Roth
Divergent
✦
Divergent
Veronica Roth - 3 books
A dystopian society divided into factions, a heroine who does not fit in, and a system designed to control. It owes a clear debt to The Hunger Games and delivers its own twist on the formula.
Series - Books in order
The Hunger Games books in order
by Suzanne Collins - 4 books - 2008-2020 - Updated June 2026
In the ruins of what was once North America, the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send two children to fight to the death in the annual Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her sister's place, setting off a chain of events that will shake the entire country. Collins writes with brutal economy, never flinching from the cost of violence while keeping you turning pages at a dead sprint. The prequel, published a decade later, reframes the villain's origin story.
Collins
The Hunger Games
✦
1
Collins
The Hunger Games
✦
1
The short answer
Read in publication order, starting with The Hunger Games (2008). publication.
4 books - read in publication order
Show orderPublication order
Contains affiliate links| # | Book | Published | Rating | Where to read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Hunger Games The Hunger GamesStart | 2008 | 4.3 | Kindle $10.99Paperback $11.99Audible $14.99Bookshop $13.99 |
| 2 | Catching Fire Catching Fire | 2009 | 4.3 | Kindle $10.99Paperback $11.99Audible $14.99Bookshop $13.99 |
| 3 | Mockingjay Mockingjay | 2010 | 4.0 | Kindle $10.99Paperback $11.99Audible $14.99Bookshop $13.99 |
| 4 | The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes A prequel set 64 years before The Hunger Games, following a young Coriolanus Snow. | 2020 | 3.8 | Kindle $12.99Paperback $13.99Audible $14.99Bookshop $15.99 |
Our recommended reading order
publication
Collins
The Hunger Games
✦
Best book to start with
The Hunger Games
Book #1, and still the best on-ramp. It sets up everything that makes this series work.
Catch up on the whole series
Box sets in print, or listen on Audible.
Similar series
If you love The Hunger Games, try these next.
Dashner
The Maze Runner
✦
The Maze Runner
James Dashner - 3 books
Teens trapped in a deadly, engineered environment with no memory of how they got there. More mystery-driven, less political, but the same claustrophobic tension.
Brown
Red Rising
✦
Red Rising
Pierce Brown - 6 books
A class-stratified society, brutal arena combat, and a protagonist faking his identity to bring down the system from within. Darker, more ambitious, and aimed at an older audience.
Lu
Legend
✦
Legend
Marie Lu - 4 books
A military prodigy and a street criminal discover they are on the same side in a dystopian Los Angeles. Fast, cinematic, and sharply political.
Frequently asked questions
After. The prequel assumes you know how Snow's story ends and gains its power from dramatic irony. Reading it first would spoil key details from the original trilogy and diminish the impact of both.
Yes. Suzanne Collins announced Sunrise on the Reaping, a second prequel set during the 50th Hunger Games (Haymitch's Games). It is scheduled for publication in 2025.
Most readers and educators recommend ages 12 and up. The books deal with violence, death, PTSD, and political manipulation. The violence is not gratuitous, but Collins does not shy away from its consequences.
Contains affiliate linksUpdated June 2026