Five top books set in the remains of a dead civilization

Daniel H. Wilson is the bestselling author of Robopocalypse, Robogenesis, and Amped, among others.

His new novel is The Clockwork Dynasty.

One of Wilson's five favorite books set in the remains of a dead civilization, as shared at Tor.com:

Pure by Julianna Baggott

Maybe a surprising addition to this list of classics, I love Pure because of how the beauty of the past is incorporated (literally) into the ruins of the present. After some kind of horrible weapon detonation, survivors are melded into whatever (or whoever) they happened to be near. The protagonist has a doll head melded into her hand, and that’s probably the least horrific mutation in the novel. Grotesquely satisfying.

Read about another book on the list.

Pure is among Ceridwen Christensen's top eleven books about domed cities.

The Page 69 Test: Pure.

--Marshal Zeringue