Books like 'Variant'
Readers who enjoyed Variant by Robison Wells also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary sc-fi mystery action / adventure horror urban fantasy dystopia boarding-school suspense survival
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Light by Michael Grant
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsIt's been over a year since all the adults disappeared. Gone.In the time since every person over the age of fourteen disappeared from the town of Perdido Beach, California, countless battles have been fought: battles against hunger and lies and plague, and epic battles of good against evil...Categorized as:
dystopia friendship high-school paranormal survival suspense action-adventure aliens -
![Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry]()
Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsSix months have passed since the terrifying battle with Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer in the zombie-infested mountains of the Rot & Ruin. It’s also six months since Benny Imura and Nix Riley saw something in the air that changed their lives...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dystopia friendship paranormal survival suspense action-adventure apocalyptic -
![UnWholly by Neal Shusterman]()
UnWholly by Neal Shusterman
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsAlternate cover for this ISBN can be found hereIt’s finally here. The long-awaited sequel to the bestselling Unwind, which Publishers Weekly called a “gripping, brilliantly imagined futuristic thriller.”Thanks to Connor, Lev, and Risa—and their high-profile revolt at Happy Jack Harvest Camp—people can no longer turn a blind eye to unwinding... -
![Wool by Hugh Howey]()
Wool by Hugh Howey
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 74 ratingsIn a ruined and toxic future, a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Sheriff Holston, who has unwaveringly upheld the silo’s rules for years, unexpectedly breaks the greatest taboo of all: He asks to go outside...Categorized as:
dystopia survival suspense 21st-century action-adventure anthologies apocalyptic audiobook -
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![Solitary by Alexander Gordon Smith]()
Solitary by Alexander Gordon Smith
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFurnace Prison ...Where death is the least of your worries.Escape is just the beginning ...We thought we’d made it, we thought we were free. But we should have known there was no way out of Furnace.All we did was slip deeper into the guts of the prison: into solitary confinement, where the real nightmares live - the warden, the Wheezers, and something much, much worse.The clock’s ticking... -
![UnSouled by Neal Shusterman]()
UnSouled by Neal Shusterman
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsTeens fight for their humanity in this thrilling third book in the New York Times bestselling Unwind Dystology series by Neal Shusterman.Connor and Lev are on the run after the destruction of the Graveyard, the last safe haven for AWOL unwinds... -
![Fear by Michael Grant]()
Fear by Michael Grant
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsIt's been one year since all the adults disappeared. Gone.Despite the hunger and the lies, even despite the plague, the kids of Perdido Beach are determined to survive. Creeping into the tenuous new world they've built, though, is perhaps the worst incarnation yet of the enemy known as the Darkness: fear...Categorized as:
dystopia friendship high-school paranormal survival suspense action-adventure aliens -
![Plague by Michael Grant]()
Plague by Michael Grant
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsIt's been eight months since all the adults disappeared. GONE.They've survived hunger. They've survived lies. But the stakes keep rising, and the dystopian horror keeps building. Yet despite the simmering unrest left behind by so many battles, power struggles, and angry divides, there is a momentary calm in Perdido Beach...Categorized as:
dystopia friendship high-school paranormal survival suspense action-adventure aliens -
![The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway]()
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe Jorgmund Pipe is the backbone of the world, and it's on fire. Gonzo Lubitsch, professional hero and troubleshooter, is hired to put it out, but there's more to the fire, and the Pipe itself, than meets the eye. The job will take Gonzo and his best friend, our narrator, back to their own beginnings...Categorized as:
dystopia 21st-century action-adventure adult alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook book -
![Anubis by Adrienne Wilder]()
Anubis by Adrienne Wilder
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt was supposed to be over: The Utah Facility discovered, New World Genetics dismantled, and those hunting Luca—dead.Then strangers who call themselves Varu come for Luca for help. They claim he’s a Cana and tell him he’s the only one who can bring back their wolves.Nox doesn’t want to trust them, then he learns people called Mah are responsible for the atrocities committed in the Utah Facility... -
![A Broken Contract by Vanessa Nelson]()
A Broken Contract by Vanessa Nelson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA promise broken. Her future torn up. But she still has a job to do.Betrayed by her blood family, all Hallie's plans for her future are in ruins. She has no time to lick her wounds as Special Investigator Girard wants her help looking for some members of the elite who have gone missing in Hallie's territory... -
![Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton]()
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 85 ratingsAn astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price. Until something goes wrong. . .Categorized as:
dystopia high-school survival suspense 20th-century action-adventure animals audiobook -
![I Am Legend by Richard Matheson]()
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 70 ratingsWinner of the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award for best vampire novel of the century: the genre-defining classic of horror sci-fi that inspired three films. The population of the entire world has been obliterated by a pandemic of vampire bacteria. Yet somehow, Robert Neville survived...Categorized as:
dystopia paranormal survival suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult apocalyptic -
![Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith]()
Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsFurnace Penitentiary: the world’s most secure prison for young offenders, buried a mile beneath the earth’s surface. Convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, sentenced to life without parole, “new fish” Alex Sawyer knows he has two choices: find a way out, or resign himself to a death behind bars, in the darkness at the bottom of the world. Except in Furnace, death is the least of his worries... -
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![Deadline by Mira Grant]()
Deadline by Mira Grant
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsShaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life...Categorized as:
dystopia male-mc paranormal survival suspense action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook -
![Blackout by Mira Grant]()
Blackout by Mira Grant
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe explosive conclusion to the Newsflesh trilogy from New York Times bestseller Mira Grant — a saga of zombies, geeks, politics, social media, and the virus that runs through them all.The year was 2014. The year we cured cancer. The year we cured the common cold. And the year the dead started to walk. The year of the Rising.The year was 2039...Categorized as:
dystopia paranormal survival suspense friendship male-mc action-adventure apocalyptic -
![The Darkness We Crave by Katie May]()
The Darkness We Crave by Katie May
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsMost people don't think about where they're going to be when the world ends. On the beach drinking margaritas? In the arms of a lover? How about in a shit-ass resort run by your shit-ass parents? I have always lived my life as the perfect daughter. At seventeen, I had no other option than to follow my parents' strict regiment... -
![A Usual Suspect by Vanessa Nelson]()
A Usual Suspect by Vanessa Nelson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsShe can see the truth, but when she's accused of murder, no one believes she's innocent.Hallie works as a skip tracer - hunting down people wanted by the law, for one reason or another. It's not glamourous, and it doesn't pay all that well. But it's legal work, and that's hard to come by in the cramped quarters of old town... -
![Wayward by Blake Crouch]()
Wayward by Blake Crouch
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsWelcome to Wayward Pines, population 461. Nestled amidst picture-perfect mountains, the idyllic town is a modern-day Eden...except for the electrified fence and razor wire, snipers scoping everything 24/7, and the relentless surveillance tracking each word and gesture.None of the residents know how they got here. They are told where to work, how to live, and who to marry... -
![Shadow Unit 11 by Emma Bull, Leah Bobet]()
Shadow Unit 11 by Emma Bull, Leah Bobet
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit hunts humanity's worst nightmares, but there are nightmares humanity doesn't dream are real. The BAU sends those cases down the hall. There, Stephen Reyes and his team pursue criminals transformed by a mysterious force: the anomaly. Welcome to Shadow Unit, a series created by award-winning authors Emma Bull and Elizabeth Bear... -
![The Abyss by Orson Scott Card, James Cameron]()
The Abyss by Orson Scott Card, James Cameron
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLibrarian's note: There are Alternate Cover Editions for this edition of this book here and here.From the author of "Speaker's for the Dead", and "Seventh Son", this science fiction thriller is set in the Caribbean where a US submarine is mysteriously attacked. Foul play by the Soviets is suspected, and the world draws close to nuclear war. But the answer has nothing to do with human deeds... -
![Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne]()
Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn ongoing journal depicting one man's personal struggle for survival, dealing with the trials of an undead world unfolding around him. An unknown plague sweeps the planet. The dead rise to claim the Earth as the new dominant species. Trapped in the midst of a global tragedy, he must make decisions...choices that that ultimately mean life, or the eternal curse to walk as one of them... -
![Mercury Striking by Rebecca Zanetti]()
Mercury Striking by Rebecca Zanetti
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWith nothing but rumors to lead her, Lynn Harmony has trekked across a nightmare landscape to find one man—a mysterious, damaged legend who protects the weak and leads the strong. He’s more than muscle and firepower—and in post-plague L.A., he’s her only hope. As the one woman who could cure the disease, Lynn is the single most volatile—and vulnerable—creature in this new and ruthless world... -
![Undone by Elizabeth Norris]()
Undone by Elizabeth Norris
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBefore the accident. Before their universes collided. Before they fell in love.Riveting and romantic, Undone: An Unraveling Novella contains three short stories set in the world of Unraveling, the first book in the gripping sci-fi duology by Elizabeth Norris... -
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![The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross]()
The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsBob Howard, from The Laundry, secret UK agency against evil forces, narrates boarding yacht of Ellis Billington for Gravedust device that talks with dead. Ellis plans to raise Jennifer Morgue, monster from deep sea, rule world. U.S. Black Chamber sends lethal Ramona Random, in conflict with her bosses. Includes: Pimpf tale - Bob in virtual game; Afterword; Glossary... -
![14 by Peter Clines]()
14 by Peter Clines
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsPadlocked doors. Strange light fixtures. Mutant cockroaches.There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment.Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable... -
![The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey]()
The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsOnce upon a time, in a land blighted by terror, there was a very clever boy.The people thought the boy could save them, so they opened their gates and sent him out into the world.To where the monsters lived...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dystopia paranormal survival suspense 21st-century action-adventure apocalyptic -
![Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong, Jason Pargin]()
Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong, Jason Pargin
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNightmarish villains with superhuman enhancements.An all-seeing social network that tracks your every move.Mysterious, smooth-talking power players who lurk behind the scenes.A young woman from the trailer park.And her very smelly cat.Together, they will decide the future of mankind... -
![The Passage by Justin Cronin]()
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsIT HAPPENED FAST.THIRTY-TWO MINUTES FOR ONE WORLD TO DIE, ANOTHER TO BE BORN.First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered... -
![Stilts by Tim O'Rourke]()
Stilts by Tim O'Rourke
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom Tim O’Rourke, the #1 bestselling author of the Kiera Hudson series, comes Stilts, the first book in a new dystopian trilogy. While eighteen-year-old, Tessa Dark was serving her prison sentence for murder, the world beyond her cell walls changed forever. The thunder came and destroyed the world she had once known...Categorized as:
dystopia paranormal action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book contemporary female-mc -
![World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks]()
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 80 ratingsThe Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet...Categorized as:
dystopia paranormal survival suspense 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history apocalyptic -
![Virals by Kathy Reichs, Brendan Reichs]()
Virals by Kathy Reichs, Brendan Reichs
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsTory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina... -
![Pitch Dark by Courtney Alameda]()
Pitch Dark by Courtney Alameda
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLost to time, Tuck Morgan and his crew have slept in stasis aboard the USS John Muir for centuries. Their ship harbors a chunk of Earth, which unbeknownst to them, is the last hope for the failing human race.Laura Cruz is a shipraider searching the galaxy for the history that was scattered to the stars... -
![The Starving Years by Jordan Castillo Price]()
The Starving Years by Jordan Castillo Price
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLibrarian's note: This is an alternate cover edition for ASIN: B007H0KETIImagine a world without hunger. In 1960, a superfood was invented that made starvation a thing of the past. Manna, the cheaply manufactured staple food, is now as ubiquitous as salt in the world’s cupboards, pantries and larders.Nelson Oliver knows plenty about manna. He’s a food scientist—according to his diploma, that is...Categorized as:
dystopia paranormal suspense action-adventure adult alternate-universe audiobook book -
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![Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion]()
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 70 ratingsR is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, noidentity, and no pulse, but he has dreams...Categorized as:
dystopia high-school male-mc paranormal survival suspense action-adventure apocalyptic -
![Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky]()
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky
Rated: 3.91 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThe year is 2033. The world has been reduced to rubble. Humanity is nearly extinct. The half-destroyed cities have become uninhabitable through radiation. Beyond their boundaries, they say, lie endless burned-out deserts and the remains of splintered forests. Survivors still remember the past greatness of humankind...Categorized as:
dystopia paranormal survival suspense 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history apocalyptic -
![The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey]()
The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsMelanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius."Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.Melanie loves school...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dystopia paranormal survival suspense action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook -
![Overtime by Charles Stross]()
Overtime by Charles Stross
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIntroduced to readers in the novels The Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue, the Laundry is a secret British government agency charged with preventing dark interdimensional entities from destroying the human race... -
![Feed by Mira Grant]()
Feed by Mira Grant
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThe year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED...Categorized as:
dystopia paranormal survival suspense friendship male-mc action-adventure alternate-history -
![The Others by Jeremy Robinson]()
The Others by Jeremy Robinson
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsUFOs and alien abductions remain one of the most hotly debated and mysterious subjects of the twenty-first century. In the decades since 1960, with reports of strange encounters on the rise, thirteen million people have gone missing worldwide and never been found... -
![Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks]()
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAs the ash and chaos from Mount Rainier’s eruption swirled and finally settled, the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed unnoticed, unexamined . . . until now.But the journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town’s bloody wreckage, capture a tale too harrowing—and too earth-shattering in its implications—to be forgotten... -
![The Dispatcher by John Scalzi]()
The Dispatcher by John Scalzi
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsOne day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone - 999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know. But it changes everything: war, crime, daily life... -
![I Hope You Find Me by Trish Marie Dawson]()
I Hope You Find Me by Trish Marie Dawson
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLife for Riley ends when her young children die in her arms…victims of a global viral outbreak that claims the lives of everyone she’s ever known. Left to fend for herself with only a dog as her companion, she sets out on a journey to find others, leaving notes everywhere she goes…hoping that one day someone will come looking for her... -
![The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross]()
The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross
Rated: 3.91 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsNEVER VOLUNTEER FOR ACTIVE DUTY ...Bob Howard is a low-level techie working for a super-secret government agency. While his colleagues are out saving the world, Bob's under a desk restoring lost data. His world was dull and safe - but then he went and got Noticed...Categorized as:
paranormal action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook book british-isles -
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![The Fireman by Joe Hill]()
The Fireman by Joe Hill
Rated: 3.91 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsFrom the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Heart-Shaped Box comes a chilling novel about a worldwide pandemic of spontaneous combustion that threatens to reduce civilization to ashes and a band of improbable heroes who battle to save it, led by one powerful and enigmatic man known as the Fireman.The fireman is coming. Stay cool...Categorized as:
dystopia paranormal survival suspense 21st-century action-adventure adult apocalyptic -
![The Wicked We Have Done by Sarah Harian]()
The Wicked We Have Done by Sarah Harian
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEvalyn Ibarra never expected to be an accused killer and experimental prison test subject. A year ago, she was a normal college student. Now she’s been sentenced to a month in the compass room—an advanced prison obstacle course designed by the government to execute justice. If she survives, the world will know she’s innocent... -
![Lexicon by Max Barry]()
Lexicon by Max Barry
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAt an exclusive school somewhere outside of Arlington, Virginia, students aren't taught history, geography, or mathematics--at least not in the usual ways. Instead, they are taught to persuade. Here the art of coercion has been raised to a science... -
![Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney]()
Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBattered by three devastating hurricanes in a row, the Texas coast is flattened. But for the people of Houston--and soon all of America--the most terrifying events are just beginning. . . They Rise. . . Out of the flooded streets of Houston, they emerge from plague-ridden waters. Dead. Rotting. Hungry... -
![One Past Midnight: The Langoliers by Stephen King, Willem Dafoe]()
One Past Midnight: The Langoliers by Stephen King, Willem Dafoe
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsThe first of a four-part audio series from Stephen King's best-selling book, Four Past Midnight. On a redeye flight from Los Angeles to Boston, only 11 passengers survive—but landing in a dead world makes them wish they hadn't...Categorized as:
dystopia paranormal survival suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies -
![Rush by Eve Silver]()
Rush by Eve Silver
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsSo what's the game now? This, or the life I used to know? Miki Jones's carefully controlled life spins into chaos after she's run down in the street, left broken and bloody...
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