The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is an exciting adventure novel set in a futuristic world and country called Panem. Katniss Everdeen is from district 12 of Panem. She lives a poor life with her mother and sister hunting daily in order to make a living. Every year the capital of Panem holds an annual “Hunger Games”. In these games a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 to 18 are randomly chosen to fight to the death until only one person survives. The Hunger Games describes Katniss’s experiences through the Hunger Games and the harsh, unrealistic conditions in the country of Panem.

I really like this book because the theme of power is evident throughout the novel and is constantly reinforced. The capital reminds the other districts that they are the most powerful by creating the Hunger Games. The following passage from the novel explains how Collins described how the capital uses its power while also explaining that there had been a previous rebellion, “Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch – this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion. Whatever words they use, the real message is clear. “Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District Thirteen.”

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is a science fiction, dystopian novel written by Suzanne Collins and is the first book in the famous trilogy. The story takes place in the distance future in Panem, a country found out of the ruins of North America. Panem had 13 districts, each district produces and provides different resources, All these districts are controlled by the Capitol, the central power of Panem. But the disctricts were dissatisfied of the Capitols treatment and so e rebellion took place and disctrict 13 was destroyed, as a result of this uprising, the Capitol forced each district to give one boy and girl to be sent to an arena to fight to the death until only one remains, this was known as the Hunger Games. 74 years on, Katniss Everdeen volunteers herself for the Hunger Games to save her sister, and by doing so she must face against the other contesters and the brutality which the capitol sends to her. I loved this book because of its action packed plot and interesting characters. I would recommend both middle and high school students to read this book.

Sameer Khan

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner

This book takes a very widely known concept which is virtual reality. In the future, you don’t control a character when playing a game, you are the character. In video games you can die and come back to life repeatedly, but some kind of hacker dude keeps hostages in the virtual world and kills causes them to have permanent brain damage in the real world. Three teenagers are recruited by the government to stop them, and causing them to move into an area of the virtual reality that they have never seen before. James Dashner takes a very interesting concept and makes an action and science fiction novel for young adults! In my opinion I find it very interesting, and reminds me of Tron. A definite recommend to high school and middle school.

Luqman Sattar

The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse

The Forsaken is a dystopian fiction novel written by Lisa M. Stasse and is the first of a trilogy. The book takes place in the U.N.A, a country that formed from the remnants of Canada, United States, and Mexico. The main character Alenna shawcross is an orphan living in the U.N.A after having both her parents dragged out of her home by government soldiers. During this time she tries to live an obedient and quiet life. But at sixteen years-old, she fails a government personality test designed to diagnose insubordinate tendencies. As a punishment, she is sent to a mysterious island known as “The Wheel”. A harsh and dangerous place where a civil war rages between two different tribes of teenagers. Alenna meets a boy named Liam, charming warrior who is planning to escape the island. This story is focus towards a young adult audience. I personally liked this story because it reminded me of another favourite book of mine which was the hunger game series. If you are a fan of the hunger games, battle royal, and any other rebellious dystopian novels, I guarantee you will like this book.

Sameer Khan

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent is a dystopian fiction novel written by Veronica Roth and is the first book of the Divergent trilogy. The book takes place in the post apocalypse city of Chicago. The survivors in the city have divided themselves into five different factions. “Abnegation” for selflessness, “Amity” for the peaceful, “Candor” for the honest, “Dauntless” for the brave, and “Erudite” for the intellectual, all these different groups play specific roles in this post-apocalypse society. The main character is Beatrice Prior who born to an Abnegation family, but for many years she never truly felt she belongs to the faction. On her sixteenth birthday, Beatrice took the aptitude test to see which group she want to be part of, but her tests were inconclusive for they gave her three options, Abnegation her home faction, Dauntless, or Erudite. The test coordinator warns her not to tell anyone about her test results because it makes her a “Divergent”. On the choosing day after a stressing over her results, she chooses to join Dauntless. Starting a new life, Beatrice will have to prove herself in order to be called Dauntless or rick becoming faction less. This book is mainly for young-adult readers. I personally enjoyed reading this book because it goes back to my favourite dystopian fiction genre and its likeness to the Hunger games one of my favourite series. Overall I would recommend this book if you are fan of dystopian genres like The Hunger Games or The Forsaken.

Sameer Khan

World War Z by Max Brooks

If you watched the movie, you should probably know that there is a book that came before it. World War Z is a book by Max Brooks about zombies. It starts off in China with the start of a few infected people. But it starts to spread, and fast. Soon it spreads all over the world. A cure must be found, and fast. The story unfolds with individual accounts of people (obviously fake accounts). The book is considered an apocalyptic horror book. But I consider it a science fiction and thriller book. It is a good and exciting must-read that I absolutely recommend. If you are reading this for the movie-ness I will tell you right now that even Max Brooks said that the only thing similar between the book and movie was pretty much its name. So… yeah, big difference.

Luqman Sattar

Streams of Babel by Carol Plum-Ucci

The US government becomes suspicious after a few people mysteriously die from brain aneurysms, and they suspect that a terrorist group has poisoned the water supply in a small neighborhood in New Jersey called Trinity Falls. The story follows the viewpoints of 6 teenagers. The story takes place in Trinity Falls and Pakistan. A sixteen year old boy in Pakistan works as a spy for the United States governments and helps to find out who is doing this to the people of Trinity Falls. In all honesty the book was slow at the beginning, but did begin to speed up and get interesting a bit later. This book can be read by high schoolers, but is definitely recommended for middle-school.

Luqman Sattar

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies is a young adult fiction novel written by William Golding and published in 1954. The book starts out with a group of young British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island after their plane went down somewhere over the pacific ocean. The boys soon come together on the island and try to form a sort of government in order to govern themselves. This leads to disastrous results as the boys feud over who should be leader. But this is one of the problems the boys have to face, they also need to find food, and build shelter in order to stay alive on the island, also their is a fear among the boys that a beast lurks the island. There is a constant battle between Civilization and Savagery in this literary classic. The book kept me in suspense with its shocking revelations, and the twists and turns which helped develop the plot. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone above the age of thirteen who are interested in suspenseful fiction, and a literary classic with lots of different interpretations and thought provoking ideas.

Sameer Khan

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

Okay, so here’s a hypothetical, you and your friends go camping for a bit and find out that your country is in the middle of a war, and everyone you know is captured, what do you do? Tomorrow, When the War Began begins with Ellie and her friends going on a camping trip. Days later they find out that their city has been captured by invaders, and their country is at war. The teens have a few choices, surrender, flee, or fight. They choose to fight and wage war against the invaders. Along the way the teens realize that war is no game and they need to grow up. The book is suspenseful and thrilling throughout with interesting character development.

Luqman Sattar

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Do you read books? Do you watch TV? Which do you prefer? Which do you do more? Imagine a world where there was no choice between the two and all everybody did was watch TV. Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a world where reading books is illegal and watching TV is something everybody. Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a backwards world where firefighters burn books rather than put fires out. The book follows the life of a firefighter that meets a neighbour and decides to start reading books. The book is thought provoking because that is seemingly where the world is moving. This classic dystopian novel is a must read for everyone.

Luqman Sattar

1984 by George Orwell

1984 was written by Eric Arthur Blair, also know as George Orwell. It is a dystopian novel about totalitarianism. It takes place in the city of London in a fictional country called Oceania. The London in the book is a depressing place, there is never enough to eat, the food is grotesque, there are not enough cloths, shoes, and other necessities to go around. The city is pretty much deteriorated except for 3 large pyramid shaped government buildings that over look the city, there is some sort of war going on, but no one knows what it's about. Rockets costantly blow up in the streets and people are blown to bits. The main character of the book is Winston Smith, a member of the outer party, the group which governs the entire Oceania, Winston life is dreary and he hates the Party, but any action or thought that seems against the Party will be result in a punishment by the state. The book is an English classic, and i recommend, anyone who is interested in literature, and a novel about a dystopian society.
Sameer Khan