What happens if we choose entertainment over humanity? In Collins’s world, we’ll be obsessed with grooming, we’ll talk funny, and all our sentences will end with the same rise as questions….enthralling, imaginative and creepy… Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games is a series of young adult dystopian novels, consist of Four books. The first three novels form a trilogy: The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010). Each was adapted for film, establishing The Hunger Games film series, with the film adaptation of Mockingjay split into two feature-length motion pictures, that follows Katniss Everdeen as a teen, and the fourth The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel set 64 years before the original is predicted to feature prominently in cinemas.
The Hunger Games trilogy takes place in an unspecified future time, in the dystopian, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, located in North America. The capital, located in the Rocky Mountains, is the wealthiest part of the country, and it rules over twelve (originally thirteen) less prosperous districts. While the Capitol enjoys opulent wealth and cutting-edge technology, the districts often struggle financially.
Katniss Everdeen, the series’ narrator and protagonist, is from District 12, the most impoverished part of Panem, situated in Appalachia, where starvation is a common cause of death. One boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each of the twelve remaining districts are selected annually by lottery to compete in a pageant called the Hunger Games as punishment for a past rebellion against the Capitol (called the “Dark Days”), in which District 13 was destroyed. The “tributes” who participate in the Games are televised as they risk their lives in a deadly arena for the entertainment of the viewing public. Food, supplies, and wealth are given to the victorious tribute and his or her district. The Capitol needs to be entertained, and the districts need to be reminded of Capitol power and the lack of remorse or forgiveness for the failed rebellion of the ancestors of the current competitors.
Even though the Capitol oppressed the 13th district as well, they were ultimately forced to capitulate after a rebellion led by district residents. Due to District 13’s expertise in nuclear weapons, the Capitol was quick to capitulate and accept a peace treaty. Both parties settled on a plan in which District 13’s citizens would be forced to take refuge underground while the surface was bombed to make it appear that the Capitol had triumphed. So to enjoy a violent, jarring, speed-rap of a novel that generates nearly constant suspense… read The Hunger Games Books in Order of event as follow.
Also See: The Hunger Games Movies in Order
The Hunger Games Books in Order to Read
1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2008)
Set 64 years before The Hunger Games events, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes tells the story of the ‘Dark Days’ which led to the failed rebellion in Panem. It follows Coriolanus Snow when he was 18 years old. It describes how most lives are actually lived, the consequences of countless small choices that ultimately amount to a big one: not just how to feel but who to be.
The book follows young Coriolanus “Coryo” Snow, who is far from the callous president seen in the original trilogy. It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.
2. The Hunger Games (2009)
…brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced…a futuristic novel The Hunger Games (2009) is written in the perspective of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the future, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem in North America. It is a violent, jarring, speed-rap of a novel that generates nearly constant suspense…I couldn’t stop reading it.
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . . In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
3. Catching Fire (2010)
…doesn’t disappoint when it segues into the pulse-pounding action readers have come to expect. In Catching Fire, which begins six months after the conclusion of The Hunger Games, continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before . . . and surprising readers at every turn.
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol—a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create. Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she’s afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can’t prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.
4. Mockingjay (2020)
Suspenseful…Indelible conclusion to Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay (2020) continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, who agrees to unify the districts of Panem in a rebellion against the tyrannical Capitol.
After surviving the Quarter Quell, having lost Peeta to the Capitol, Katniss Everdeen is now smacked in the middle of the revolution to overthrow the supremacy of President Snow. Without being aware of the ongoing rebellion, Katniss is faced with the difficult task of dealing with past events all the while fighting for a better tomorrow.
District 13’s existence has now established as being not just a figment of their imagination. The inevitable rebellion that has been boiling in the whole of Panem is finally surfacing with Katniss at the helm as their Mockingjay. She has been chosen as the face of the rebellion, standing up where all the districts can see her and follow in her footsteps. But after the horror of the Quarter Quell and Peeta missing, there arises a questions whether she will be able to look ahead and finish what she has started or not.
Whether Katniss is willing to act as a scapegoat for the rest of Panem while living under the strict and unpredictable conditions of District 13, remains to be seen. Mockingjay is the final call before the curtain drops and the stories will unravel themselves and questions will be answered. Will Katniss’s determination to free her people from the clutches of dictatorship see its end or are they doomed for ever is the mystery answered in the rest of the book.
How many The Hunger Games Books are there?
The books in the Hunger Games series total FOUR (4). The first three books form a trilogy following the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, as she enters adolescence, and the fourth book is a prequel set 64 years before the original.
All The Hunger Games Books in Order of Release Date
Here is the List of The Hunger Games novels in Order of Release Date
1. The Hunger Games — September 14, 2008
2. Catching Fire — September 1, 2009
3. Mockingjay — August 24, 2010
4. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes — May 19, 2020
All Hunger Games Movies in Order of Release Date(US)
Here is the list of The Hunger Games Movies in order, they were released.
1. The Hunger Games — March 23, 2012
2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire — November 22, 2013
3. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 — November 21, 2014
4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 — November 20, 2015
5. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes — November 17, 2023
Conclusion:
Reading the The Hunger Games in chronological order gives a thrilling experience of Katniss Everdeen’s transformation from Tribute to “The Girl on Fire” to the symbolic leader of the rebellion, And The Mockingjay. The order in which you do these things is up to you now. But when we read it, we prefer to do so in order.
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