With the final episode of the series, Mockingjay, Part 2, now in theaters, Hunger Games fans will soon be feeling the same pinch Potterheads experienced way back in 2011. No new movies? No new books? Just what is a good fangirl supposed to do with her time?
Obviously, you can always re-read Suzanne Collins' trilogy. If you're more socially inclined, you could also throw a Hunger Games movie marathon party — once the latest Mockingjay installment hits Redbox and Apple TV, of course — and invite all your friends. These are both viable options, 100 percent.
But there are plenty of books out there that have the same qualities you loved in the Hunger Games series, and it would be a shame to overlook them every time you need a fix. Whether you're drawn to the dystopian elements of Panem, or you just like the way Katniss kicks ass, the 25 books on this list will tide over you grown-up Hunger Games fans until Collins' next book comes out.
1. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
A government program designed to squash attempts at rebellion pits a group of 9th grade classmates against each other in a televised battle to the death. Some HG haters have said that Collins' took her idea from this popular book, but let's be real: you'll love both, and they're both unique in their own ways.
2. The Running Man by Stephen King
Desperate for money, a family man signs up for the country's most popular game show. He'll be hunted by hitmen, but receives $100 for every hour he can stay alive. If he lives for 30 days, he'll win the $1 billion bounty. If he lives, that is.
3. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
A boy wakes up in an elevator. The only thing he can remember is his name. He's now a Glader: one of a group of boys who live at the heart of a dangerous maze, which they have yet to escape.
4. Shade's Children by Garth Nix
It's been 15 years since the Overlords took over the world. Now, every 14th birthday celebration includes having your organs harvested or being carted off for breeding. But some of the children have escaped the Overlords, and they're going to fight back.
5. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
In a country where couples may only have two children, Luke is his family's hidden third child. Only his parents and siblings know about him. He does not have birthday parties or attend school. But one day, from his attic window, he spots an unfamiliar face in the home of a neighboring family — one that already has two children.
6. The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
Ten women wake from a drugged sleep in an unfamiliar place. Kept as prisoners and forced into hard labor, they must figure out what they have in common and how to escape before the food runs out.
7. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Ember is the only home Lina and Doon know. But the lights that shine throughout the day have begun to fail, and it's up to these two preteens to figure out what Ember's biggest secret is before the city is plunged into eternal darkness.
8. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Offred used to have a family. Now, with her marriage deemed illegitimate and her daughter adopted out, she is a Handmaid, responsible for bearing the children of powerful Commanders, so that their Wives will have babies to raise. But what happens if she can't get pregnant?
9. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
In a world where abortion is illegal, unruly and unwanted teenagers may be "unwound" by their parents: their organs will be harvested and given to donors, so technically, at least as far as the state is concerned, they're still alive.
10. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Katsa is Graced with tremendous physical strength. She lives in service to her uncle, a king, who uses her ability to coerce and kill those who challenge his rule. With help from her allies, Katsa forms a secret council to combat corruption among the nobility.
11. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
In this spin on the classic story, Cinderella becomes Linh Cinder: a cyborg in New Beijing whose wicked stepmother volunteers her as a plague research subject. And don't panic: when you finish this one, you have the entire rest of The Lunar Chronicles to read, including Winter, which was just released this fall.
12. The Selection by Kiera Cass
America Singer is one of 36 girls selected to compete in a competition for the prince's heart. She leaves behind a romance with a boy in a lower caste for the chance at the social jackpot: marriage to a man in the highest caste.
13. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
In a world where children are bred, born, and raised without family connections, a woman ostracizes herself for the offense of becoming pregnant. When tourists from "civilized" London discover her and her son, John, living among "savages," they bring them back to the U.K. as celebrities. But what will John think of the world his mother left behind?
14. The Looking-Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
Lewis Carroll got it all wrong. He thought Alice was just an imaginative little girl whose stories belonged in a children's book. But Alyss Heart is no mere little girl. She's a princess in exile, and she wants her queendom back.
15. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
In a world where all of the women are dead and all of the men can hear each other's thoughts, the last boy in a town full of men must seek out a wandering patch of silence in the din in order to find out the truth. The Knife of Never Letting Go is the story of a boy, his dog, and the impossible girl they befriend.
16. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Juliette has a deadly gift: she can kill by touching. She has spent the last three years in an asylum for the murder of a small child, but now her luck may be changing. The government is willing to give her her freedom, but in exchange, she'll have to put her powers to use.
17. The V Girl by Mya Robarts
Lila is a virgin, but she might not be for long. Recruitment Day is coming, and the soldiers who visit her town can force themselves on her whenever they like. Rape is legal and expected now, and having sex with a virgin is rumored to cure diseases. Lila finds herself in a race against the clock to lose her virginity to an attractive neighbor, but things don't go as she plans.
18. Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
Seven friends return from a camping trip to find their world drastically changed. Their families are gone, their animals have been slaughtered, and Australia has been invaded. Now the kids have a decision to make: give themselves up or fight for their country.
19. Keeping It Real by Justina Robson
In 2015, a Quantum Bomb destroys the barriers between the worlds of human, elves, elementals, and demons. Six years later, cyborg Lila Black is playing babysitter to an elfin rock god named Zal. He's pissed off a lot of people, and the stakes are high for all the worlds.
20. The Long Walk by Stephen King
Ray is one of 100 boys who have signed up for in this year's Long Walk: a death march through the wilderness that continues until only one boy is left standing. The winner gets whatever his heart desires, but anyone who falls behind enough times will take a bullet.
21. The Grounding of Group 6 by Julian F. Thompson
When five incorrigible teens are sent to a remote boarding school, and they all assume it's meant to set them straight. But what the kids in Group 6 don't know is that their parents have shipped them off to be killed at a school designed to eliminate problem children.
22. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
In a post-apocalyptic future, a Shakespearean acting troupe travels from camp to camp on a seasonal trek through the Great Lakes area. But an encounter with a power-hungry prophet might change their plans.
23. The Hermit Thrush Sings by Susan Butler
Life inside the walled village is difficult for Leora, who has to hide her webbed hand to avoid being carted off to an institution for "defectives." She can't leave her village, because the Outside is full of Birmbas, fearsome creatures who eat wayward children. When Leora saves a baby birmba, she uncovers an underground resistance movement and the government lies that run the village.
24. The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt
This steampunk novel follows Molly and Oliver, two children hunted by a corrupt state official who will stop at nothing to have them under control. Framed for murder, the duo must count on help from allies and each other if they want to survive.
25. The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
After an economic collapse devastates the country, Charmaine and Stan are left to live in their car. Desperate and hard-up for cash, they agree to take part in a social experiment that promises to provide them with food and shelter — so long as they are willing to live in a prison cell from time to time.
Image: Lionsgate
