread running through the whole thing that I really appreciated.
I will say – this book got into my head a little more than I expected. I had a nightmare about the comet coming, and in my dream my husband said he wouldn’t go into the bunker because he wouldn’t be able to survive the aftermath without insulin. I woke up genuinely upset about it. That’s how vivid and real this story felt to me. When a book follows you into your sleep, that’s a sign it did its job.
Who would I recommend this to?
If you’re a fan of post-apocalyptic stories but want something that leans into survival and heart rather than grimdark misery, this is your book. I’d especially recommend it to fans of Fallout (that same “scrappy survivor in a ruined world” energy), The Walking Dead (the survival stakes and atmosphere), or The Last of Us (the emotional weight and the question of what’s worth surviving for). It hits a lot of the same notes without being grim for the sake of being grim.
No zombies, no chaos for chaos’s sake. Just a really compelling story about one girl trying to figure out what’s left of the world and whether there’s any hope in it.
Final verdict
5 out of 5 stars, no complaints, and I jumped straight into book two (Meet Me at World’s End) basically the moment I finished. If this sounds like your kind of thing at all, just go read it. You won’t regret it.
Have you read any Jordan Rivet? Drop a comment below and let me know what you thought!
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