Can Anyone Recommend a YA Horror?

Dude! Carrie Ryan's Forest of Hands and Teeth comes out next Tuesday (like, in ten days). Awesome writing, scary as hell, you need to check this book out. You will love it!

I REALLY want to read that book. So. Freaking. Bad. I signed up for her free ARC contest, but alas - I didn't win. *cries*

I'm not sure if they're available in the US, but Nick Gifford wrote four YA horror novels - Piggies, Flesh and Blood, Incubus and Erased. (Vested interest: I know the author personally. He also writes SF for adults under his real name of Keith Brooke.)

Piggies has some first-novel flaws and is a vampire variation anyway, so that's out. Flesh and Blood and Incubus are the two best IMO. Erased moved in more of an SFnal direction and was less to my taste.

It's more thriller than horror but, if you like a Battle Royale type premise, The Hunger Games is good.

The Devouring by Simon Holt has a (an?) homage to Stephen King and also Edgar Allen Poe in it. The novel could have been longer and the ending makes you go ARGH! but I thought it was a fun read and some suitably gross stuff in it.

MM

Maprilynne said:

Dude! Carrie Ryan's Forest of Hands and Teeth comes out next Tuesday (like, in ten days). Awesome writing, scary as hell, you need to check this book out. You will love it!

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To the OP, no idea.

To Maprilynne, I am SO looking forward to your book! :d

Within YA, proper horror is a hard thing to find.

Scared to Death (Hell's Underground, Bk 1) by Alan Gibbons is really good. I haven't read book 2, but book 1 was a lovely dark tale with Ripperesque elements, demons, murders, & tension.

The Devouring was a nice read, and it's on the decidedly creepy side.

My 15 yr old daughter tells me Darren Shan's Demonata series does the dark beautifully too. (I haven't read it, but she usu has good taste.)

I don't know that I'd call Forest of Hands & Teeth horror, but it's dark & fabulous & well worth the read regardless of whatever genre classification one assigns there.

Some of the classic horror--the masterful S King--is very accessible to YA readers. The teens I know that want to read horror default to him.

And, although it's NOT YA I have to add a rec for the wonderful creepy nasty brilliantly crafted Heart Shaped Box (Joe Hill). His might be the best horror I've read in years. . . actually it's just one of the best books I've read in years.

Good luck. If you find any other great YA horror, please do post them if you get a chance. I'm always on the lookout for the deliciously or disturbingly dark & have had a lousy time finding much true horror in YA.

Melissa!

"usu"

I have been searching for a good abbreviation for usual/usually for God knows how long.

You win at life.

Shady Lane said:

Melissa!

"usu"

I have been searching for a good abbreviation for usual/usually for God knows how long.

You win at life.

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I just had a friend tell me that my tendency to use "text or whatever" was maddening & could I use "real words & spellings" . . . so thx for that comment.

I keep doing "us" and then I have to be like "us as in yoozh as in short for usually" and then I'm like...wow...that took a lot longer than just typing usually...

It's more thriller than horror but, if you like a Battle Royale type premise, The Hunger Games is good.

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I second that motion. It wasn't exactly horror, but it did give me nightmares. Very creepy, and very good. You mentioned Stephen King, and this book really reminded me of him. He also loved it.

I also thought of The Thief of Always by Clive Barker but that may be more Middle Grade (it's been about a decade since I read it so am fuzzy on the details).

One more that is a "maybe"-- Lauren Myracle's BLISS. I'm not sure if "horror" or "thriller" is a better term (I've seen it called both). I'm just starting this one, & it's definitively dark.

BLISS is definitely dark. I just finished that one, and it doesn't get any lighter the whole way through the novel. I was going to review it on my blog, but I decided that I need some time to digest it first.

My first taste of horror was The House on Hackman's Hill - available on Amazon for $4.50
Classic go bump in the night horror.
Scared me to death when I was 13 or 14.

Christopher Pike's books. Not only are they creepy but they are usually kind of bizarre as well (he has unusual takes on situations). Some of his stories lean toward more traditional horror, some towards mystery, and some just can't be classified very well. If you're only looking for the most contemporary then he may not be what you're looking for, but for a long time he was a leading figure (maybe even the leading figure) in young adult horror.