Book description
School's out on the planet Tarshish...forever.
Humans have established a thriving colony on the planet Tarshish, until a native species of semi-insectoids awakens from a long incubation and attacks the colony. Only the children survive--and a computer.
The computer teaches the children how to form their own community. A community…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Innocent as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This book is short but to-the-point and extremely entertaining. One of its best qualities is how much sense it actually made, how the author thought through what would happen if a bunch of preteens were abandoned on a planet with only a computer to aide them. These are some shrewd kids, making sensible decisions—like lowering the marriage age to thirteen, which is honestly hilarious.
The author really handled his wonderful characters very well, capturing the reality of life and human beings without resorting to cliché cop-outs. I was pleasantly surprised by how good this book turned out to be.
From William's list on The best books where kids manage their own adult-free world.
If you love The Innocent...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
Want books like The Innocent?
Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 75 books like The Innocent.
Share your top 3 reads of 2026!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
181
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like The Innocent, you might also like...
Child of Vanris
At five years old, Kasiel was found with the pointed ends of his ears cut off. Despite that brutal start, he’s lived twelve peaceful years with the man who took him in. Keeping his hair long over his mutilated ears helps him hide the fact that he is Vanrian, a…
Almost Home
Almost Home is a fictional retelling of the last great tragedy of the Civil War.
In late April 1865, almost 2,000 newly freed Union prisoners of war are packed onto the steamer Sultana, in poor repair and with a listed capacity of 376 passengers. Among them are four Indiana soldiers…
