Fans love The Hunger Games series for dozens of reasons. Maybe you love apocalyptic YA fiction in general, or maybe you just love gritty YA heroines in survival situations. Maybe you’re a fan of the YA love triangle trope, and Katniss, Peta, and Gale made your heart sing! Whatever the reason, Katniss Everdeen and her amazing story has captured the hearts and imaginations of multiple generations.

Find your next great read for National Reading Month by exploring my reviews of these engrossing YA books like The Hunger Games. I have a few off-beat recommendations that don’t make the usual lists of dystopian YA books similar to The Hunger Games. The novels below have two things in common: a fight for survival and girls who find themselves without parents in hostile environments.

Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

“There's different ways of doing things wrong, Lynn, and not all of it is choosing to hurt others. Sometimes it's the things you don't do that make you feel the worst.” ― Mindy McGinnis, quote from Not a Drop to Drink

Set in an apocalyptic future where drinking water is scarce and people fight for survival in a wild frontier, Lynn is a young woman in rural Ohio defending a pond and her homestead. Her mother raised her to distrust, to fight, and to live, and that's what she intends to do.

I enjoyed watching Lynn's fierce character evolve into a person who was willing to allow others into her life, to trust and even love. Despite her hardness, she had a kind heart. There were some interesting scenes in interactions with other people, like the stranger on the road, that tested her humanity.

Not a Drop to Drink was also a fast, thrilling YA book about survival, and its sequel, In a Handful of Dust, follows Lynn and her adopted daughter Lucy into the unknown after a mysterious plague drives them away from their home and community and into the wilderness.

If you’re looking for YA books like The Hunger Games, give these two a try. In fact, Mindy McGinnis is so awesome she’s on my list of Best YA Authors to Binge on Kindle Unlimited.

Z for Zachariah by Robert O’Brien

“I am afraid. Someone is coming.” ― Robert C O’Brien, quote from Z for Zachariah

I remember reading this book in our school library in high school, and it was chilling. Now an adult, decades later, I bought a copy of it to see if it was really as good as I remembered.

Yes, yes it is!

Young adult fiction wasn't even "a thing" when this book was written, and yet, it's a thrilling, roller-coaster true YA novel about a 15-year-old girl (who turns 16 during the events) who believes she's the last person alive after a nuclear war. She's resilient, resourceful, wary, hopeful, and that mix of both childlike and wise that you would expect from a teen in this situation.

When a stranger arrives in the valley, a man, she is cautious, but as events unfold and he becomes sick, she lets her guard down to help him. This turns out to be a mistake.

The Hollywood movie version gets this book wrong: the female is older, and there are two men. If you love dystopian YA novels like The Hunger Games and haven't picked this one up, I highly recommend it!

Against the Pack by Khristina Chess

“And once you decided you were going in the wrong direction, how did you find your way back? What happened when you couldn’t go back?” ― Khristina Chess, quote from Against the Pack

Speaking of wilderness survival thrillers, Against the Pack is a gripping survival adventure about a heroic teenager who must find her way home to save herself and her mom.

While walking on a rural road, Melender and her mom are attacked by a pack of dogs and fall down a near-vertical hillside into a ravine. Now they’re trapped on a narrow ledge and wounded. No one knows where they are. No one even knows they’re missing.

They have no food, water, shelter, or warm clothes. No phone to call for help. No medical supplies. Nothing.

OH MY GOSH!!! Incredible! What I love most about Against the Pack is the way this story hooks you from the beginning and doesn’t let go. It’s impossible to put this one down. Melender is a gritty character who fights to live, and I was breathless as she journeyed toward the novel’s thrilling ending. This is the kind of wilderness survival adventure that explores the core spirit of a person, and as the hours and days unfold, the complicated nature of the relationship between Melender and her mom becomes apparent.

You won’t want to miss this action-packed YA book about survival. Fans of The Hunger Games will love this one.

The Razorland Trilogy: Enclave, Outpost, Horde by Ann Aguirre

The Razorland Trilogy was one of the first YA books like The Hunger Games that I read, and from the very first pages, I was hooked! The novels are set in a dark future where the cities are ruined by plague, war, “tunnel monsters,” and ongoing skirmishes between the surviving gangs that roam in this world. In the first book, Enclave, we meet the heroine, a fifteen-year-old girl named Deuce who lives in the New York subway in a community called an enclave. Life is hard. It becomes even harder when she and another teenage Hunter are exiled from their enclave and must go to the surface to live.

The next two books, Outpost and Horde, follow Deuce in her new life above ground, and all three novels are fast-paced, engrossing reads that I couldn’t put down. Each book was as good as the last, very immersive, and Deuce is a well-drawn, fighting heroine that I rooted for every step of the way.

Check out these books, which are similar to The Hunger Games. You will love them.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

“…we’ve learned that all we can do is look after our own. Reese and Byatt, they’re mine and I’m theirs.” ― Rory Power, quote from Wilder Girls

I wanted to read Wilder Girls for many years on the basis of its cover alone. It’s one of my top-10 YA favorite covers of all time. It’s so beautiful and intriguing, without even knowing what the story is about.

An all-girls school on an island is quarantined because of a mysterious plague that has killed a significant portion of both the student and faculty population, as well as animals, and the remaining people are infected. This disease does terrible things to them. Now, they’re waiting for a cure. It’s been promised. They just have to stay alive until it comes.

The pacing is fast, and I was drawn into the relationships between the girls. They are gritty heroines. I couldn’t wait to discover what was truly going on and how this situation would ultimately be resolved.

If you’re looking for some apocalyptic fiction and missed this one, give it a try. Wilder Girls definitely meets the criteria for the list of engrossing YA books like The Hunger Games.

I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall

“To survive you need to learn to hold contradictory things in your head at the same time. I am going to die; I am going to live. There is nothing to fear; be wary of everything.” ― Kate Alice Marshall, quote from I Am Still Alive

What an amazing page-turner! From the beginning this book grabbed me and didn't let go. It's the kind of story that had me staying up late to read, sitting outside in the shade to read, read, read, reading to finish because I couldn't put this novel down. It starts with a BANG--literally, when strangers kill Jess's father, leaving her stranded in the wilderness of Canada with his dog, Bo. She's still recovering from a car accident that killed her mother, so she doesn't walk well, and she's a city girl so she's not great at hunting and fishing. How will she handle a Canadian winter alone without shelter or food?

She is alive. And she is tenacious.

I loved this girl's grit, and I wanted to see her survive. I wanted to know the answer to the mystery about who the men killed her father.

And after reading this one, I binged on everything that Kate Alice Marshall has written and added her to my list of Best YA Authors to Binge on Kindle Unlimited because she’s amazing! She’s near the top of my list of the best YA book recommendations and authors of all time.

If you’re looking for a gripping YA book about survival similar to The Hunger Games, check out I Am Still Alive.

Bonus Round: Darkness Begins (After the EMP) by Harley Tate

My edition actually had the first 3 books together, but I didn't realize this until the transition to the second book.

Harley Tate gives an excellent story about a woman, daughter, and husband who are separated when the power goes out around the world. The daughter has 3 college friends with her. The viewpoint alternates between the mother, daughter, and father as they attempt to find one another in the immediate chaos, so I’ve listed this as a “bonus” book instead of pure YA.

The narrative is fast-paced, and the characters face many serious challenges in their journey. I became invested in the characters and their efforts to reunite, and then, I wanted them to achieve their goal of finding safety at the college roommate's parents' house in the mountains.

If you like The Hunger Games, this is good book and new author to check out. She has a lot of others in her backlist too.

Other Engrossing YA Books Like The Hunger Games

If you are looking for other engrossing YA books like The Hunger Games, check out Books similar to The Hunger Games list on Goodreads. You might also be interested in my post, Other Good Reads, which lists other reviews of Binge-Worthy YA Books So Addicting You Can’t Stop Reading.

Khristina Chess is the award-winning author of several YA novels about troubled teens turning corners. You can find her on Amazon, Goodreads, and Twitter as an active daily contributor in the #5amwritersclub.