Universe

Books like Extinction Cycle: 9 series to read next

Extinction Cycle is science fiction and post-apocalyptic, about survival, set in our world, dark in register. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Extinction Cycle is 45 books across 8 series, 2014–2020.

“VX-99, buried in a Vietnam-era file, was never a cure and never meant to be — it is a weapon, and when it slips its leash it does not kill so much as rewrite.”
from the catalogue description

The Extinction Cycle page →Narrow this list →

The Passage
War Against the Chtorr
The 5th Wave
Ship Breaker
Directive 51 / Daybreak
Survivalist
Shade's Children milieu
Maze Runner
The Hunger Games

The PassageSeries

seriesJustin Cronin3 books2010

About vampires.

Start with The Passage →

War Against the ChtorrSeries

seriesDavid Gerrold7 books1983

About aliens and ecological collapse.

“The Chtorr series was originally planned as a trilogy, but as the story became more intricate, Gerrold realized that three books would not be enough for him to tell the entire story.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with A Matter for Men →

The 5th WaveSeries

seriesRick Yancey4 books2013

Alien invasion, about aliens.

“Cassie Sullivan, the survivor of an alien invasion, must rescue her young brother from the enemy with help from a boy who may be one of them.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The 5th Wave →

Ship BreakerSeries

seriesPaolo Bacigalupi3 books2010

“Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker follows Nailer as helping her pulls him out of his abusive father's orbit and into a much larger, more dangerous game involving her family's fortune.”
from the catalogue description

Start with Ship Breaker →

Directive 51 / DaybreakSeries

seriesJohn Barnes3 books2010

About political intrigue.

“The resulting collapse triggers mass death, a crisis over presidential succession, and mysterious Moon-launched fusion strikes on Washington and Chicago, while a shadowy neofeudalist movement moves into the vacuum.”
from the catalogue description

Start with Directive 51 →

SurvivalistSeries

seriesJerry Ahern, Bob Anderson, Sharon Ahern & Sean Ellis41 books1981

Science fiction and post-apocalyptic, tense in tone, about survival and war, set in near future and north america.

Start with Total War →

Shade's Children milieuSeries

seriesGarth Nix2 books1997

Dystopia, about coming of age and rebellion and revolution.

Start with Shade's Children →

Maze RunnerSeries

seriesJames Dashner11 books2009

Dystopia.

“A 16 year old boy awakens with amnesia in a community of other youths in the center of a maze, and realizes they must cooperate to escape.”
from the catalogue description of The Maze Runner
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with The Maze Runner →

The Hunger GamesUniverse

universe5 books2008

Dystopia, about rebellion and revolution, set in far future.

“Panem, they call it now — a nation raised on the drowned bones of North America, a glittering Capitol ringed by twelve districts it once starved into obedience.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Why these

No sales rank, no star ratings, no readers also bought.

Shared terms are not a promise that a book feels the same. Two series can be far-future political intrigue and read nothing alike — what the ranking can say is what they are about, and each card says which parts it shares.

Questions readers ask

What should I read after Extinction Cycle?: The Passage — the closest match to Extinction Cycle on what it is about, not on what sells.
How big is Extinction Cycle?: Extinction Cycle is 45 books across 8 series, 2014–2020.

Books like Extinction Cycle: 9 series to read next

Read next in Extinction Cycle

Why these

Questions readers ask

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