If you connected with Tom Imura’s insistence on dignity for the dead and the way Benny learns that Charlie Pink-Eye is more monstrous than the zombies, you’ll love how The Girl With All the Gifts flips the script. Following Melanie, a uniquely gifted infected child, a small group must trek across a collapsing Britain—sparking the same ethical tension you felt when Tom refused senseless killing. The road-journey stakes, the human villains, and the aching question of what we owe to the “other” echo the rescue run for Nix and the Imura brothers’ code.

Benny goes from idolizing violent bounty hunters to embracing Tom’s restraint and empathy; Todd Hewitt’s path mirrors that shift. In The Knife of Never Letting Go, Todd flees his town when he discovers a devastating secret—much like Benny learning the truth behind the trading-card myths of Charlie and the Motor City Hammer. With Viola at his side (and the unforgettable dog Manchee), Todd is forced into choices about violence and compassion that will resonate if Tom’s katana-with-a-conscience and the rescue of Nix hit home for you.

If Benny’s growth—from resentful kid to someone who can stand beside Tom, protect Nix, and see the nuance in the Rot & Ruin—was your hook, The 5th Wave delivers a similar evolution. Cassie Sullivan’s journey from ordinary student to hardened survivor while clinging to her humanity mirrors Benny learning the difference between mercy and cruelty that Charlie Pink-Eye never grasped. You’ll find the same blend of tense action, shifting trust, and hard-won resolve that made Benny’s transformation and Lilah’s feral competence so compelling.

Tom teaches Benny that the dead deserve respect, and Benny’s worldview cracks when he sees the humanity in the so-called monsters—right alongside his bond with Lilah and protection of Nix. Warm Bodies leans into that same tension through R, a zombie, and Julie, a human, whose fragile trust challenges what survival should look like. If the Imura code and the way Benny rejects Charlie Pink-Eye’s cruelty struck you, this tender, witty, and dangerous connection will, too.

Craving more of the grit and constant peril of crossing the Rot & Ruin—knife work, close-quarters fights, and hard choices like those Benny, Tom, and Lilah face? Enclave drops you into tunnel warrens and a ruined topside where Deuce and Fade track, scavenge, and battle “Freaks.” The pace and survival stakes echo the rescue sprint for Nix and the no-nonsense fieldcraft Tom drills into Benny, with that same pulse of danger around every corner.