If the backroom chess of Catching Fire hooked you—the way President Snow corners Katniss after the Victory Tour, how Plutarch Heavensbee quietly engineers alliances in the Quarter Quell, and how victors like Finnick and Johanna are leveraged as pieces—then you’ll love Red Rising. Darrow infiltrates an elite caste to sabotage it from within, navigating deadly trials, shifting alliances, and double-crosses that mirror the Capitol’s manipulations while steadily stoking rebellion.

If the clockwork horrors of the Quarter Quell gripped you—mapping the arena’s timed threats, forming fragile alliances with Finnick and Beetee, and improvising under relentless pressure—The Maze Runner delivers that same breathless survival vibe. Thomas wakes in the Glade with no memory, forced to solve an ever-shifting labyrinth while forging trust under fire, much like Katniss and Peeta racing to decode deadly patterns before the arena kills them.

If the reveals in Catching Fire made your stomach drop—the arena as a giant clock, the covert rescue plan, and Katniss’s last-second arrow into the forcefield—Illuminae is a roller coaster of bigger, bolder turns. A corporate attack, a rogue AI, and a mutating plague collide in a dossier-style narrative that constantly upends what you think you know, delivering the same gasp-out-loud surprises you felt when the Quell’s true purpose snapped into focus.

If you connected with Katniss’s steel—taking a lashing to protect Gale, shielding Peeta in the arena, and defying Snow’s script—then Graceling will hit the same nerve. Katsa, gifted with lethal skill, pushes back against a tyrant’s control to choose her own path. Like Katniss, she wrestles with when to use violence, whom to trust, and how to protect those she loves without becoming the weapon others want her to be.

If the Capitol’s pageantry and cruelty stuck with you—the forced Victor interviews, the rigged Quarter Quell, and the way districts are kept in their place—Red Queen amplifies that dynamic. Mare Barrow’s world is split between Silvers and Reds, with staged displays of power masking deep inequality. As Mare is thrust into elite spotlight much like Katniss on Caesar Flickerman’s stage, she learns to weaponize image and spark rebellion from within.