Books like The 5th Wave
What should you read after Rick Yancey’s novel? It depends on what you loved most about it.
- Rick Yancey
- 2013
- Young adult science fiction
What did you love about it?
Choosing one reorders everything below.
Best books to read after The 5th Wave
Ranked overall. Pick what you loved above to re-rank them.
Best overall matchThe Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
A girl who volunteers for her sibling and then has to work out which allies are real. Same protective instinct, same trust problem, better executed.
- A sister going back for her brother
- Children trained as soldiers
- Not knowing who is human
- Arena spectacle, no invasion
Great matchDivergent
Veronica Roth
Training sequences, a society lying to everyone in it, and a romance you spend the book deciding whether to trust. The nearest shelf-mate.
- Children trained as soldiers
- A romance you are unsure about
- Short, punchy chapters
- No aliens, no invasion
Great matchRed Queen
Victoria Aveyard
Built on the question of who is pretending — a heroine surrounded by people playing parts, including herself. Betrayal is the whole architecture.
- Not knowing who is human
- A romance you are unsure about
- Genre-familiar to a fault
Best for the dual narratorsLegend
Marie Lu
Two voices from opposite sides of a war, each certain about the other and each wrong. Yancey's POV-switching, handled more cleanly.
- Narrators that switch mid-book
- Short, punchy chapters
- Not knowing who is human
- Less atmosphere than Yancey
Great matchThe Maze Runner
James Dashner
Teenagers who cannot trust their own memories or each other, inside something an organisation built for them. Very fast, very plot-forward.
- Short, punchy chapters
- Not knowing who is human
- Children trained as soldiers
- Prose is plain throughout
Worth a look — with a warningThe Giver
Lois Lowry
The thoughtful end of the shelf: a boy who discovers what his community has removed from him. Nothing here moves fast, and everything here lands.
- Short, punchy chapters
- Children trained as soldiers
- Middle-grade voice throughout
Best for the militarised childrenEnder's Game
Orson Scott Card
The definitive version of adults turning children into weapons, with a final page that makes you re-read the entire book.
- Children trained as soldiers
- Not knowing who is human
- Narrators that switch mid-book
- Card's politics trouble many readers
Worth a look — with a warningThe Selection
Kiera Cass
Recommended only if the Evan chapters were your reason for reading. It is a romance in dystopian clothing and makes no secret of it.
- A romance you are unsure about
- Short, punchy chapters
- No survival element
Great matchMatched
Ally Condie
A girl who notices one flicker in the system and cannot unsee it, with two boys and a state deciding for her. Quieter than Yancey, similarly hooked.
- A romance you are unsure about
- Not knowing who is human
- Very little action
Best for the road-trip dreadThe Darkest Minds
Alexandra Bracken
Kids on the run across an America that has decided they are dangerous, in a car with people they are not sure about. The Cassie-on-the-highway feeling, sustained.
- Empty-highway survival horror
- Not knowing who is human
- A romance you are unsure about
- Darker than The 5th Wave
Worth a look — with a warningDelirium
Lauren Oliver
A society that surgically removes love, and a girl who falls in love before her appointment. Romance is the entire machine.
- A romance you are unsure about
- Not knowing who is human
- Almost no action
Great matchPartials
Dan Wells
Engineered beings indistinguishable from humans, and a girl who has to work out which of them is which. The most direct match for the impostor anxiety.
- Not knowing who is human
- An invasion arriving in waves
- Children trained as soldiers
- Denser science than Yancey
Best for the occupation itselfThe Host
Stephenie Meyer
Aliens quietly wearing human bodies, told from inside one of them. It answers the question Yancey keeps you guessing about, and answers it sympathetically.
- Not knowing who is human
- A romance you are unsure about
- An invasion arriving in waves
- Slow and romance-heavy
What should you read after The 5th Wave?
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey works on several levels at once, and which book you should read next depends on which of those levels got you. For most readers the closest match is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins — a girl who volunteers for her sibling and then has to work out which allies are real. Same protective instinct, same trust problem, better executed.
If what stayed with you was children trained as soldiers, read Divergent by Veronica Roth instead: training sequences, a society lying to everyone in it, and a romance you spend the book deciding whether to trust. The nearest shelf-mate. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is the other strong option — built on the question of who is pretending — a heroine surrounded by people playing parts, including herself. Betrayal is the whole architecture.
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