Five notable gateway books

Keith Yatsuhashi's debut novel is Kojiki. One of five gateway books that opened the door for him to specific genres, as shared at Tor.com:

Gateway to Post-apocalyptic: The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

I know The Hunger Games could fit nicely in the post-apocalyptic sub-genre, but that series started me reading YA, so I needed something else. The title that hit the spot for me here was M.R. Carey’s grim The Girl with All the Gifts. This book is horrific and exhilarating, and for some unknown reason, reminds me of Ridley Scott’s Alien. Maybe because it’s elegant, or maybe it’s because Carey took a tried-and-true formula—zombies, end of the world, survival, etc.—and turned the whole clichéd premise on its head and made it something completely new. I blew through this book in a day or two because I was riveted. The Girl with All the Gifts isn’t as well known as the others on this list, but it should be.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Girl with All the Gifts is among C. A. Higgins's top five books with plot twists that flip your perception.

--Marshal Zeringue