Red Rising vs The Hunger Games: Which to Read First?
Red Rising and The Hunger Games are two landmark dystopian sagas. Here's how they differ, what each does best, and which to read first.
By Oliver Kane
Two dystopian sagas about an oppressed underclass, a deadly competition, and a reluctant hero who sparks a revolution are constantly recommended together: Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games (2008) and Pierce Brown’s Red Rising (2014). Red Rising is often pitched as the more adult heir to The Hunger Games — but the two differ in scale, tone, and ambition. Here is how to choose between them.
Side by Side
| Red Rising | The Hunger Games | |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Pierce Brown | Suzanne Collins |
| Published | 2014 | 2008 |
| Audience | Adult | Young adult |
| Setting | A color-caste society across the solar system | The nation of Panem |
| Scale | Galactic space opera | A single nation and its arena |
| Tone | Brutal, epic | Sharp, pointed |
| Read first? | Second | Yes |
Inside The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games is set in Panem, where a wealthy Capitol forces its impoverished districts to send children into an annual televised fight to the death. When Katniss Everdeen volunteers to save her sister, she becomes a competitor and, against her will, the spark of a rebellion. Tight, propulsive, and pointed in its commentary on inequality, media, and spectacle, it defined the modern YA dystopia and remains the genre’s gold standard.
Red Rising: The Premise
Red Rising follows Darrow, a “Red” laborer in the mines of Mars, who lives and dies at the bottom of a rigid color-caste society ruled by the godlike “Golds.” After a personal tragedy, he is surgically transformed into a Gold and sent to infiltrate their brutal academy — and from there, a galaxy-spanning war of revolution unfolds. Bloodier, more political, and more epic than The Hunger Games, Brown’s saga blends Roman history, Greek myth, and space opera into something fiercely its own.
The Real Differences
The most obvious difference is audience and intensity. The Hunger Games is YA — violent but restrained, accessible to younger readers. Red Rising is firmly adult, with graphic brutality and moral complexity. If you want something sharper but lighter, Collins; if you want something harder and bloodier, Brown.
A second difference is scale. The Hunger Games stays largely within one nation and its arena. Red Rising begins in a similar competition but explodes into a galactic war spanning planets, fleets, and political factions. One is focused; the other is vast.
The third is commentary versus spectacle. Collins is laser-focused on her themes — media, inequality, the cost of violence. Brown is more interested in epic sweep, military strategy, and operatic stakes. Both have substance, but they optimise for different pleasures.
Which Comes First?
Read The Hunger Games first. It is the more accessible and foundational of the two, and Red Rising is best understood as an evolution of the template it established — so starting here lets you feel how Brown escalates the familiar setup into something larger and more brutal. It is also simply the easier on-ramp.
The exception: if you are an adult reader who already finds YA too tame and wants the grand, violent space opera from the start, you can begin with Red Rising. It stands completely on its own and rewards readers hungry for scope and grit.
A Note on Commitment
One practical consideration: both are the openings of multi-book series, but they ask different levels of investment. The Hunger Games is a tidy trilogy with a definite ending (plus prequels you can take or leave). Red Rising is an ongoing saga that has grown well past its original trilogy into a sprawling, still-expanding epic. If you want a complete story you can finish, The Hunger Games delivers it sooner; if you want a vast world to live in for many volumes, Red Rising is the deeper well. Knowing that up front helps you pick based on how much you want to commit.
Where to Head Next
Once you have read both, our best dystopian novels roundup gathers the genre’s classics, and our The Hunger Games vs Divergent comparison covers the other essential YA-dystopia matchup. For more galaxy-spanning adventure, our best sci-fi books of all time list is the place to go.
When readers ask us, we say: read The Hunger Games first for the sharp, foundational dystopia, then Red Rising for the brutal, epic escalation — and you will have read two of the most influential sagas in the genre.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I read Red Rising or The Hunger Games first?
Read The Hunger Games first. It is the more accessible, foundational YA dystopia, and Red Rising is often described as a more adult, more brutal evolution of the same ideas. Starting with The Hunger Games lets you appreciate how Red Rising raises the stakes, scale, and complexity when it escalates from a deadly arena into a full-blown space opera.
Which is better, Red Rising or The Hunger Games?
It depends on what you want. The Hunger Games is tighter, sharper, and more pointed in its social commentary. Red Rising is bigger, bloodier, and more epic, expanding across a saga of war and revolution on a galactic scale. The Hunger Games is the better entry point; Red Rising is the more sprawling, adult payoff for readers who want more.
Is Red Rising just an adult Hunger Games?
It starts in similar territory — an oppressed underclass, a deadly competition, a reluctant hero who becomes a revolutionary — but Red Rising quickly grows into something larger and darker: a brutal, Roman-inspired space opera of politics and war. It is fair to call it 'Hunger Games meets Game of Thrones in space,' but it becomes very much its own thing.
