Books like “Never Let Me Go”

What to read after “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood · 1985
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Unreliable Narrator
In the Republic of Gilead, women have lost their names, jobs and freedom. Offred is a Handmaid, valued only for the child she may bear for a commander and his wife. Remembering the life she had before, she searches for small acts of defiance and a way to survive.
2
The Time Machine
H. G. Wells · 1895
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia” and “Melancholic”
- Dystopia
- Melancholic
An inventor builds a machine that carries him far into the future. He finds a gentle people living above ground and a sinister race below, and slowly learns what became of humanity. A short, influential tale of time travel and a dark vision of the end.
3
Delirium
Lauren Oliver · 2011
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
In a world where love is treated as a disease, Lena counts down the days to the cure that will keep her safe. Weeks before her treatment she falls in love, and must choose between the orderly life promised to her and the risk of feeling.
4
Uglies
Scott Westerfeld · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
In a future where everyone turns pretty at sixteen through surgery, fifteen-year-old Tally longs for the operation. When her friend runs away instead, Tally is sent to find her, and learns what the surgery and the society that demands it really cost.
5
Looking for Alaska
John Green · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
Miles Halter leaves his quiet Florida home for a boarding school in Alabama, drawn by the last words of famous people. There he joins a tight circle of friends, falls for the reckless Alaska Young, and is forced to reckon with loss and guilt.
6
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins · 2008
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
In Panem, each district must send two teenagers to fight to the death on television. When Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her sister's place, she turns the Games into something the Capitol cannot fully control.
7
Matched
Ally Condie · 2010
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
In a society where the Officials choose who you love, Cassia is matched with her best friend, until a mistake shows her another face. Torn between two futures, she begins to question the system that decides everything for her.
8
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood · 2003
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
A man called Snowman may be the last human left, living in a tree above a ruined city and watching over a gentle new species. Through his memories the reader learns how his brilliant friend Crake and the woman they both loved brought the world to its end.
9
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury · 1953
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books in a future where reading is a crime and screens fill every quiet moment. After a young neighbour asks him whether he is happy, curiosity makes him hide a book of his own, and he begins to question everything his job stands for.
10
The Catcher in the Rye
J. D. Salinger · 1951
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
Expelled from prep school and drifting through New York before going home, teenager Holden Caulfield narrates a few days of restless encounters. He rails against adults he calls phonies while quietly grieving a brother and his own place in the world.
11
The Darkest Minds
Alexandra Bracken · 2012
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Coming of Age
After a disease kills most American children, the survivors develop dangerous powers and are locked in government camps. Sixteen-year-old Ruby escapes and joins a group of runaways searching for a safe haven, while learning the cost of her own abilities.
12
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell · 1949
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
In the totalitarian superstate of Oceania, every thought and word is watched. Winston Smith works at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting the past, until he starts a diary and a secret affair. His small rebellion against a system that controls reality itself slowly closes in around him.