Adventure and Spy (YA)

If you like your books with lots of action then this is the list for you: this is a selection of spy, action, adventure and survival stories from our YA (young adult) collections.

Updated June 19, 2024
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The electric kingdom
Arnold, David
Paper Book
New York Times bestseller David Arnold's most ambitious novel to date; Station Eleven meets The 5th Wave in a genre-smashing story of survival, hope, and love amid a ravaged earth. When a deadly Fly Flu sweeps the globe, it leaves a shell of the world that...
The cruelty
Bergstrom, Scott
Paper Book
The Cruelty is an action-packed young adult thriller (optioned for film by Jerry Bruckheimer) about a girl who must train as an assassin to deal with the gangsters who have kidnapped her father. Gwendolyn's father kept his life a secret from her. When he goes missing,...
An assassin's guide to love & treason
Boecker, Virginia
Paper Book
Shakespeare in Love meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this witty and thrilling story of star-crossed assassins in Elizabeth England, perfect for fans of My Lady Jane and TheGentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue! When Lady Katherine's father is killed...
Etiquette & espionage
Carriger, Gail.
Paper Book
This steampunk series debut set in the same world as the New York Times bestselling Parasol Protectorate is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor Gail Carriger's legions of fans have come to adore. Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great...
I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you
Carter, Ally.
Paper Book
Step into Cammie Morgan's world of intrigue in the first book of the beloved New York Times bestselling Gallagher Girls series Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school -- that is, if every school...
The love interest
Dietrich, Cale
Paper Book
There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets. Caden is a Nice: The boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection. Dylan is a Bad: The...
Blitzkrieg
Falkner, Brian
Paper Book
An intriguing and thought-provoking WWII novel inspired by real events from the international award-winning author Brian Falkner! In Nazi-ruled Germany, Joe St. George is forced to watch as the country is divided around him by fear and hate. Joe thinks he and his family are safe, but when his...

New Zealand author

Foul Lady Fortune
Gong, Chloe
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends comes the "equal parts intoxicating and dazzling" (Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Gilded Wolves) first book in a captivating new duology...

New Zealand author

Silverfin
Higson, Charles
Paper Book
This thrilling prequel to the James Bond dynasty shows young James at boarding school at Eton in the 1930's, where he spent his formative years. Acclaimed British writer Charlie Higson, with the Ian Fleming Estate, writes an edge-of-your seat thriller that brilliantly plants the seeds to show how...
Stormbreaker
Horowitz, Anthony
Paper Book
Alex Rider is now an IMDb TV/Amazon Original Series! Meet the orphan turned teen superspy who's saving the world one mission at a time--from #1 New York Times bestselling author!   They said his uncle Ian died in a car accident. But Alex Rider knows...
Stars and smoke
Lu, Marie
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times bestseller! He's a secret. She's an agent. This mission might just be impossible. A smoldering enemies-to-lovers novel about a global superstar and a hotshot young spy on a collision course with danger&...
The recruit
Muchamore, Robert.
Paper Book
CHERUB agents are all seventeen and under. They wear skate tees and hemp, and look like regular kids. But they're not. They are trained professionals who are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists and international drug dealers. CHERUB agents hack into computers, bug entire houses, and download...
The call
O? Guilin, Peadar
Paper Book
You have three minutes to save your life . . .THREE MINUTESYou wake up alone in a horrible land. A horn sounds. The Call has begun.TWO MINUTESThe Sidhe are close. They're the most beautiful and terrible people you've ever seen. And they've seen you.ONE MINUTENessa...
The loop
Oliver, Ben (Science fiction writer)
Paper Book
"A script-ready story with blockbuster potential." -- Kirkus (Starred Review)Life inside The Loop--the futuristic death row for teens under eighteen--is one long repetitive purgatory. But when news of the encroaching chaos in the outside world reaches the inmates and disorder begins to strike...
War girls
Onyebuchi, Tochi
Paper Book
Two sisters are torn apart by war and must fight their way back to each other in a futuristic, Black Panther-inspired Nigeria. The year is 2172. Climate change and nuclear disasters have rendered much of earth unlivable. Only the lucky ones have escaped to space colonies in the...
Hawk
Patterson, James
Paper Book
In this dark dystopian tale, 17-year-old Hawk is growing up hard and fast in post-apocalyptic New York City--until a perilous destiny forces her to take flight and protect her home. Where is Maximum Ride? Ten years ago a girl with wings fought...
Hatchet
Paulsen, Gary
Paper Book
This award-winning contemporary classic is the survival story with which all others are compared--and a page-turning, heart-stopping adventure, recipient of the Newbery Honor. Hatchet has also been nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read....
The rosewood hunt
Reed, Mackenzie
Paper Book
Irresistible intrigue, captivating suspense, a swoony friends-to-rivals-to-lovers romance, and heartbreaking betrayal drive this thrilling debut novel that is perfect for fans of The Inheritance Games and Knives Out. Lily Rosewood has lived with her grandmother since her dad...
Boy Soldier
Rigby, Robert
Paper Book
Danny Watts' grandfather, Fergus, was a Deniable Operator in the SAS before he was betrayed, imprisoned, and falsely denounced as a traitor. Now Fergus has escaped, but the real traitor is determined to silence Fergus and Danny for good. Together Danny and Fergus are forced to go on the run in an...
I must betray you
Sepetys, Ruta
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller and winner of the Carnegie Medal! A gut-wrenching, startling historical thriller about communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of Salt to...
Dry
Shusterman, Neal
Paper Book
When the California drought escalates to catastrophic proportions, one teen is forced to make life and death decisions for her family in this harrowing story of survival from New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman. The drought--or the Tap...
The outlaws Scarlett and Browne
Stroud, Jonathan
Paper Book
Action! Humor! Fantasy! "Kicking off a new series with a bang (several bangs, in fact), Stroud sends two young fugitives with murky pasts fleeing murderous pursuers across a fractured future Britain." --Kirkus Reviews, starred Scarlett McCain is a shoot-first ask-questions...
Clementine. Book one
Walden, Tillie
Paper Book
A 2022 Junior Library Guild Selection! Book Riot "12 Best Graphic Novels and Comics of 2022" List IGN "Best Comic Book Series or Graphic Novel of 2022" Nominee "Tillie Walden is the future. Her boldly authentic voice brings new heights to the world of The...
Code name Verity
Wein, Elizabeth.
Paper Book
Don't miss Elizabeth Wein's stunning new novel, Stateless! The beloved #1 New York Times bestseller, a "fiendishly plotted" (New York Times) "heart-in-your mouth adventure" (Washington Post) that...
Bite risk
Wills, S. J. (Children's author)
Paper Book
The Last Kids on Earth gets a lupine twist by way of Margaret Peterson Haddix in this eerie middle grade adventure set in a small town where all the adults are werewolves but the kids begin to suspect something else sinister is putting them at even greater risk. When...
Fable
Young, Adrienne
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB YA PICK Filled with all of the action, emotion, and lyrical writing that brought readers to Sky in the Deep, New York Times bestselling author Adrienne Young...
Boy Nobody : a novel
Zadoff, Allen.
Paper Book
They needed the perfect assassin. Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school in a new town under a new name, makes a few friends, and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his...

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