Book picks similar to
IA: Initiate by John Darryl Winston


young-adult
science-fiction
sci-fi
fantasy

Ghost Hand


Ripley Patton - 2012
    Instead of a right hand made of flesh and blood, she was born with a hand made of ethereal energy.How does Olivia handle being the girl with the ghost hand? Well, she's a little bit morbid and a whole lot snarky. Her mother thinks her obsession with death, black clothing, and the local cemetery is a bid for attention. But when Marcus, the new guy in Olivia's calculus class, stares at her like she's a freak, Olivia doesn't like it. And when her hand goes rogue, doing things she never imagined possible, Olivia finds herself running for her life with Marcus from a group of men bent on taking the power of her hand for their own nefarious purposes.NEWLY DESIGNED COVER FOR 2015

Undermountain


Eric Kent Edstrom - 2011
    . .Danny Michaelson, sixteen, just wants a little time away from his troubled home in Nashville. So when he joins a group of teens in the Canadian Rocky Mountains for a ten day hiking excursion, he's primed for adventure.Breyona Lewis, sixteen, is a beautiful rich girl from Chicago. Outwardly cheerful, she conceals a dark secret. One she denies even to herself.. . . the encounter of a lifetime . . .Danny and Breyona come face to face with a creature of legend--an eight foot tall beast they tag as "bigfoot." But it's no missing link, no mere animal. And it does not want humans knowing its secrets. Because there are thousands of them here on Earth, living in a hidden city deep beneath the mountains, waiting for the day humans are "ready.". . . friendship, love, and loyalty . . .Separated from each other and told they may never return home, Danny, Breyona, and the others race to escape. To survive.One is made more than human, one is made less.One must fight, one must surrender.Both must face the truth of who they are.

Gone


Christine Kersey - 2013
    Not only is her family missing, but another family is living in her house and claims to have lived there for weeks. As Morgan desperately works to figure out what has happened, she finds society has become obsessed with weight in a way she has never seen before. The more she searches for answers, the more she begins to wonder if she has somehow ended up in another world—a world she doesn't want to be a part of. Can she survive in this world until she can get home?Gone does not contain any profanity or sexual content and is appropriate for all ages.

Perfection Unleashed


Jade Kerrion - 2012
    One man seeks to embrace destiny, the other to escape it. Danyael Sabre spent sixteen years clawing out of the ruins of his childhood and finally has everything he wanted--a career, a home, and a trusted friend. To hold on to them, he keeps his head down and plays by the rules. An alpha empath, he is powerful in a world transformed by the Genetic Revolution, yet his experience has taught him to avoid attention.When the perfect human being, Galahad, escapes from Pioneer Laboratories, the illusory peace between humans and their derivatives--the in vitros, clones, and mutants--collapses into social upheaval. The abominations, deformed and distorted mirrors of humanity, created unintentionally in Pioneer Lab's search for perfection, descend upon Washington D.C. The first era of the Genetic Revolution was peaceful. The second is headed for open war.Although the genetic future of the human race pivots on Galahad, Danyael does not feel compelled to get involved and risk his cover of anonymity, until he finds out that the perfect human being looks just like him.

Rewinder


Brett Battles - 2014
    But even if you did, you’d never believe it.The world as you know it wouldn't be the same without him. Denny was born into one of the lowest rungs of society, but his bleak fortunes abruptly change when the mysterious Upjohn Institute recruits him to be a Rewinder, a verifier of personal histories. The job at first sounds like it involves researching old books and records, but Denny soon learns it's far from it. A Rewinder's job is to observe history.In person.Embracing his new duties with enthusiasm, Denny witnesses things he could never even imagine before. But as exciting as the adventures into the past are, there are dangers, too. For even the smallest error can have consequences. Life-altering consequences. Time, after all, is merely a reference point.

Starfire Angels


Melanie Nilles - 2009
    Mankind knows them as angels, and one of them left a child upon her death to be raised as a human.Raea is now a high school senior, and her life as a human is about to end. The crystal shard she bears is not a pretty pendant; it's a collective of powerful entities who chose her as their Keeper, a protector of one of the four shards that power a machine capable of destroying whole worlds. Those who desire the Starfire's power have sent an agent to find her, but she's too busy evading a nosy reporter ready to exploit her secret and dating a hot new foreign student to notice. Nevermind learning what she really is.Only one person on Earth can help her, the last person she ever expected. But he's not from Earth. Life as a human would be so much easier.

Alone


Robert J. Crane - 2012
    Then one day her mother vanished, and Sienna woke up to find two strange men in her home. On the run, unsure of who to turn to and discovering she possesses mysterious powers, Sienna finds herself pursued by a shadowy agency known as the Directorate and hunted by a vicious, bloodthirsty psychopath named Wolfe, each of which is determined to capture her for their own purposes...

The Outsider


Melinda Metz - 1998
    Liz has seen him around. It's hard to miss Max -- the tall, blond, blue-eyed senior stands out in her high-school crowd. So why is he such a loner? Max is in love with Liz. He loves the way her eyes light up when she laughs. And the way her long, black hair moves when she turns her head. Most of all, he loves to imagine what it would be like to kiss her. But Max knows he can't get too close. He can't let her discover the truth about who he is. Or really, what he is.... Because the truth could kill her.

The Ripple Trilogy


Cidney Swanson - 2012
    Includes bonus content: Will's Killer Pizza Recipe and a sneak peak at Cidney Swanson's Saving Mars series.Book One: RipplerWhen Samantha Ruiz turns invisible in front of team mates while rafting, she knows something's wrong. According to her knowledgeable friend Will, she's got a rare genetic disorder. Fearing a lifetime sentence as a lab-rat, Sam wants to keep her ability secret. But she also wants to know if there's a connection between dark Nazi experiments on others like her and her own mother's death eight years earlier. At the same time that Sam is sleuthing, she's falling hard for Will. And soon, she'll have to choose between keeping her secrets hidden and keeping Will safe.Book Two: ChameleonSam's troubles are growing. The crush who kissed her seems to have changed his mind. Her BFF thinks Sam is in an abusive relationship. And the evil geneticist who wanted Sam dead now wants her ALIVE. When Sam learns of Helmann's Nazi-like plan to re-establish a Thousand-Year Reign, she's determined to fight him. Along with Will and Mickie, Sam flees to France to meet Sir Walter--their best hope for stopping Helmann's brave new world. But someone invisible follows her to Paris, and now Sam must figure out how to hide from an enemy she can't even see.Book Three: UnfurlAgainst all expectations, Sam has survived attacks by two of Helmann's deadliest assassins. She's alive, but she's far from safe. Helmann is planning a second Holocaust and wants Sam to play a starring role. Will, now separated from Sam by an ocean, seeks a way to prevent Helmann's apocalypse. Along with Sir Walter and Mickie, Will plays a deadly game sneaking into Geneses' facilities, discovering unsettling clues as to Helmann's plans. The clock ticks down as Will and Sam discover just how much they must be willing to sacrifice to stop Helmann. UNFURL, the powerful conclusion to The Ripple Series, will leave fans breathless.

A Confusion of Princes


Garth Nix - 2012
    This is the story of my three deaths, and my life between. My name is Khemri.Taken from his parents as a child and equipped with biological and technological improvements, Khemri is now an enhanced human being, trained and prepared for the glory of becoming a Prince of the Empire. Not to mention the ultimate glory: should he die, and be deemed worthy, he will be reborn...Which is just as well, because no sooner has Prince Khemri graduated to full Princehood than he learns the terrible truth behind the Empire: there are ten million princes, and all of them want each other dead.

Happy Doomsday


David Sosnowski - 2018
    One minute, people are going about their lives, and the next—not. In the wake of the inexplicable purge, only a handful of young misfits remains.When it all went down, “Wizard of Odd” Dev Brinkman was seeking shelter from the taunts of his classmates. Goth girl Lucy Abernathy had lost her best friend and had no clue where to turn. And Twinkie-loving quarterback “Marcus” Haddad was learning why you never discuss politics and religion in polite company—or online.As if life when you’re sixteen isn’t confusing enough, throw in the challenges of postapocalyptic subsistence, a case of survivor’s guilt turned up to seven billion, and the small task of rebuilding humankind…No one said doomsday would be a breeze. But for Dev, Lucy, and Marcus, the greatest hope—and greatest threat—will come when they find each other.

The Secret Hour


Scott Westerfeld - 2004
    Time freezes. Nobody moves except dark creatures that haunt the shadows and the few people who are free to move at midnight, Midnighters. Their different powers strongest at midnight are: Seer, Mindcaster, Acrobat, Polymath. All changes when Jessica Day comes to Bixby High with a hidden power.

Call to Quarters


Honor Raconteur - 2016
     In modern times, they are known as the Gældorcræft Forces. They do everything that needs to be done, from disaster relief to keeping giant cities afloat – like Los Angeles. Investigating explosions at Air Force Research Labs are outside of the norm, but this explosion doesn’t follow the rules either. It happens nearly right on top of a leyline and the damage it causes is considerable. Noriko is new to California, new to the GF, and has a brand new partner to boot. She wanted to have an easy first week of work, just to adjust to things, but instead she’s thrown head first into a case that is snowballing in complexity. Time is definitely ticking because if they don’t figure it out, then all of California is going to wind up in the ocean.

Dreamland


Robert L. Anderson - 2015
    Her mother taught her the three rules of walking: Never interfere. Never be seen. Never walk the same person’s dream more than once. Dea has never questioned her mother, not about the rules, not about the clocks or the mirrors, not about moving from place to place to be one step ahead of the unseen monsters that Dea’s mother is certain are right behind them.Then a mysterious new boy, Connor, comes to town and Dea finally starts to feel normal. As Connor breaks down the walls that she’s had up for so long, he gets closer to learning her secret. For the first time she wonders if that’s so bad. But when Dea breaks the rules, the boundary between worlds begins to deteriorate. How can she know what’s real and what’s not?

Slow Boat to Purgatory


Vernon Baker - 2011
    Given a second chance at redemption he has walked the earth for over seven-hundred years.Dominicus Bureau, a renegade priest, torn between his vows and the secret he pursues, a secret protected by an immortal. He carries a silenced pistol and uses it. Often.Alex Donovan, a modern day warrior thrust into an ages old war, a war between good and evil, heaven and hell. Armed with an ancient chronicle of the life of Gaspar, Alex searches for the immortal and perhaps his own destiny.All three men, passengers on a Slow Boat To Purgatory.