Back in 2008, Suzanne Collins — who, at the time, was known for writing on shows like “Clarissa Explains It All” and books including “The Underland Chronicles” — changed the young adult literature game with “The Hunger Games.” Inspired by Greek mythology, gladiators in the Roman Colisseum, and the intersection of reality television and active war that became apparent in the aughts, Collins told the New York Times that the concept came to her suddenly and organically. “Yes, I was flipping through the channels one night between reality television programs and actual footage of the Iraq War, when the idea came to me,” she told David Leviathan in 2018, six years after the original film trilogy concluded. So what is the concept, if you’re somehow unfamiliar?

In Collins’ dystopian restructured version of North America known as Panem, civilians are split into twelve districts, all of which contribute something to the nation’s infrastructure. All those districts, which are largely impoverished, are under the control of the Capitol, which quelled an uprising known as the “Dark Days” and, in the aftermath, instituted the titular Games. Every year, 24 children between the ages of 12 and 18 — a boy and girl from each district — are chosen via a random drawing, and only one survives the bloodbath; the entire enterprise is meant to know the districts that, no matter what, the Capitol holds all the cards.

The original trilogy of books is led by protagonist Katniss Everdeen, played on-screen by Jennifer Lawrence — a young girl from coal-mining District 12 whose secret hunting skills keep her family alive while the Capitol under-provides food to everyone else. Since those three books came out, Collins has considerably expanded the world of Panem with a few prequels, and she doesn’t show any signs of truly slowing down. So what’s the ranking of “Hunger Games” books from worst to best? One thing to consider: all of these books are good. Collins is an excellent world-builder and writer, and her expansion of the original “Hunger Games” universe has provided surprisingly great results, so this ranking is more like “least awesome” to “holy crap, this is a perfect book.” May the odds be ever in your favor, books! Oh, and spoilers ahead!

2020’s “Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes” — the first “Hunger Games” prequel to release — is not a bad book by literally any metric, but it is a story that centers on one of the most odious people in the entire “Hunger Games” franchise: Coriolanus Snow. In his younger days, the future President of Panem is simply a member of the ailing, once high-ranking Snow family when he’s asked to mentor a tribute during the 10th Annual Hunger Games due to his status as a student at the Capitol Academy. Desperate to come out of the Games looking great and prove the family adage that “snow always lands on top,” Coriolanus is understandably dismayed when he’s assigned District 12, which, due to its abject poverty, is regarded as one of the Capitol’s weakest districts (if not the weakest).

Due to some truly moronic attempts at staged press opportunities by the Academy and Capitol, a bunch of tributes die before they even enter the arena … but as it turns out, Coriolanus’ tribute, Lucy Gray Baird, is somewhat formidable. As a musician and performer, she wins over the audience, inspiring the idea that sponsors can send gifts to preferred tributes in the arena; she’s not strong physically, but Coriolanus secretly pulls some strings (or, frankly, cheats) to put her ahead. Lucy Gray does win, and the journey she and Coriolanus take afterwards is perhaps more twisted than the Games themselves — and it helps explain Snow’s outright hatred for headstrong District 12 girls to come like Katniss. (In the 2023 movie, Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler play the roles of Coriolanus and Lucy Gray.) “Ballad” is a phenomenal character study, but at the end of the day, spending time in Coriolanus’ twisted mind is tricky … which is, likely, just what Suzanne Collins intended.

It’s tough to put “Mockingjay,” the final book in Suzanne Collins’ original trilogy that came out in 2010, so low on this list. It’s a great conclusion to Katniss Everdeen’s journey, but true to form for Collins, it’s a stone-cold bummer; the woman has truly never met a messed-up way to torture or kill a character she didn’t hate. (That’s a compliment, though.) After being rescued from the arena at the end of “Catching Fire,” Katniss is furious to discover that her closest ally and erstwhile boyfriend Peeta Mellark, played by Josh Hutcherson in the films, is being held prisoner by the Capitol while she and other tributes like Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin in the movies) escaped to the previously unknown District 13. There, Katniss works with her childhood best friend and other erstwhile “boyfriend” Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth on screen) and the resistance to try and bring down the Capitol, but it’s more complicated than it seems at first — especially because Katniss, the chosen face of said resistance, is predictably awful on camera.

“Mockingjay” can be unrelentingly bleak at times, sure — Finnick’s agonizing death is a real lowlight, and the third-act twist involving Gale and Katniss’ sister will make your heart fall into your butt — but by the time you reach the stunning and deeply disturbing epilogue where Katniss details the trauma she carries with her years after the Games, it all does make sense. War is brutal, and Collins never shies away from that for a second; honestly, that impulse on the author’s part just makes for a better book. Beyond that, Collins is always careful to remind us — and Katniss — that enemies can exist on both sides of the war, particularly as Katniss has to look between the evil President Coriolanus Snow (played in the original films by Donald Sutherland) and the shady president of District 13, Alma Coin (Julianne Moore on screen) and decide which of them is lying to her.

The book that basically kicked off the young adult dystopian craze of the aughts and 2010s is really, really good, but it also says a lot about the series as a whole that it’s only ranked third on this list. When “The Hunger Games” opens, Katniss and her mother and sister are barely scraping by in District 12 — and despite Katniss and Gale’s illegal hunting, both of them are forced to take food packages from the Capitol called “tesserae” that increase their odds of getting picked for the Games. Still, despite Katniss’ best efforts to keep her sister Primrose, played in the movies by Willow Shields, safe from the Reaping that chooses children for the Games, Prim’s name is chosen by the Capitol’s effervescent representative Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks on-screen). Without hesitating, Katniss volunteers as “tribute” in Prim’s place, and alongside the baker’s son Peeta Mellark, she heads to the Capitol to prepare for the 74th Games.

At first, Katniss and Peeta seem pretty much doomed. Their mentor Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson in the films), one of the only surviving and known District 12 victors in history, isn’t enthusiastic about their chances, especially compared to the “career” tributes basically bred to succeed in the Games that usually hail from Districts 1 and 2. Thanks to Katniss’ prowess with a bow and arrow and Peeta’s camouflage skills, they enter the Games fairly prepared … and their “false” dynamic as doomed star-crossed lovers, created largely by Peeta in the lead-up to the Games, helps win over the audience.

Eventually, Katniss and Peeta’s bond, such as it is, forces the hand of the Gamemakers and President Snow, and the rules change — allowing two players from the same district to claim victory. Though the Capitol desperately tries to reverse this decision when Katniss and Peeta both survive, Katniss threatens to kill them both with poison berries, leaving the Games without a victor at all … and when they both win, it sets the rest of the series into motion (and sets up a larger battle between Katniss and Snow to boot). “The Hunger Games” is gripping, propulsive, and told through the perspective of an understandably bristly and stubborn teenage girl; if you haven’t read it, change that immediately. 

Released in 2025, “Sunrise on the Reaping” takes place between “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and “The Hunger Games,” somewhat — and details Haymitch Abernathy’s victory in the 50th Annual Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. (A “Quarter Quell” takes place every 25 Games and adds in a vicious twist as a horrifying special “treat,” and we’ll return to the Third Quarter Quell, the 75th Games, pretty soon.) The twist during the 50th Games is that instead of 24 tributes, the number is doubled, meaning four kids from each district will compete and bring the total number of players to 48.

This is brutal enough, but anyone’s who’s read “Sunrise on the Reaping” knows the number of tributes is just the tip of the cruelty iceberg. Haymitch isn’t actually chosen during the District 12 reaping, but after a different kid tries to escape and is killed when his name is called, Haymitch ends up abruptly chosen by the Capitol’s representatives. From there, the horrors barely cease. One of Haymitch’s fellow tributes, Louella McCoy, dies when chariots collide during the traditional opening tribute parade; she’s replaced by a look-a-like Haymitch dubs “Lou Lou” who has no idea where she is, let alone that she’s participating in the Games. Because there are no known District 12 victors — Lucy Gray Baird is long gone by this point and disappeared after the events of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” anyway — Haymitch is mentored by District 4’s Beetee, a character we first met in the “Hunger Games” books who’s played by Jeffrey Wright in the movies … and as punishment for apparent wrongdoing, Beetee’s son Ampert is one of District 4’s tributes. “Sunrise on the Reaping” is a shockingly necessary, deeply dark, and utterly riveting look at a character we love from the original books, and it proves that, for as long as Suzanne Collins wants to, she can keep expanding this world’s lore.

“Catching Fire,” which hit shelves in 2009, is both the best book and film in the franchise as of this writing, which is pretty remarkable when you consider that second books usually suffer from a sophomore slump — making this installment the “Empire Strikes Back” of the original trilogy. After their shared victory in the 74th Games, Peeta and Katniss deal with new responsibilities, including a post-Game tour of the districts … and in the process, they realize rebellion is clearly brewing throughout Panem. As punishment for the potential uprising Katniss inspired with her berry-related trick, the rule for the Third Quarter Well is meant to attack her: specifically, President Snow decrees that only previous victors can compete in the 75th Games. This puts Peeta and Katniss back into the arena for the second time in a row alongside other fellow victors from other districts, like Beetee, Finnick, and other newcomers to the story like Johanna, Wiress, and Mags (played in the films by Jena Malone, Amanda Plummer, and the late Lynn Cohen). 

After a series of horrifying events — including the murder of Katniss’ friend and stylist Cinna, played onscreen by Lenny Kravitz — the former winners enter the arena only to discover that it’s the world most sinister clock, bringing new deadly events in different sections of the map with each new hour. Amidst it all, there’s a plan for escaping the arena, and though Katniss fires the arrow makes escape possible, she doesn’t exactly realize what she’s done until she wakes up in a hospital room. At the end of the book, Katniss learns that she’s in District 13, giving readers an enormous cliffhanger … and the story leading up to that finish is the most gripping in the series.