What are the best coming-of-age novels?

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Legend by Marie Lu, The Giver by Lois Lowry, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. These are the titles most often recommended to readers of coming of age across 32 reading lists on NextBook.

Where should I start with coming of age?

Start from one you already know you liked: The Maze Runner, The Hunger Games, Red Queen, Shadow and Bone, The Selection. Each has its own list built around the specific thing readers loved about it, rather than the genre alone.

Genres

Best coming-of-age novels

First everythings, and the particular cruelty of being young among other young people.

Ranked by how often each title comes up across 32 reading lists on NextBook — not by our opinion of them.

1 of 12recommended on 15 lists
Red Queen
Victoria Aveyard
Trials, a hidden power and a betrayal you will still feel. Swaps the maze for a court, keeps the sensation of being played by everyone above you.
Buy on Amazon →Books like Red Queen →
2 of 12recommended on 12 lists
Divergent
Veronica Roth
Teenagers dropped into a testing system that will kill the ones who fail, and a heroine working out who built it. Same machinery, more character work.
Buy on Amazon →Books like Divergent →
3 of 12recommended on 12 lists
Legend
Marie Lu
Two fifteen-year-olds on opposite sides of a state that has been testing children for years. Tight, propulsive, and better on character than most here.
Buy on Amazon →Books like Legend →
4 of 12recommended on 12 lists
The Giver
Lois Lowry
A boy discovers the calm community he grew up in is maintained by something monstrous. The reveal structure Maze Runner uses, in its cleanest form.
Buy on Amazon →Books like The Giver →
5 of 12recommended on 12 lists
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
Children put in an arena and watched by the people who built it. The best-written book on this list and the one the rest are answering.
Buy on Amazon →Books like The Hunger Games →
6 of 12recommended on 12 lists
The Selection
Kiera Cass
Here for the sorted-society shelf rather than any real resemblance: a palace competition with romance as the point and nothing chasing anyone.
Buy on Amazon →Books like The Selection →
7 of 12recommended on 11 lists
The Maze Runner
James Dashner
Teenagers dropped into a lethal arena by adults who watch and take notes. Strip Katniss's politics away and this is the pure survival engine underneath.
Buy on Amazon →Books like The Maze Runner →
8 of 12recommended on 9 lists
Delirium
Lauren Oliver
A state that operates on your brain at eighteen and a girl who runs before her date. Strong writing, but the engine here is romance, not survival.
Buy on Amazon →Books like Delirium →
9 of 12recommended on 9 lists
Matched
Ally Condie
A controlled society and a girl who starts noticing the seams. Quiet and thoughtful, which is the opposite of what most people come to Dashner for.
Buy on Amazon →Books like Matched →
10 of 12recommended on 9 lists
The 5th Wave
Rick Yancey
Post-invasion survival, a training camp for children, and a narrator who cannot tell who is lying to her. Faster and nastier than Dashner.
Buy on Amazon →Books like The 5th Wave →
11 of 12recommended on 8 lists
Ender's Game
Orson Scott Card
Children put through escalating war games by adults who won't say what the games are for. The smartest version of this premise anyone has written.
Buy on Amazon →Books like Ender's Game →
12 of 12recommended on 8 lists
The Darkest Minds
Alexandra Bracken
Children with powers rounded up into camps by their own government, and a girl who gets out and then has to work out who on the road is worth trusting.
Buy on Amazon →Books like The Darkest Minds →

Start from one you already loved

A genre is a blunt instrument. Pick the coming of age book you actually liked and we’ll rank the next one by what you liked about it.

Books like The Maze RunnerJames Dashner
Books like The Hunger GamesSuzanne Collins
Books like Red QueenVictoria Aveyard
Books like Shadow and BoneLeigh Bardugo
Books like The SelectionKiera Cass
Books like DivergentVeronica Roth
Books like LegendMarie Lu
Books like The Cruel PrinceHolly Black
Books like An Ember in the AshesSabaa Tahir
Books like Snow CrashNeal Stephenson
Books like The 5th WaveRick Yancey
Books like DeliriumLauren Oliver
Books like GracelingKristin Cashore
Books like MatchedAlly Condie
Books like Six of CrowsLeigh Bardugo
Books like The Darkest MindsAlexandra Bracken
Books like The Fault in Our StarsJohn Green
Books like The Perks of Being a WallflowerStephen Chbosky
Books like The Catcher in the RyeJ.D. Salinger
Books like CaravalStephanie Garber
Books like Shatter MeTahereh Mafi
Books like We Were LiarsE. Lockhart
Books like Before I FallLauren Oliver
Books like All the Bright PlacesJennifer Niven
Books like Looking for AlaskaJohn Green
Books like One of Us is LyingKaren M. McManus
Books like Little Fires EverywhereCeleste Ng
Books like Starship TroopersRobert A. Heinlein
Books like UgliesScott Westerfeld
Books like Serpent & DoveShelby Mahurin
Books like The NaturalsJennifer Lynn Barnes
Books like Truly DeviousMaureen Johnson

NextBook is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program. We earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t affect which books we recommend or how we rank them.