The Hunger Games is a popular trilogy based on fantasy and adventure theme. If you are a fan of such book series then I am sure you would love to explore this section of books like The Hunger Games. This section addresses the books or book series which are based on the theme of fantasy, post apocalypse or something relevant.
Top 10 Books like The Hunger Games
Here is a list of top 10 alternative books of The Hunger Games which I am sure you would love to read in your leisure time. They are mentioned along with an Amazon link and its description so that you can know about the concept and theme before buying them.
1. The 5th Wave: The 5th Wave (Book 1) by Rick Yancey
The first book which comes under the list of books like The Hunger Games is The 5th Wave. This is the first book of a book series of the same name and its theme is science fiction targeting young adult audience and was published in 2013.
In fact, when this book came into the market, it was immediately compared to The Hunger Games as you can literally compare the plots of both.
The plot is set in Dayton, Ohio and follows the story of a 16 years old girl Cassie Sullivan. Cassie is trying to survive in a world which is damaged and troubled by the horrible waves of an alien invasion on Earth. In the meanwhile, she is also trying to find her 5 years old brother, Sam who has been taken to a “training” facility.
The book received the wonderful response and soon after it published, Sony Pictures released its film adaption in 2016. The book continues to narrate the story further through the next book of the series which is The Infinite Sea.
2. Divergent Series by Veronica Roth
Making a perfect option for The Hunger Games book alternative, Divergent series is the most popular book series of all time just like the former one, it is a trilogy too. This is also a young adult sci-fi book series caressing the element of adventure in it.
The plot of this book is set in post-apocalyptic world of Chicago and the three books under this series are Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant. There is also a related book named Four too.
This entire book series tells the story one after another book. It talks about a world where the entire citizens are divided into social and personality related bifurcations which makes five factions. The story then highlights the character of Beatrice Prior who later changes her name to Tris who is trying to figure out her life and its real motive.
Divergent comes in the category of those books like The Hunger Games which received critical acclaim and of course huge commercial success too. The book is not a fun one time read but demands the reader to get completely involved in it.
3. The Gender Game (Volume 1) by Bella Forrest
The Gender Game is a book series by Bella Forrest and here I am talking about the first one of this seven books series which possess the same name as the series. So, you can surely consider it to be one of those books like The Hunger Games and trust me you will surely draw some similarities between it too.
For the introduction, the book introduces two fictional world of Matrus and Patrus where women and man rules respectively.
These worlds are divided by a toxic river. The plot of this series then follows the story of a nineteen years old girl Violet Bates. She is a prison in Matrus world and now has sentenced to death. However, her beloved brother has been disappeared and the only way to find him and escape from her death is to enter Patrus.
Just like the classic Bella Forrest books, this one also does not leave the flow at all through the series. Released in 2016, the book is a favorite of millions of readers by now.
4. Matched: Matched Series (Book 1) by Ally Condie
Matched is amongst the next alternative books of The Hunger Games on Amazon which is the first book from Matched book series. The series is then followed by two relevant books Crossed and Reached.
The theme of this novel belongs to a dystopian world where you will find elements like romance, science fiction targeting the young adult audience.
Matched follows the story of a 17 years old girl Cassia Reyes who lives in a futuristic world. At this age, all the citizens go through the process of Matched and everything else is controlled by the government too. Things in this world are challenged by Cassia when she finds her match in her best friend Xander which rarely happens.
The story is then followed by Cassia discovering about this “perfect” world controlled by the government. There are a lot of elements in this world which makes it similar to the rest of the books like The Hunger Games. In fact, the dystopian world, challenges and forced and controlled lives are something which clearly reminds you of The Hunger Games series.
5. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Another science fiction novel in this list of books like The Hunger Games is Unwind. This is the first novel from Unwind Dystology and published in 2007. Being a young adult literature, Unwind also have elements like biopunk, adventure and of course dystopia in it.
The plot of this novel is based in a futuristic United States and the time is after a civil war. After the second civil war/ Heartland war, the plot talks about some serious issues of Abortion.
The story is about two teens and tithe who are about to be unwound (harvesting body parts for later use). Three of them wants to runaway and their paths collide with each other. Connor, Risa and Lev these three teens goes through so many unrealistic situations to save themselves from this unwinding process.
The book later on sold its right for film adaption which is yet to take place. However, the game of survival, adventure, and self-discovery is something which makes it quite similar to The Hunger Games trilogy.
6. Cinder: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
On the quest of finding alternative books of The Hunger Games, the next one is Cinder which is the first book of series The Lunar Chronicles. It was published in 2012 and also happens to be the debut novel of Marissa Meyer.
Cinder is a young adult science fiction book and followed by the Scarlet in this series. You can relate the story of this book mildly to classic fairy tale of Cinderella.
The story of this novel is set in the futuristic city of New Beijing. In this world, cities and countries have re-organized and moon has been colonized too. Now, a disease called Letumosis or Blue Fever started by Lunars is spreading and it is incurable.
The story then introduces the protagonist Linh Cinder who is a cyborg and her love affair to Prince Kai just like Cinderella. There are so many similarities between Cinder and Cinderella and the futuristic approach would be surely cherished by you. All these mix and match elements makes it a wonderful option in the category of books like The Hunger Games.
7. Among the Hidden: Shadow Children (Book 1) by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Among the Hidden is the oldest amongst all the books like The Hunger Games in this list. The book belongs to the series of seven books named Shadow Children and it is the first book of this series published in 1998. The novel is set in a futuristic world where drastic measures are taken to fight with overpopulation.
Among the Hidden shows a miserable situation of people dying because of deficiency of food because of overpopulation and it is all being monitored by government.
The book then focuses on the third child of a couple, Luke and because of the strict law of not having more than two children, living his life in hidden. It shows his struggle of hiding from the population police and the stress of living a life in disguise.
The book then shows Luke’s courage and bravery to fight with norms for his identity. The ending of this novel shows a lot of contradiction making this book a must to read.
8. The Maze Runner series by James Dashner
Another one as The Hunger Games book alternative is The Maze Runner book series which is one of the most popular book series of all time. This is a young adult science fiction dystopian novel comprising of three books in this series.
It shows a world after massive solar flares and coronal mass ejections and shows the bunch of people called The Gladers living in fore walls of a place The Glade. The world outside this wall is an ever-changing maze who has horrifying creatures The Grievers.
Every month a newcomer come with all past memories wiped out except his/her name. After the arrival of a newcomer Thomas, things starting to change his curious nature discovers something which was never discovered earlier.
Maze Runner is one of the most popular option in the list of books like The Hunger Games and surely the most interesting one too.
9. Uglies: Uglies Quartet (Book 1) by Scott Westerfeld
Uglies is a science fiction novel which was published in 2005. This is the first book from the series Uglies Quartet and displays the theme of future post-scarcity dystopian world. The book is quite different from the rest of the books like The Hunger Games and deals with an urge of change both physically and emotionally.
It is set in a dystopian world where everyone is considered Ugly and they have to go through a cosmetic surgery at the age of 16 to become a pretty.
The story of this book deals with a teenager Tally Youngblood who rebels against this procedure after her discussion with a friend Shay. She later discovers an entire community of Runaway Uglies who tells her about the reality behind these operations and how they change their minds too.
The novel shows the sarcastic side of society and how being pretty is not something which is important along with adventure and self-discovery.
10. Graceling: Graceling Real Series (Book 1) by Kristin Cashore
And the last option in the list of alternative books of The Hunger Games on Amazon is Graceling which is the debut novel of Kristin Cashore. This is a young adult fantasy novel and also the first book from the series of Graceling Real.
It was published in the year 2008 and also features of elements romance in it. The main character of this book is Katsa and the entire story revolves around her.
The book shows Katsa sneaking into a dungeon. She is graced with some super powers through which she knocks off the guards. Katsa serves King Randa and must kill people who he dislikes. Things change in her life when she joins hands with Prince Po and starting to openly defy King Randa.
She sets out on a journey of finding her true identity with this prince which is a huge adventure quest. The story is quite twisted and the book makes a perfect option for the list of books like The Hunger Games.
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Conclusion
There are way more books like The Hunger Games than the ones which are mentioned here. Although I tried to list out only such books which are popular and comes in the category of must read. If you want then you can check out more such books on Amazon easily.
Fantasy is a theme which never ceases to amaze the readers and surely attracts more and more and hence this is the most popular book theme of all time. I am sure you would love to read the books mentioned above in the same genre.
