#like how our new town name is a sanderson swear

[bookwyrm-the-library-dragon]

It has been one million years since I’ve used this blog, and now the siren call of having to do posts for class compels me to do so.  So let’s start off with a simple read-a-like recc post!

For my YA lit class, my favorite week by far was our manga and graphic novel week.  Yes, I know I’m a nerd and a weeb.  But the manga in question that I read was the currently wildly popular The Promised Neverland, by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu.

For those who don’t know, The Promised Neverland is an ongoing Japanese manga series, and a currently airing animated show, chronicling the lives of hyper-smart 11yo orphans Emma, Norman, and Ray, who live in an idyllic orphanage with their thirty+ siblings and their loving caretaker.  Though everything seems too good to be true: they always have enough to eat, their caretaker is kind and loving, they always have time to play, and every orphan is adopted by the age of twelve.  Not to spoil things as the twist is something magical, but they’re right to believe it’s too good to be true, coming upon a truly horrifying truth at the end of the first chapter.  It’s a deliciously dark thriller of some very small kids going up against some very large enemies, and the mind games within this lowkey horror are definitely engaging.

So for those of you who do know The Promised Neverland and are looking for some similar recommendations to feed your desire for more (yes, I am doing these eating puns on purpose, and no, I’m not sorry), then look no further!  Continued beneath the cut because I can be a bit wordy haha

Manga-readers tend to like, well, manga!  So let’s start off with a few manga that are similar to The Promised Neverland.

Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba is something of a classic nowadays, following the story of a young college student named Light who finds a notebook that can kill by writing down the name of a person inside it.  If you love the mind games of Neverland, you’ll eat up (last one I swear) the epic battle of the minds between Light, as he uses the notebook to kill off criminals, and L, the detective determined to find a supernatural serial killer.  This one also has an anime, a live action, a more divisive American live action version, and multiple other media!

Girl’s Last Tour by Tsukimizu chronicles the story of two young women traversing a mostly empty world after an unknown apocalypse. Though not quite as much of a thriller or horror story as Neverland, it has a similar cute style and some rather yawning empty spaces that invoke a sort of melancholy atmosphere which Neverland readers might enjoy.

ERASED by Kei Sanbe tells the story of Satoru, a down on his luck manga artist who finds himself thrown back in time to his elementary school days, during which a series of terrible child abductions and murders occurred. Uncertain of how he made it back in time, Satoru is determined to rescue the victims of the kidnapping this time before it can occur. Like Neverland, this one showcases a younger cast pitted up against much stronger adults, trying to use their wits to escape terrible fates.

Moving out of manga land, here’s a few novels that might pique your fancy!

Gone by Michael Grant takes place in a town after everyone over the age of fifteen mysteriously disappears, and their entire town is encased in a strange dome that they can’t get out of. Like Neverland, this book focuses on kids using their wits to survive in a horrifying world, though this time around, there are no adults as enemies or otherwise.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson is a little bit of a different one for this list, but if you like the lowkey dark horror settings of Neverland and some good old earth-shattering twists, you might just enjoy this adult fantasy in which a street thief named Vin gets involved in a rebellion to take out the tyrannical Lord Ruler...though what happens AFTER the rebellion succeeds may be the most surprising of all.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Woods is another eerie sort of mystery about children locked away in an isolated world surrounded by mystery, heightened by the presence of spooky old photographs interspersed between the pages.

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu though not shown in the images, is another eerie fantasy story where nothing is quite as it seems and the rules don’t always apply, as the protagonist Hazel must venture into a strange woods to find her friend who was kidnapped by a snow witch.

and to round out this list by stretching beyond the print (I know, blasphemous for a librarian...) how about a few anime?

From the New World or “Shinsekai Yori” continues the trend of eerie, vaguely ‘wrong’ worlds in which something is definitely hiding beneath the surface, with a cast of young teen psychics in training in a secret haven that has more than one skeleton in its closet.

School-Live! may look like a sweet story about a group of girls living at school, but by the end of the episode, like in Neverland, the twist will hit you like a punch to the gut.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is also not pictured, but for stories about cute characters who face sudden and heart-wrenching plot twists, it absolutely has to make the list. Starting off with a Sailor Moon-esque story about girls who become magical girls to fight monstrous witches that threaten humanity, the truth turns out to be much more than any of them may be able to handle.

And though it’s not a book, movie, or anything else similar, let me leave you with one last recommendation for those who loved Neverland: the collaborative board game Betrayal in the House on the Hill. You and your friends are charged to explore a creepy old house which you’ll build each turn; every single game the house will be set up differently, and in every single game, the ultimate ghost or other haunt that you’ll have to work together to face will be different.  But be careful!  One of your friends at the table may turn out to be the traitor.  For fans of both horror and plot twists, this game certainly can’t be beat.

Have you read Neverland or looked into any  of the other titles on this list?  Let me know which ones you think should be on this list!