The Hunger Games put YA dystopia on the map with its brutal survival stakes, political rebellion, and a heroine who never asked to be a symbol. These series deliver the same oppressive worlds and teens fighting back.
Both feature a teenage girl in a rigidly controlled society who becomes a threat to those in power. The action is constant, the romance is earned, and the world crumbles around the protagonist.
Both drop young people into life-or-death scenarios controlled by adults with hidden agendas. Dashner keeps the reveals coming, and the survival tension never lets up.
Both heroines are thrust into a world of political manipulation where everyone has an agenda. Aveyard writes betrayals that hit as hard as anything in Mockingjay.
Both examine societies that sacrifice freedom for control. Lowry's approach is subtler than Collins's, but the core question is the same: what are you willing to lose for safety?
Both feature young protagonists on opposite sides of a corrupt regime who must decide where their loyalty lies. Lu's dual narration adds a layer Collins's first-person does not have.