7 Books to Read If You’re Still Recovering from Avengers: Infinity War

The Rebirth of Thanos and The Infinity Gauntlet, by Jim Starlin
If your particular brand of mourning is to wallow in your emotions, then go ahead and dive into the comic book story arc that inspired the MCU in the first place. In The Rebirth of Thanos, we see the origins of his desire to wipe out half the universe—here, it’s a mission given to him by Death after she resurrects him. He hangs out with the Silver Surfer, who doesn’t agree with Thanos at all, but the Big Purple bamboozles him and sets on his long, destructive journey.
In The Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos has the Infinity Gems (and if you want to see how he gets those, read two-issue story Thanos Quest), and he wants to impress Death with his newly acquired godlike powers. That’s when he does the infamous, universe-halving snap, allowing our heroes to swoop in and save the day. Will the MCU re-create the ending of the comic? We’ll see!

The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende
One of my favorite books from childhood, this one holds up well for all ages. It’s the tale of a young boy, Atreyu, on a seemingly impossible journey to save Fantastica ruler the Childlike Empress, and the boy who, reading Atreyu’s story in our own world, learns he may be part of the tale himself. For those of you who love to read about beating the odds—and who need something uplifting in the wake of Thanos’s satisfied smirk—this is for you.

Because You Love to Hate Me, edited by Ameriie
This anthology series brings thirteen YA authors and book bloggers together to explore what, exactly, villainy means and why people often sympathize with the bad guy in a story. While each author crafts a short story around a villainous premise (provided by the bloggers), the bloggers in turn offer up essays around the concept of villainy. If you left the theater thinking, “Hmm. Maybe Thanos had a point,” this is your next read. Much like beauty, villainy is sometimes in the eye of the beholder.

Runaways, by Christopher Golden
What do you do when your parents are supervillains? If you’re the protagonists of Golden’s Runaways—based on Marvel characters created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona and recently revived by YA goddess Rainbow Rowell—the answer is clear. You have to kill them (or at least attempt to). But unfortunately for our heroes, that doesn’t put their lives back together. Now, not only are they on the run, but they have to survive being teenagers with superpowers in a world where teams of supervillains keep popping up! Will they ever get to just be normal? Teamwork, powered people, puberty, and trying to do what’s right are all part of the Runaways’ addictive brew.

This Is Not the End, by Chandler Baker
Those of us who are still in denial about our favorite characters being wiped from existence will surely connect with Baker’s novel. Lake Devereaux has recently suffered two great losses, so she should feel lucky that she lives in a world where resurrection is possible. But there’s a (massive) catch: every citizen is allowed to use resurrection technology once, on their 18th birthday. And as Lake’s birthday draws closer, not only does she have to deal with pressure from people who forfeited their chance, she must also wrestle with the fact that she made a promise, years ago, to resurrect someone who isn’t even dead yet. Could you make the right decision if you were in her shoes? (Or if you had the ability to bring back ONE person, out of the billions on Earth, who were ctrl-alt-deleted by Thanos?)

I Remember You, by Kathleen Davitt Bell
Among the many themes of Avengers: Infinity War are love and sacrifice, as explored through Scarlet Witch and Vision’s heartbreaking relationship. If theirs were your favorite scenes, you need to pick up I Remember You. Lucas and Juliette aren’t a couple yet, but Lucas knows they will be. Actually, Lucas seems to know everything about their relationship, through increasingly urgent memories that prove (in his mind) that he’s already lived them. But how can he remember what Juliette swears hasn’t happened yet? What’s more—how can she keep Lucas safe from an ominous future she can’t see? They may not be powered the way Scarlet Witch and Vision are, but their love story is just as emotional and desperate as that of our costumed heroes.