Book picks similar to
Burning by Tamar Sloan
dystopian
sci-fi
fantasy
ya
The Watchers of Eden
T.C. Edge
Her world is her prison. Her fate is bigger than she knows... In the hot and harsh farming region of Agricola, 16 year old Cyra prepares to be tested to discover what duty she'll hold for life. All school leavers across the regions are in the same position, and few expect anything more than to follow in their parents' footsteps and stay in the region they live in.For Cyra, there was never a choice. With her father dead and brother and sister assigned elsewhere, she's desperate to stay close to her sick mother so she can take care of her.On the day of the Duty Call, however, Cyra's world turns upside down in one stroke. She's to be assigned to Eden, the largest and most powerful sea city and central hub of control. Only the most important live there, and no one from Cyra's town has ever been assigned there in her lifetime. So, she sets off on a journey away from everything she knows, without knowing what her duty will be. Soon, she discovers that she, along with a small number of school leavers from across the regions, has a special power; a gift that will pit her as a secret protector of the nation. Only, it's not a gift, it's really a curse, and before long Cyra will learn that her once small world is filled with a great deal more corruption and injustice than she ever thought possible.
The In-Betweener
Ann Christy - 2015
Two years after the end of the world, she talks to herself and smashes heads with her favorite sledgehammer. This is not the life she imagined for herself as her eighteenth birthday rolls past.It’s time for her to look beyond her safe, little hiding place to the world beyond. The madness of the apocalypse is ending, the dangerous in-betweeners - those no longer quite human, but not yet dead - are few and far between. The deaders that cover the world are going still, their senses dulled by time and the elements. The problem is that there are no people...none. Emily has found not a single living human when she's dared to step outside her safe-zone.As Emily weighs the heavy cost of surviving alone and begins to accept the inevitable, everything changes once again. One of the deaders at her gate turns out not to be a deader at all. He’s an in-betweener different from any other she has seen before, and he carries a message. If Emily has the courage to step beyond her gate and the skills to survive a perilous trip in a dead world, she might just have a chance at life...a life with humans...after all.The In-Betweener is book one in the thrilling post-apocalyptic adventure series, Between Life and Death.
What Survives of Us
Kathy Miner - 2014
Medallion Honoree and Winner of National Indie Excellence AwardNaomi sees her first corpse in a Colorado Springs grocery store, but it won’t be her last. With devastating speed, a plague sweeps first the city, then the state, then the world, leaving less than 1% of the population to go on. Naomi, a gentle and sheltered housewife, finds herself fighting for survival in a world populated by desperate people, where might-makes-right, and mercy and compassion are in short supply. Fellow survivors Jack, a youth minister from Woodland Park; Grace, a 17-year-old high school student from Limon; and Naomi’s daughter Piper, a student at the University of Northern Colorado, all find themselves searching for a safe path forward…because it’s not just the world that has changed. The plague that decimates the human race also pushes mankind into evolutionary change. Those who survive are different, profoundly so, in ways they are just beginning to comprehend. As Naomi struggles to protect and reunite what’s left of her family, she must also learn to understand and accept the changes in herself. In this strange new world, her survival, and the survival of those she loves, depends on it.
Haven
Justin Kemppainen - 2009
They have ascended. A new layer has been placed upon the city, sealing anyone they deem unfit down below. In the dark slums beneath the city, something has been set in motion that will usher in a change. Something that will rattle the city of Haven to its core and forever alter the lives of everyone within.
Scored
Lauren McLaughlin - 2011
All kids given a "score" that determines their future potential. This score has the ability to get kids into colleges, grant scholarships, or destroy all hope for the above. Scored's reluctant heroine is Imani, a girl whose high score is brought down when her best friend's score plummets. Where do you draw the line between doing what feels morally right and what can mean your future? Friendship, romance, loyalty, family, human connection and human value: all are questioned in this fresh and compelling dystopian novel set in the scarily foreseeable future.
Departures
E.J. Wenstrom - 2021
The Directorate says this is how it should be, and she trusts them, as all its citizens do. So tonight she dresses up, she has a party, and she dances. Then she goes to sleep for the last time … except, the next morning, Evalee wakes up.Gracelyn is a model Directorate citizen with a prodigious future ahead. If she could only stop thinking about the shuffling from Evalee’s room on her departure morning. Even wondering if something went wrong is treasonous enough to ruin her. If she pulls at the thread, the entire careful life the Directorate set for her could unravel into chaos.Swept away by rebels, Evalee must navigate a future she didn’t count on in a new, untidy world. As the Directorate’s lies are stripped away, she becomes determined to break Gracelyn free from its grasp—before Gracelyn’s search for the truth proves her to be more unruly than she’s worth to the Directorate.
Prison Nation
Jenni Merritt - 2011
Millie 942B has spent her entire life locked away with her criminal parents and countless other inmates. She believes in the Nation, in its strict laws and harsh punishments. But when Millie is released on her eighteenth birthday, she finds things are nothing as she was taught. People vanish, never to be seen again. Lies cover every word. Trust is as fragile as ice.And then there is Reed. Born and raised outside the Prison walls, his dreams and thoughts cause Millie to doubt everything she has ever believed. What is truly worth fighting for? If she pushes too hard, she could lose her freedom. If she stays silent, she could lose herself. The clock is ticking, and Millie must find the truth before it is too late.
Captive
Leigh Talbert Moore - 2014
Red Dawn meets LOST in this New Adult action-adventure romance.Prentiss Puckett is certain of three things:-Graduation is two weeks away.-Summer only gets hotter in south Mississippi.-She's getting a job with air-conditioning. She did not expect to be kidnapped walking to work.And she never expected to become a hero.
The Pearl Savage
Tamara Rose Blodgett - 2011
alternate cover edition of ASIN B00563HRPMSeventeen-year old princess, Clara Williamson, lives an old-fashioned existence in a biosphere of the future.When her sadistic mother, Queen Ada, betroths her to an abusive prince of a neighboring sphere, Clara determines to escape Outside, where savages roam free.Clara escapes tyranny only to discover the savages are not the only people who survived the cataclysmic events of one hundred forty years prior.Once Outside, Clara finds herself trapped, unable to return to the abusive life of the sphere while facing certain danger Outside.Can Clara find love and freedom with the peril that threatens to consume her?Cover art by Phatpuppyart.com
Among Wolves
R.A. Hakok - 2015
It’s the last place you should be. Gabriel doesn't know how it began. Nobody does, not even Kane, and he was President. Gabriel was on a tour of the White House with Mags and the rest of Miss Kimble’s first-graders when it happened. They fled in helicopters to a long-abandoned mountain bunker, even as the first of the missiles found their targets.Ten years have passed, and Gabriel still lives deep inside the mountain, waiting for the world to thaw. But outside the ash-storms continue to rage, and supplies are running low. The President says it will be okay, but Gabriel isn’t so sure. He’s their scavenger; he’s seen what it’s like out there.Then one day Gabriel finds a bloodstained map. The blood’s not a problem, nor are the frozen remains of the person it once belonged to. Gabriel’s used to seeing dead bodies; there's far worse to be found in any Walmart or Piggly Wiggly you care to wander into. Except this one he recognizes, and it shouldn’t be here. Now all Gabriel can think is how he's going to make it back to the bunker to let the President know what he's found.But the map Gabriel has found is the key to a secret, one that has been buried for a decade. Gabriel's about to learn that inside the mountain things are not as they seem. And to get Mags and the others out he will need to face the thing that terrifies him most.
The Line
Teri Hall - 2010
The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It's said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line. Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel's dad died in the last war. It's a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help. Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?
The Gender Game
Bella Forrest - 2016
A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates's world by gender. Women rule the East. Men rule the West. Welcome to the lands of Matrus and Patrus. Ever since the disappearance of her beloved younger brother, Violet's life has been consumed by an anger she struggles to control. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now she has been sentenced to death for her crimes. But one decision could save her life. To enter the kingdom of Patrus, where men rule and women submit. Everything about the patriarchy is dangerous for a rebellious girl like Violet. She cannot break the rules if she wishes to stay alive. But abiding by rules has never been Violet's strong suit.When she's thrust into more danger than she could have ever predicted, Violet is forced to sacrifice many things in the forbidden kingdom ... including forbidden love. In a world divided by gender, only the strongest survive...
The Plantation
Stella Fitzsimons - 2012
and a spark.A century has passed since they arrived. Human history has been erased. Children are enslaved on Alien plantations. Some have heard whispers of the existence of a rebel band of humans who roam free in the forests. Most slaves dare not speak of the rebels for fear the mutant guards will grab and make an example of them.Seventeen-year-old Freya is pulled away in the night not by the mutants, but by her old friend Finn, to join the Saviors, the mythic band of rebel teens. Her bliss fades when she discovers she is the only Savior without a special ability. She is the odd one out, slowly pushing Finn away, defying Damian, the leader of the Saviors, and antagonizing the fierce and beautiful Daphne. In her despair Freya reaches deep within to discover a dark destiny, a truth so heavy it threatens to destroy her.
Tainted
Alexandra Moody - 2014
All she has ever known are the artificial confines of underground fallout shelter, the ARC. Under the Council’s rule, ruthless officials roam the hallways, community comes first and everyone lives in fear of failing their annual testing. With one simple blood test you could be taken away without any warning or a word of goodbye.There are only a few people in the ARC who Elle truly cares about and she desperately tries to keep them at arm’s length away for fear of losing someone else. Especially, her best friend Sebastian who she denies her feelings for, even from herself. Chilling secrets and mysterious disappearances plague the ARC, but Elle would never dare to voice the forbidden questions that linger on her lips. That is until they take the wrong person.No one is truly safe in the ARC and Elle is about to experience her own personal apocalypse. With nothing left to lose she will risk everything to uncover the truth about the tainted.Will she find what she's looking for or are some secrets better left buried deep underground?Don't miss the first book in this young adult series!
Powerless World
Derek Shupert - 2020
The anniversary of his daughter’s death sent him into the bottle. He loved his wife, but they grieved in different ways. Would the pain ever stop?Sarah missed Russell.She lay in bed unable to sleep. The heart ache had nearly broken her, too, but Sarah didn’t want their marriage to end. If she could just get him to stop drinking. Could they learn to live again?One day later……everything changed.Russell was on a plane heading west. The engines stopped, the plane was going down, and all he could think about was Sarah. He had to see her again.On the Boston subway, Sarah, was trapped.Fear and panic were all around her. Sarah sensed the danger. A man glared at her. With a deep breath, she wrapped her fingers around the Glock-43 in her purse. Sarah wasn’t afraid.Will Russell and Sarah live long enough to find their way back to each other?You’ll be on the edge of your seat with this post-apocalyptic thriller, because Russell and Sarah are easy to love.