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 April 22, 2024
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The electric kingdom
Arnold, David 1981-
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
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 and treason
Boecker, Virginia
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
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.
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
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...
Foul lady fortune
Gong, Chloe
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

Stormbreaker
Horowitz, Anthony 1955-
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 1984-
An Instant New York Times bestseller! He's a secret. She's an agent. This mission might just be impossible. This smoldering enemies-to-lovers novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu puts a superstar global...
The recruit
Muchamore, Robert.
A young foster child gets inducted into an elite group of underage spies in this gripping first book in the young adult CHERUB series perfect for graduates of City Spies and Spy School. Following the death of his mother, eleven-year-old James Choke gets separated from his half...
The call
Ó Guilin, Peadar
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)
"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
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 sky. In a war-torn Nigeria, battles are fought using flying, deadly mechs and soldiers are outfitted with bionic limbs and artificial...
Hawk
Patterson, James 1947-
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
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
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...
I must betray you
Sepetys, Ruta
#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
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
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 **Soon to be a motion picture starring Phoebe...
Clementine. Book one
Walden, Tillie 1996-
A 2022 Junior Library Guild Selection!
Code name Verity
Wein, Elizabeth.
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 "will take...
Fable
Young, Adrienne 1985-
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
Zadoff, Allen.
Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one that few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school, in a new town, under a new name, makes few friends and doesn't stay long-just long enough for someone in his new friend's family to die of natural causes. Mission...

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