There have been millions of novels, so it’s often hard to determine the best book of all time. Goodreads has taken a look at how users are recommending and rating books, and it’s compiled a list of the best novels. The 2008 dystopian novel The Hunger Games has been named the best of them all at this time.
Published on Sept. 14, 2008, the novel currently has a score of 4,432,473 after 45,051 have voted. That’s a good million ahead in terms of score and 15,000 ahead in terms of voters compared to the second book on the list, Pride and Prejudice. It certainly gives you an idea of the people using Goodreads, but it also tells you a lot about the interests right now.
The Hunger Games Is a Story of Survival
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins introduces a world in the future. America faced ruin and war, which led to the development of a place called Panem. To prevent anything like the former wars from happening again, the Capitol has set up “The Hunger Games,” where two children, male and female, between the ages of 12 and 18 from each of the 12 districts compete to the death.
There can only be one winner, and when 16-year-old Katniss finds herself in the middle of the games, she needs to figure out how to survive. However, getting through the games is one thing. What’s on the other side? That’s something the entire world develops, especially thanks to the prequel stories that have since been published.
A Novel That’s Spawned Movies and Prequel Stories
While The Hunger Games may not quite have the same quality of storytelling of some of the past books for some, it’s a story that resonates with people. That’s why the first trilogy of books was turned into a movie series, with four movies in total as the last book was transformed into two movies.
That’s not where everything has stopped, though. Collins brought out A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which was set during the 10th Hunger Games, decades before Katniss and Peeta’s story. It brought us the story of President Snow before he was president, showing us how he became the man that he would eventually be.
Now, there’s the Haymitch story, Sunrise on the Reaping, which is set during the 50th Hunger Games, the Second Quarter Quell. Of course, this game had to be much bigger than the previous ones to mark 50 years, and so, two males and two females from each district were selected. We knew that Haymitch would eventually win, but this prequel told us how it happened and just why ended up becoming the drunk that he was when we met him during The Hunger Games.
Out of all the YA dystopians out there, this is one that stands out for its well-crafted story and deep focus on the psychological impact. Now we’re just waiting for a Finnick book, as we need to know his story, being the youngest winner ever!
