You can get you copies at the bottom of this post through my affiliate links on Amazon!
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is hands-down is my favorite fictional collection currently existing. Before I got to the books, I watched all the movies (P.S. I don’t recommend doing it in that order if you can help it). I was so in love with the movies, I knew I was in for it with the novels. Man, oh man. I knew nothing. Since then, I have bought all the movies and merch, read all the books twice (I will 100% read them again before the newest movie, Sunrise on the Reaping, comes out in November 2026), and fought with strangers on TikTok about the characters. I am a huge, huge fan. The super-fun amazing news is you have plenty of time to be one too! Firstly, let’s talk a bit about these novels.
A Bit About:
The Hunger Games, came to Suzanne Collins when she was flipping between war footage and a game show, as she states in an interview on Bibliostar.TV. The novel follows Katniss Everdeen, a young sixteen-year-old girl who is responsible for keeping her mentally ill mother and younger sister, Prim, alive in one of the poorest districts of a post-war North America, called Panem.
President Snow lives lavish in the Capital and everyone beneath him from the capital residents to citizens of the twelve districts, are considered disposable. The foul treatment of Panem citizens knows no end. Starving them, foul work conditions, public whippings and executions, being turned into tongue-less servants or test subjects. And the ultimate, every year for the past 74 years since the war, all twelve districts must watch, one boy and one girl child from their district aged between twelve and eighteen, fight to the death in an arena style battle that is televised all over Panem. If hand-to-hand combat with the other districts children isn’t scary enough, there are also lab-generated mutts and severe weather conditions they must survive as well.
Reading Order
You can read these books in two different orders, publication or time period. (I do recommend reading via publication for first-time readers and period of time for analytic reading).
Publication:
1. The Hunger Games (2008)
2. Catching Fire (2009)
3. Mockingjay (2010)
4. The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes (2020)
5. Sunrise on the Reaping (2025)
Period of Time:
1. The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes
2. Sunrise on the Reaping
3. The Hunger Games
4. Catching Fire
5. Mockingjay
If you asked me to say one reasons why these novels are as captivating as I claim them to be, it is the characters. These poor sweet souls, the trauma and cruelty they face, and their ability to love and be loved through it all will bring tears to your eyes. Reading these novels just once, will not be enough. You must have your own copies! Here is my affiliation link to purchase the first four novels and don’t forget Suzanne Collin’s latest addition to the series, Sunrise on the Reaping (the movie will be out November 2026).
Save yourself the trouble and get them all. Once you open this door you will be unable to rest until you knock the the whole series out. (Maybe even twice). If you are a fan of The Hunger Games, comment your thoughts below!
Get Your Copies Here
You can purchase your own copies of the novel here from Amazon through our affiliate link and support us here at The Cultured Nest.