'Hunger Games': Top 10 Awesome Young Adult Dystopian Novels

You've read The Hunger Games nine times, wrote an essay on its major themes, discussed the book in excrutiating detail with your friends, decided which character most clearly captures your personality, and you're counting down the days until the movie comes out in March. So what now? It might be time to branch out and start experimenting with other dystopian YA novels which, like The Hunger Games, spell out a dark and epic alternate future for mankind. And there's certainly no shortage of them -- The Hunger Games is part of a dystopia craze that has led to a number of other great titles that will keep you up reading until 4 a.m. to find out what happens next.

Don't know where to start? Our friends over at Scholastic have hand-picked 10 books to tide you over until the HG movie comes out.

Which novels would you add to the list? Share your top picks in the comments below!

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Comments

[InkMuse]

10:48 AM on 01/23/2013

I recommend After the Fear by Rosanne Rivers:
http://www.amazon.com/After-Young-Adult-Dystopian-ebook/dp/B00B39MLN6/

[Mary MacMary]

07:41 AM on 11/03/2012

How sad that you list the Elli Chronicles, but not The Tomorrow Series which precedes them. Do yourselves a favour, start with Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden, it is the book that starts the whole story. Awesome books.

[Buster McDermott]

04:30 AM on 06/21/2012

Great list! I have read several of these books and I really like the dystopian genre. http://www.ranker.com/list/the-13-best-dystopian-novels/ivana-wynn

[LaraP]

04:15 PM on 05/23/2012

Absolutely The Giver - amazing book, a must-read for ANYONE (young or old) interested in dystopian novels. The best of the best, IMO. I'm not a massive Hunger Games fanatic, but I appreciate the fact that it's turning millions on to dystopian in general. Always a good thing...still not sure I'd rank HG among the 13 "best" dystopian novels ever:

http://www.ranker.com/list/the-13-best-dystopian-novels/ivana-wynn

But to each his own I suppose...

[marsfan72]

01:36 AM on 12/22/2011

Starweaver's Retreat is a similar novel, with a lot less violence for younger readers.

[jparso3]

10:44 PM on 12/21/2011

The Giver

[poeticjustice4all]

11:42 PM on 12/20/2011

Meg Rosoff

How I Live Now

[blindjester]

11:09 PM on 12/24/2011

I had to check it out. Looks like a good book.

I thought you only tr*lled the anti-teacher pages. And here you've made a positive contribution.

Blowing my mind.

[Victor Contreras]

03:32 PM on 12/20/2011

The fact that Battle Royale, a Japanese book written in 1999, isn't listed is kind of sad. Especially since Hunger Games basically took its' entire premise from this book...

[ZiYing96]

09:46 AM on 07/28/2012

I know right? I loved that book! It was so good.

[pigfly24]

10:10 AM on 12/20/2011

These are not at all the books I would recommend given all of the young adult dystopian options on the market. Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick, Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Maze Runner by James Dashner? And these barely scratch the surface.

[triplettam]

05:39 AM on 12/20/2011

Well, here are a couple I read as a young adult: "!984," Dhalgren, "Swan Song." All had a big impact. Haven't read "Hunger Games" but I guess I should. What I've seen and heard reminds me a little of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery."

[misskat]

10:36 PM on 12/19/2011

A fun classic read is Z for Zachariah by Robert O'Brien. There are only two characters in this amazing book. It's dark and suspenseful and takes place after something terrible has happened to the rest of the world. Pick it up, start reading. See if you can stop.

[JADEGL]

01:38 PM on 12/22/2011

I agree. That that book isn't on the list is a shame. I would also second the person above who mentioned The Giver.

[broui]

10:34 PM on 12/19/2011

"The Long Walk" - A novella by Stephen King.

Blew my mind when I was in high school. Read it again in my 30s and it was still darn good. Highly recommended.