Are you looking for books like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins to feed your addiction to young adult dystopian books? this list of books to read if you liked the hunger games has you covered.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is an iconic young adult dystopia series and successful film franchise. It’s set in a future, dystopian nation called Panem, located in North America. The country is divided into 12 districts controlled by the rich Capitol.
You are reading: Books like the hunger games
Each year, one boy and one girl from each district are chosen to compete in the “hunger games”, a tournament to the death. At the beginning of the series, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are elected from District 12, the poorest district.
Katniss is used to fending for herself having taken care of her small family from a young age, but Peeta is the son of a baker. There is the added complication that Peeta once threw Katniss a piece of bread so she wouldn’t starve and now she is expected to kill him in the arena.
The couple is taken on a train to the capitol where they can experience luxury like they never could have imagined. they are then pushed into an area with 22 other tributes and are expected to fight until only one tribute is left standing. and all this, just for entertainment.
now let’s find out what books to read after the hunger games!
books similar to the hunger games
divergent by veronica roth
if you’re looking for a series of books like the hunger games, then veronica roth’s divergent series is usually the series people turn to first.
Divergent is set in a dystopian future and centers on beatrice (tris) prior. humanity was divided into five different “factions” that grouped similar people together to prevent the outbreak of war.
there is scholar, for the intelligent; friendship, for the peaceful; frankness, for the honest; self-sacrifice, for the selfless; and intrepid, for the brave.
Children grow up in whatever faction they are born into, before undergoing an aptitude test at the age of 16. this test reveals which faction they belong to and then, at the election ceremony the next day, they must decide which path to take. for the rest of their lives. stressful things!
tris is born selfless, but decides to leave her family and join without fear. however, she discovers a secret about herself during the test that changes her life forever. if she lets him get away, there could be dire consequences for her.
Just like the hunger games, this is the story of a band of rebels who fight against the system and discover the truth about the strange and segregated world in which they live.
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read more: divergent book review | review of the divergent movie
james dashner’s maze runner
the maze runner is an obvious mention in a list of books similar to the hunger games and divergent. is another already popular series that was further propelled to fame by a series of film adaptations by 20th century fox.
thomas arrived at the merry in a box. he has absolutely no recollection of where he came from or who she is. he finds himself surrounded by a small group of teenagers (there are no adults or girls in the clearing!) and he is very confused. the clearing is enclosed between huge concrete walls and there is only one way out.
The clearing is surrounded by a huge and dangerous labyrinth. Each day, the walls open up, allowing gladers to venture into the maze and try to find their way out. however, the labyrinth is full of mourners, violent and dangerous creatures.
The gladers have been trapped for 2 years and have never successfully gotten out of the maze, but they have lost many small children in their attempts.
The Maze Runner is similar to the Hunger Games in that a group of teenagers are trapped inside what looks like some sort of arena with little chance of survival. who is the game
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read more: review of the book the maze runner
victoria aveyard red queen
In red queen, your blood defines your status. the reds are lowly commoners, while the silvers are the elite ruling class, each in possession of superpowers. Mare Barrow is a poverty-stricken 17-year-old red girl on stilts and she has little hope of ever amounting to anything. she then finds herself working at the silver palace.
And it is here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, that she discovers that she herself can wield lethal power. even if she is red. this secret threatens to disrupt society and destroy the balance of power.
When they discover that she is different and powerful, they decide to make her an icon, a puppet they can control, like katniss everdeen after the first hunger games.
the silvers think the ball is in their court, but they don’t know that mare is secretly working with a resistance group to bring them down from the inside.
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read more: red queen book review
#murdertrending by gretchen mcneil
#murdertrending is less well known than some of the other young adult books like The Hunger Games on this list. however, it also has one of the juiciest premises.
In this world, murderers are killed after being imprisoned. and it’s filmed for the whole world to see. Seeing killers get what they deserve is the latest viral phenomenon and everyone is tweeting about it.
Warrior Dee wakes up in Alcatraz 2.0 after being convicted of murdering her stepsister. The thing is, she didn’t actually do it. Determined not to die for a crime she didn’t commit, she forms the death row “breakfast club” in an attempt to survive. but the tv ratings are going up and up, will they be allowed to survive?
If you’re looking for a taut novel with a morbid, riveting premise and a dash of romance, this is the one for you.
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legend of marie lu
The
legend of Marie Lu often appears in book lists like Divergent and The Hunger Games, and it’s easy to see why.
The story takes place in a dystopian America ruled by military fighting to contain the rebels.
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society is divided into rich and poor and your place in it is determined by a test you take on a child. if he is successful, he can continue his education and the best of the best will end up in the army.
children who do not pass the test are handed over to the state and end up in labor camps. poor parts of society face plagues for which they cannot afford cures. meanwhile, the rich get vaccinated every year.
This is an action-packed story starring two intelligent and fiercely loyal protagonists. there were several moments in which I covered my mouth with my hand and others in which my heart ached with these characters.
At first, these two characters hate each other, but as the secrets of their partnership are revealed, they begin to work together instead of fighting. of course, an enemies-to-lovers romance unfolds, although this is definitely a case of instalove and I don’t think it adds much to the background action.
worldbuilding isn’t as strong in this one as it is in other dystopian series, but it looks like book two may focus a little more on this, so it’s worth picking up the series.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that this dystopian novel is written by a diverse author and contains racially diverse characters. always a win!
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related: 17 best dystopian novels
rick yancey’s fifth wave
the 5th wave is a dystopian science fiction crossover and a great series of young adult books like the hunger games. little remains of the human race after four ‘waves’ of an alien invasion.
During the first wave, all electricity was cut off, during the second, a tsunami drowned most of the population. during the third, a deadly disease wiped out most of those who remained, and during the fourth, the survivors turned on each other.
no one has any idea how many people are left on earth and no one knows who to trust. aliens and humans look the same.
cassie is separated from her younger brother, sam, when soldiers arrive at the refugee camp where they are hiding with their father. the soldiers take all the children under the age of 15 and kill them all. Cassie manages to survive, but her father is missing.
alone and desperate, she hits the road and tries to find out where her brother was taken. On her travels, she meets Evan. but can she trust him?
cassie’s fierce protectiveness of her brother reminded me of katniss’s protectiveness of her sister prim and they are both stormy teen heroines.
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read more: the fifth wave book review
matched by ally condie
combined by ally condie is a really quick read with lots of classic dystopian themes making it perfect for fans of the hunger games. focuses on the typical trope of a teenager living in a regimented society and then realizing there might be another way to live.
In this world, teenagers are “matched” by society, their careers are chosen by society, their meals are prepared by society. everything is ordered and there is very little free will. supposedly it is for the good of the people and for things to run smoothly. if there are less options, there is less conflict, right?
On the day of Cassia’s matchup, two strange things happen. The first is that she was paired with her best friend, Xander, whom she has known since she was born. it’s incredibly rare for the couple to be from the same district let alone know each other. however, she is happy about this and all the other teens are jealous of her.
Shortly after the official match, Cassia opens her matching microcard, which should contain everything she needs to know about Xander. however, a failure means that another face is shown to her, the face of k and another of her neighbors.
Ever since she saw ky’s picture in the matchbox, she can’t stop thinking about him. What if society was wrong and xander wasn’t her partner after all? this little mistake leads cassia to start doubting everything about the regimented world she has grown up in and she starts her own little rebellion.
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s.t.a.g.s. by m a bennett
If you’re wondering what to read after the hunger games but tired of dystopia, m a bennett’s s.t.a.g.s is a good shout. s.t.a.g.s is set in the real world as we know it and focuses on the next generation of English aristocrats.
s.t.a.g.s is an elite boarding school where the wealthiest and most traditional families send their children. However, the story is told from the perspective of Greer Macdonald, the scholarship student with a perfectly ordinary background.
Greer has never fit in and his snobby classmates never speak to him. That is until he receives an invitation to spend half term at Longcross Hall, the country home of Henry de Warlencourt, the most popular boy in school.
The invitation says they’re in for a weekend of hunting, shooting, and fishing, but Greer and the other misfits have no idea they’re the intended prey. Trapped on a remote estate with no adults around (other than servants), S.T.A.G.S has a surprising Hunger Games feel for a story set in the real world.
If you love stories about survival and rebellion or stories about the despicable elite, this is for you.
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the 100 of kass morgan
If you’re looking for books like The Hunger Games, Kass Morgan’s 100 and the accompanying TV show are great choices.
the 100 is set in a dystopian future where the earth is completely habitable. A nuclear war left the entire planet riddled with radiation and the rest of the human race now lives in a spaceship floating just above the earth. however, resources are rapidly depleting on the ship and the governors must find a way to return to land as soon as possible.
No one knows what state the earth is in or if it is still dangerously radioactive. The chancellor can’t risk the rest of the human race by bringing down the entire store, so he sends in 100 teenage delinquents instead.
Each teen is fitted with a monitoring bracelet that will send their vital health signs to the ship. if they survive, the ship will return to earth. if they die, the chancellor knows they will have to stay in the spaceship for a while longer.
During its crash landing on earth, all communication with the ship is lost. The teens must fend for themselves in a land they’ve never seen before, and they have no idea of the threats that await them after all these years. did anything survive the war? is anyone left?
the 100 is a short read but packs a punch and the ending will have you reaching for the second book right away.
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See Also: 10 Best Books for ADHD in 2022
read more: the review of the 100 books
scott westerfeld ugly
ugies by scott westerfeld is one of the best dystopian books for young adults and it came years before the hunger games or divergent.
sadly, since the release of these other more popular series, this one is less and less talked about, but I thought it still deserved a mention in my list of hunger games related books, since it came first!
also, joey, king of the kissing booth, will soon be producing and starring in a film adaptation.
the protagonist tally lives in a world where there are ugly and beautiful. everyone is born ugly, but at the age of sixteen, all teenagers undergo surgery to make them cute. and tally can’t wait. She’s spent her entire life hoping to be pretty and she’s even spied on Prettyville to see what amazing parties await her.
but after her best (and only) friend, peris, leaves for prettyville, she strikes up a friendship with shay. A rebellious teenager, Shay opens Tally’s eyes to a world beyond beauty.
There are rumors of a resistance tribe escaping before the operation at 16, still ugly and living freely in their own ugly community. and Shay is determined to find them.
tally isn’t too interested, but her connection to shay means she’s drawn the attention of the authorities. and they refuse to embellish her until she finds and reveals the location of the rebels.
While this story is a bit slow, once the series starts it becomes a classic series about a resistance group fighting against an authoritarian state.
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under the never sky by veronica rossi
under the never sky is a book like the 100 (already mentioned). maybe a little closer to science fiction than dystopia, but it has a lot of similar themes to the other books on this list.
Climate change has devastated the earth and now humans live inside bubbles as protected or outside as wild. Aria has always lived in one of these sheltered domes, while Perry grew up outside.
The two become unlikely allies when Aria finds herself pushed out of her dome in search of her mother. there is a strong character build in this book with two complex protagonists each dealing with their own set of problems.
There is, of course, an element of romance, but while the love story here is strong and you’ll be rooting for Aria and Perry, it’s definitely more about the action.
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we set fire to the dark by tehlor kay mejia
if you’re looking for a feminist dystopia that is less aligned with the hunger games story that has been dealt with many times before, then we set fire to the dark is for you.
The underlying themes here of class, privilege, and political revolution are still present in this book, but this diverse book for young adults is a breath of fresh air.
Daniela is a student at the girls’ middle school where young women are trained for one of two roles in society: homemaker or childbearer. Daniela is at the top of her class, but she harbors a secret that could bring the life her parents have carefully created for her to collapse. her pedigree is a lie to us. Her parents falsified her identity documents so that she could have a better life.
Prom night, Daniela finds herself with a choice she didn’t expect: continue on her path, marry a good partner and have a privileged life, or spy for a resistance group fighting for equality in the middle. She’s a reluctant heroine, but if you liked Katniss, you’ll love Daniela.
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chill by neal shusterman
if you liked the hunger games, you’ll also love neal shusterman’s unwind.
unwind is an incredibly thought-provoking and frankly quite unsettling young adult book. after the second civil war, new laws are enacted that protect human life from conception to 13 years. that means abortions are prohibited, however parents can choose to have their children “unraveled” between the ages of 13 and 18.
This means that every part of your being will be cut off and given to someone else in need. no part can be wasted, so every hand, every eye, every organ is donated. the idea is that no one really dies since their parts live on in others. pretty gloomy
We follow the stories of Connor, Risa and Lev, three “unwinding” on the loose. each of them was destined for the harvest camp, but fate brings the three together and they seize the opportunity to escape a horrible fate. you won’t recognize them by the end of book 1.
unwind raises very interesting questions about abortion rights and also the increasing commodification of, well, everything in the 21st century. could we use humans in this way for the “greater good”?
Abortion was legalized in the UK in 1968, yet around the world the pro-choice/pro-life debate continues. It became a topic of conversation once again recently when Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in the United States Supreme Court.
It’s amazing that fundamental rights like this are still up for debate, but that just emphasizes how close our reality may be to dystopia. some parts of unwind made me very uncomfortable, but i would recommend it to fans of the handmaid’s tale and they would never let me go.
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and what not to read?
the selection of kiera class
if you’re looking for books like the hunger games, you might see kiera’s class selection appear. It is often described as a cross between The Hunger Games and Gossip Girl. sounds amazing, right?
error!
This series is much more youthful than any of the other options listed here, it lacks depth and the plot moves incredibly slowly. there’s none of the drama, excitement, or excitement of the hunger games, nor any of the great characters. I’m afraid I wasn’t really sold on this series and I’m always surprised to see it recommended to Hunger Games fans.
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so there you have it! a list of 13 books for fans of the hunger games. If you have any recommendations for books like the hunger games for adults please leave me a comment below, I’d love to hear your suggestions!
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