Carrie Ryan Books in Order

Where to Start with Carrie Ryan’s Books

For most readers, the best place to begin is with The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan’s breakout young adult dystopian debut. If you prefer a lighter, high-concept fantasy adventure, the middle-grade series The Map to Everywhere, which she co-authored with her husband John Parke Davis, is an excellent entry point. Thriller fans looking for a standalone experience should pick up Daughter of Deep Silence, a gripping story of survival and identity-swapping revenge.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth Series

This post-apocalyptic young adult series is set generations after "The Return"—the collapse of human civilization due to a zombie plague. The main narrative follows resilient young women navigating isolated survivor communities surrounded by fences and the infested wilderness beyond.

The Main Trilogy (Publication Order)

While each book features a different protagonist and can technically function as a standalone, they follow a linear timeline and build on the world's overarching mythology. You should read the core novels in the order they were published:

• The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009) – Follows Mary, a girl living in a heavily controlled, fenced-in village run by the Sisterhood, who dreams of the ocean beyond the gates.
• The Dead-Tossed Waves (2010) – Set years later, focusing on Gabry, a teenager living in a coastal town protected by barrier walls, who must venture into the wild.
• The Dark and Hollow Places (2011) – Follows Annah, who is trapped in a ruined city overrun by the dead and struggles to reunite with her sister.

Short Stories and Companion Novellas (Chronological Order)

Ryan expanded the universe with several short stories and novellas. While they are often published in various anthologies or collected in the compilation The Killing Garden: and other stories (2017), their timeline placement spans the history of the apocalypse. Here is the chronological sequence of these companion works:

1. What Once We Feared (2013) – A prequel novella set during the chaotic initial hours of the zombie outbreak.
2. A Game of Firsts (2014) – Takes place shortly after the outbreak, focusing on survival in the immediate aftermath.
3. Flotsam & Jetsam (2013) – Set in the years following the collapse of civilization as survivors adapt to the new reality.
4. Scenic Route (2013) – Follows characters traversing the ruins shortly after "The Return."
5. Bougainvillea (2010 / 2015) – Set roughly 10 years after the initial outbreak, focusing on a girl living in a fortified compound in the Caribbean.
6. Hare Moon (2010 / 2011) – Set many years before the first book, featuring a young Sister Tabitha before she became the leader of the Sisterhood.

The Map to Everywhere Series

Co-authored with John Parke Davis, this middle-grade fantasy quartet tells the story of Fin, a boy from the Pirate Stream who is instantly forgotten by everyone he meets, and Marrill, a girl from our world who finds herself swept into a magical adventure. Read these books in sequential order:

1. The Map to Everywhere (2014)
2. City of Thirst (2015)
3. Shadows of the Lost Sun (2017)
4. Iron Tide Rising (2018)

Collaborative Projects and Series Continuations

Ryan has lent her voice to several major collaborative projects, often writing individual volumes within larger universes or completing works left unfinished by other authors.

The Stillhouse Lake Connection

Following the passing of author Rachel Caine in 2020, Carrie Ryan was chosen to complete Caine's popular thriller series about Gwen Proctor, a mother trying to protect her children from the shadow of her serial killer ex-husband. Ryan co-authored and completed Trapper Road (Book 6, 2022) using Caine's detailed notes and outlines. To read the series in order, follow Caine's primary novels before reading the finale completed by Ryan:

• Stillhouse Lake (2017)
• Killman Creek (2017)
• Wolfhunter River (2019)
• Bitter Falls (2020)
• Heartbreak Bay (2021)
• Trapper Road (2022) – Completed by Carrie Ryan

Dead Air

This serial mystery project, originally released by Serial Box (now Realm) in 2018, was co-written by Gwenda Bond, Rachel Caine, and Carrie Ryan. It follows a college radio host investigating a decades-old murder. You can read the episodes individually, beginning with The Night of the Screaming Horses, or in the unified volume Dead Air: The Complete Season 1 (2018).

Infinity Ring

The Infinity Ring series is a multi-author middle-grade sci-fi time-travel series published by Scholastic. Carrie Ryan wrote Divide and Conquer (2012), which is the second book in the series. While she did not write the other volumes, the series is a continuous narrative that must be read in order starting with Book 1 (A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner).

Standalone Novels

If you want a complete story in a single volume, Ryan has written two distinct standalones:

• Daughter of Deep Silence (2015) – A modern YA revenge thriller in the vein of The Count of Monte Cristo. The story follows Frances Mace, who survives a massacre aboard a luxury yacht, assumes her dead friend's identity, and seeks to destroy the powerful family responsible.
• Into the Winds (2020) – A puzzle-box narrative centered on the mysterious disappearance of a wilderness expedition in Wyoming in 1995.