What to Read after The Hunger Games

Posted on 24 November 2015

With the last Hunger Games film in the series hitting theatres last week, we think it’s high time to say a teary farewell to the beloved trilogy, and start the search for a new literary obsession. Here are some great picks from Teen Book Club editor, Cesca, to help you fill that Mockingjay-shaped void.

Dystopia and Fantasy

Snow Like Ashes

In a nutshell: The first book in a new dystopian trilogy based around four seasonal kingdoms, each locked in perpetual winter, summer, autumn and spring.

Snow Like Ashes introduces us to the Winter Kingdom, whose people have been enslaved for sixteen years. Their only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since. Enter Meira: a refugee orphaned by the war, a warrior-in-training, and a strong female lead to rival Katniss. Add in epic quests, incredible world-building and a love triangle and we’re sold on this new series!

The Lunar Chronicles

In a nutshell: A fairy-tale with a modern twist.

This bestselling series from Marissa Meyer is taking the US by storm. The fourth instalment, Winter , has just hit the shelves with an explosive sci-fi retelling of Snow White. The series also includes a cyborg Cinderella, a hacker Rapunzel and street-fighting Red Riding Hood.

Gone

In a nutshell:The Hunger Games meets Stephen King. Edge-of-your-seat horror fantasy set in a world where all the adults are gone.

In the blink of an eye, everyone over fourteen has disappeared. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet and no television. Now the kids of Perdido Beach must survive on their own. Hunger threatens, bullies rule. Some of the teens are starting to develop unimaginably dangerous powers, animals are mutating and there’s a shield over the town. And time is running out: on your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else…

Contains mature content.

The Letter For The King

In a nutshell: High fantasy with a ‘trust no one’ mentality. (Fans of The Lord of the Rings will love this too.)

When sixteen-year-old Tiuri answers a desperate call for help, he finds himself on a perilous mission that could cost him his life. He must deliver a secret letter to the King who lives across the Great Mountains a letter upon which the future of the entire realm depends. It means abandoning his home, breaking all the rules and leaving everything behind even the knighthood that he has dreamed of for so long.

The Selection

In a nutshell: If your favourite parts of The Hunger Games are Caesar’s interviews with the contestants, then this super-addictive series is perfect for you.

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the TV contest of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Contains mature content.

Film Adaptations

The 5th Wave

In a nutshell: A brilliant apocalyptic fantasy where the earth is the arena and the alien-invaders the enemy. The film is coming in January, so it’s the right time to get stuck into this book.

After the first wave, only darkness remains. After the second, third and fourth, only the unlucky survive. Now it’s the dawn of the fifth wave. A terrible game of kill or be killed, set up by Them: the alien beings who only look human. To stay alone is to stay alive – until Cassie meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and remote, Evan may be her only hope. Now she must choose whether to live or die, to give up or to get up.

The Maze Runner

In a nutshell: Survival. Conspiracy. Dystopia. A kill-or-be-killed game. Nail-bitingly intense. It might be the perfect Hunger Games successor.

When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he’s not alone. He’s surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade – a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they came to be there – or what’s happened to the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything – even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horror that patrol its corridors, to try and find out.

Contains mature content.

Historical Fiction

Elizabeth Wein Trio

In a nutshell: Historical tales of adventure, war and love that pack an emotional punch. Elizabeth Wein’s utterly brilliant female heroes are an amazing tribute to the human spirit.

This trio contains three thrilling stories of courage under fire in war time. Elizabeth Wein is one of the most important names in historical fiction for young adults. Each book is a brilliant exploration of the great significance and harrowing consequences of war.

Contains mature content.

Coram Boy

In a nutshell:The Hunger Games set in the past, rather than a dystopian landscape. Another historical book that EVERY teen should read.

A vivid, compelling and harrowing tale from Whitbread award winning Jamila Gavin. The Coram man takes babies and money from desperate mothers, promising to deliver them safely to a Foundling Hospital in London. Instead, he murders them and buries them by the roadside, to the helpless horror of his mentally ill son, Mish. Mish saves one, Aaron, who grows up happily unaware of his history, proving himself a promising musician. As Aaron’s new life takes him closer to his real family, the watchful Mish makes a terrible mistake, delivering Aaron and his best friend Toby back into the hands of the Coram man.

Contains mature content.

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