Let me preface this- I’m autistic, and currently my special interest is The Hunger Games. If you’re unsure or curious what this means, allow me to paint a picture for you; I fall asleep listening to the audiobooks. I wake up listening to the audiobooks. I listen to the audiobooks while I watch the movies. I have filled three sketchbooks with notes and drawings about the books. I’m currently working on making the family book that Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch work on in Mockingjay. In the past forty-two days (roughly how long this bout of obsession has lasted) I have listened to *all four* audiobooks no less than ten times each. I finished Mockingjay yesterday and *immediately* started back at Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes without a break.
This has been my cycle for forty days now, (and the love affair, although off and on, started when I first read the book in 2014) and as much as I love THG, and want to spend every second I can in it, even I am starting to get bored of it, but I cannot find anything that scratches the itch.
I’m not looking for war/political intrigue specifically, although I am fine with it. I do want a story that follows an outsider or rebel, with well defined characters and interesting relationships. Bonus points for special or unique abilities or settings, and very clearly defined plots/story lines, so that I know what’s going on and don’t get confused by too many layers. And let’s be honest, there’s no way to read Katniss as anything other than autistic, are there other books with characters as clear and sensible as her? She is literally the only character I have ever fully understood their actions and motives, and I think that the fact that I can understand her is why I like the books so much.
by kaiiop
10 Comments
Did you read the divergent series?
The Aurelian Cycle Series by Rosaria Munda. It’s fantasy (dragons but low magic, like no wizards), still YA. Two MCs that are outsiders in different ways. There’s war/political intrigue. Excellent characters, great dynamics between characters.
I love The Hunger Games. I love this series. Probably my two favorite YA series.
Maybe Blood Over Bright Haven by ML Wang, I would in no capacity say it is similar to hunger games, but it does have: a main character thats an outsider, both POV characters are rebellious against large systems, well defined characters with interesting relationships, an interesting magic system and world, and a main character who in my opinion as another autistic person was easy to understand and relate to
You have to read Genesis by Bernard Beckett.
(I’m also autistic and a fan of The Hunger Games).
The Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik
[Check out this other Hunger Games thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/1cd54om/books_that_give_the_same_feeling_hunger_games/)
Red rising series by pierce brown
1. *Battle Royale*, by Koushun Takami.
>
Sound familiar? Published nine years before *The Hunger Games*.
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57891.Battle_Royale](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57891.Battle_Royale)
2. A man steps outside in the middle of a winter night, to retrieve his ex-girlfriend’s cat.
And then the alien invasion began.
This is literally what happens at the very beginning of *Dungeon Crawler Carl*, by Matt Dinniman. An insane LitRPG series, this is essentially *Independence Day* meets *The Running Man*/*The Hunger Games*. The audiobooks are outstandingly performed by Jeff Hays.
[https://www.goodreads.com/series/309211-dungeon-crawler-carl](https://www.goodreads.com/series/309211-dungeon-crawler-carl)
Red Rising series by Pierce Brown
Uprooted and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik