The way I read this series was a bit klunky - following the authors from book to book in order to follow the stories through time - but I'm really glad I did it that way. Partly because it led to me finishing the three books with Mira Grant's wonderful "Happies Place on Earth" which provided the perfect ending to the experience.

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I read these 3 books ([b:The End is Nigh|18870640|The End is Nigh (The Apocalypse Triptych, #1)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378542s/18870640.jpg|26869750], [b:The End is Now|18870656|The End is Now (The Apocalypse Triptych, #2)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378585s/18870656.jpg|26869773], [b:The End Has Come|18870662|The End Has Come (The Apocalypse Triptych, #3)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378625s/18870662.jpg|26869779]) simultaneously, aided by a spreadsheet (feel free to copy/use) that I created to keep track of the individual authors’ series. Overall, I found nearly all series to be at least minimally enjoyable.

Thanks to my spreadsheet, I was able to determine the average rating of the stories for each book:

[b:The End is Nigh|18870640|The End is Nigh (The Apocalypse Triptych, #1)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378542s/18870640.jpg|26869750] - 4.5, which I’ll round up to 5 Stars
[b:The End is Now|18870656|The End is Now (The Apocalypse Triptych, #2)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378585s/18870656.jpg|26869773] - 4.5, which I’ll round up to 5 Stars
[b:The End Has Come|18870662|The End Has Come (The Apocalypse Triptych, #3)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378625s/18870662.jpg|26869779] - 4.3, which I’ll round down to 4 Stars

These are the 3-story series that I liked the best:

Ken Liu - The Gods Will Not Be Chained / THE GODS WILL NOT BE SLAIN / THE GODS HAVE NOT DIED IN VAIN

Tananarive Due - Removal Order / HERD IMMUNITY / CARRIERS

Hugh Howey - In the Air / IN THE MOUNTAIN / IN THE WOODS

Annie Bellet - Goodnight Moon / GOODNIGHT STARS /GOODNIGHT EARTH

Nancy Kress - Pretty Soon the Four Horsemen are Going to Come Riding Through / ANGELS OF THE APOCALYPSE / BLESSINGS

Seanan McGuire - Spores / FRUITING BODIES / RESISTANCE

Sarah Langan - Love Perverts / BLACK MONDAY / PROTOTYPE

My least favorite:
Jamie Ford - This Unkempt World is Falling to Pieces / BY THE HAIR OF THE MOON / THE UNCERTAINTY MACHINE


Standalone stories

[b:The End is Nigh|18870640|The End is Nigh (The Apocalypse Triptych, #1)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378542s/18870640.jpg|26869750]
Best:
Matthew Mather - Enlightenment
Tobias S. Buckell - System Reset

Worst: Paolo Bacigalupi - Shooting the Apocalypse

[b:The End is Now|18870656|The End is Now (The Apocalypse Triptych, #2)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378585s/18870656.jpg|26869773]
Best: (None)
Worst: Daniel H. Wilson - AVTOMAT

[b:The End Has Come|18870662|The End Has Come (The Apocalypse Triptych, #3)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378625s/18870662.jpg|26869779]
Best: Carrie Vaughn - BANNERLESS
Worst: Chris Avellone - ACTS OF CREATION
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Overall a satisfying end to a solid collection of stories. I've found some new authors to follow, which is fantastic, and have seen yet more evidence of how popular the zombie apocalypse is today in world-ending fictions.

We are the zombies, folks. Our appetites consume the present and the future. No virus required.

I did want to say how much I especially appreciated the ending of Will McIntosh's Nodding Flu series, Dancing with a Stranger in the Land of Nod. The disabled-are-better-off-dead trope was, perhaps unavoidably, especially apparent in this trilogy (of books, not just this storyline in particular), and while it didn't ruin the series for me, there was always that niggling voice in the back of my head going, "You THINK you'd hate it; you THINK you'd feel better off dead;" but from my many friends dealing with varied levels of disability and difference, I know it is very rarely that simple. And that the assumption that the disabled must hate their lives very often damages the lives of the disabled more than the disability does.

So it was really lovely, really wonderful for that story line to wrap up with a person realizing that, inside their paralyzed bodies, her family members are getting real joy out of still living. Thank you, Will. ( )

This is the third, final volume of THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH and it finally describes worlds after their end, thus it can be seen as the only one ‘real’ representative of post-apocalyptic fiction in the trilogy. Most of the stories are to some extent are continuations/endings for the ones from the previous volumes, so while the book can be read as a stand-alone anthology, it is greatly preferred to be read in sequence from the first book onward.
Just like with the previous volumes, there are some pretty good stories and some of so-so category. My personal favorites are:
• BANNERLESS Carrie Vaughn
• DANCING WITH A STRANGER IN THE LAND OF NOD Will McIntosh
• PROTOTYPE Sarah Langan
• CARRIERS Tananarive Due
• IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF THE PROMISED LAND Robin Wasserman
• JINGO AND THE HAMMERMAN Jonathan Mabery
• THE GODS HAVE NOT DIED IN VAIN Ken Liu
Overall I liked the book a bit less than the previous volumes, but maybe I am just tired of all the gloom.
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4.5 stars

Good, solid end to the "triptych-within-a-triptych".

Most of the stories were good, but the best were "In the Woods", "The Happiest Place...", and "Dancing with a Stranger in the Land of Nod". ( )