This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

Since I don't have any real-life friends, I was chatting with an AI* about my favorite books. The robot pointed out that I really like adventure stories. I said, "You know, that's an astute observation. I should write a blog post about my favorite adventure stories."

So, here we are. Ten books about characters who go on adventures, either willingly or unwillingly.

*I'm both intrigued and terrified by AI. I'm the stupid white girl in every horror movie who can't stay out of the cursed house. I'm the problem. It's me.

Best Adventure Fiction Books

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Middle Grade Contemporary Fiction

Brian is on his way to Canada to visit his estranged father when the pilot of his small prop plane suffers a heart attack. Brian is forced to crash-land the plane in a lake—and finds himself stranded in the remote Canadian wilderness with only his clothing and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present before his departure.

Brian had been distraught over his parents' impending divorce and the secret he carries about his mother, but now he is truly desolate and alone. Exhausted, terrified, and hungry, Brian struggles to find food and make a shelter for himself. He has no special knowledge of the woods, and he must find a new kind of awareness and patience as he meets each day's challenges. Is the water safe to drink? Are the berries he finds poisonous?

Slowly, Brian learns to turn adversity to his advantage—an invading porcupine unexpectedly shows him how to make fire, a devastating tornado shows him how to retrieve supplies from the submerged airplane. Most of all, Brian leaves behind the self-pity he has felt about his predicament as he summons the courage to stay alive.

Why I recommend it: I read this book as a child and convinced myself that I could definitely survive alone in the Canadian wilderness. Fortunately, I never got the opportunity to test my skills. Hatchet has everything you'd want from an adventure story: action, plot twists, terrifying animal encounters, terrifying tummy troubles, and a main character who refuses to give up. It's a book that made a big impact on my life.

Buy it on Amazon

Support Independent Bookstores

A Darker Shade Of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Adult Fantasy

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons: Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Why I recommend it: It's about a thief who's bored with her life and wants a "proper adventure." She ends up in a parallel universe. I don't think you can have a better adventure than that.

I've read this book multiple times because I can't stop fangirling over the wonderful adventures and Kell’s fabulous coat. Seriously, I want that coat.

The parallel Londons are vivid, and each London has its own unique culture, language, history, and architecture. It’s fascinating to read about. I think White London is my favorite because it’s creepy.

Buy it on Amazon

Support Independent Bookstores

Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Adult Literary Fiction

Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But with a late-night knock on the door, the spell is broken. Ruth and G. H., an older couple who claim to own the home, have arrived there in a panic. These strangers say that a sudden power outage has swept the city, and—with nowhere else to turn—they have come to the country in search of shelter.

But with the TV and internet down, and no phone service, the facts are unknowable. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What has happened back in New York? Is the holiday home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?

Why I recommend it: The characters go on vacation and don't get the rest and relaxation they expected. They get the opposite of rest and relaxation. In fact, they start to suspect an apocalypse may have occurred. Since they're isolated in the wilderness, they have no way of knowing if they're being paranoid or if something bad actually did happen to the world. I think this is one of the most realistic apocalypse stories I've read. If all of humanity's communication systems go down, we won't know why strange things are happening. We'll just have guesses and paranoia.

Buy it on Amazon

Support Independent Bookstores

Refugee by Alan Gratz

Middle Grade Historical Fiction

Josef is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world. Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America. Mahmoud is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe. All three kids go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers.

Why I recommend it: I would have adored this book as a kid. It's a gripping story with nonstop action and danger. It does a great job of showing the lives of refugees throughout history. People will go to great lengths to save themselves and their families. I couldn't put it down.

Buy it on Amazon

Support Independent Bookstores

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Young Adult Fantasy

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon.

Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.

Why I recommend it: This might be a controversial opinion, but when someone says, "Adventure book," The Hobbit is the first one that pops into my head. I read this book over, and over, and over as a kid. I adore Bilbo and his comfy lifestyle. I like how he attempts to have a grand adventure, even though he's not really the adventurous type. As an anxious, introverted child, I could relate.

Buy it on Amazon

Support Independent Bookstores

LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL

Adult Literary Fiction

When sixteen-year-old Pi Patel finds himself stranded in a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with only a menacing 450-pound Bengal tiger for company, he quickly realizes that the only way to survive is to make sure the tiger is more afraid of him than he is of it. Finding strength within himself, he draws upon all of his knowledge and cunning, battling for food and shelter, overcoming storms and disasters, and, in the end, making a peace of sorts with both tiger and ocean.

Why I recommend it: That ending. You need to read this book just for the ending. Best plot twist ever. It will leave you completely shocked. Also, tigers!

Buy it on Amazon

Support Independent Bookstores

PROJECT HAIL MARY BY ANDY WEIR

Adult Science Fiction

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

Why I recommend it: Read this book if you like plot twists because there are a lot of them. It's actually an impossible book to review because there are so many twists. Everything I want to say is a spoiler! The characters handle each twist with humor and optimism. It's kind of inspirational. These people are very, very determined to live. Every time they start to feel hopeless, they refocus and try a different way of solving their problems. Nothing is easy in space!

Buy it on Amazon

Support Independent Bookstores

Paper Towns by John Green

Young Adult Contemporary Fiction

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew.

Why I recommend it: Like many young bookworms, I went through a John Green phase in my late teens and early 20s. I was obsessed with everything he created, including this book. I loved the humor, the quirkiness, the mystery, and the fast-paced road trip. It also raises some thought-provoking questions. How well can you ever know a person? Are you imagining other people complexly, or are you trying to force them into a box that you created?

Buy it on Amazon

Support Independent Bookstores

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Middle Grade Contemporary Fiction

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and the "Indian-ness in her blood," travels from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a "potential lunatic," and whose mother disappeared.

As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold—the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.

Why I recommend it: We need to include one traditional road trip book on the list, and I chose this one because it's a childhood favorite. Sal and her grandparents are driving across the US to find Sal's mother, who left the family for reasons Sal doesn't completely understand. To pass the time, Sal tells stories about her eccentric friend, Phoebe Winterbottom. The intertwining stories are funny, sweet, complex, and completely captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed this book when I read it in middle school and when I reread it in graduate school.

Buy it on Amazon

Support Independent Bookstores

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia Of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Adult Fantasy

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party—or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones—the most elusive of all faeries—lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all—her own heart.

Why I recommend it: It's a cozy fantasy where faeries casually decapitate one another.

I've been craving a medium-stakes fantasy book with fun characters and a world that doesn't require my whole brain to understand. This is the exact novel I wanted! I loved it!

The book has cozy vibes like a small town rom-com, but there's still danger because the faeries are unpredictably violent. They torture humans for fun. It's not always a light, whimsical story. However, it's not a stressful story either. That's probably because it's written like a diary. You know that Emily and Wendell are alive and safe because they're writing diary entries about the scary stuff they experienced. Dead people can't write. (I don't think . . .)

Speaking of Emily and Wendell, their banter is hilarious. They have big personalities and use their research to help humanity, even though they dislike people. I enjoyed reading about them.

You should believe the hype about this novel. It's a fun time.

Buy it on Amazon

Support Independent Bookstores

What's your favorite adventure book?