What Is The Next Harry Potter / The Hunger Games?

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

 

What is with the sudden trend in calling every book series that has some popularity, the “next Harry Potter” or the “next Hunger Games?”  In most cases, these book series are not as popular as Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. Is it because Hollywood is lazy and is always trying to make popular books into successful movies? Is it because Hollywood is always hoping and searching for “The Next Big Thing?”

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

I heard that people were calling Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga the “Next Harry Potter.” I have read all the books in the Twilight series and I don’t like them as much as I like the Harry Potter novels. I loved the Harry Potter series. Twilight has been criticized as being horribly written. However, it paved the way for stories about love triangles. It also led to a new genre called “paranormal romance.” It led to the terms “Twi-hards” and “Twi-moms” as well as the debate between “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob.” There have been numerous parodies of Twilight, including Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon. Vampires and werewolves have always been popular in our society. Most people I have talked to about the Twilight books have been really negative about them. They hate them with a passion. They like to see the Twilight movies in theaters and then laugh at them. They have probably not read the Twilight books, so therefore they should not be entitled to diss them. I don’t think the Twilight novels can be compared to the Harry Potter novels because it would be like comparing apples to oranges. I also don’t think that Twilight can be called the “Next Harry Potter” since Edward, one of the main characters, is barely in the second book New Moon. Twilight was created out of a vivid dream Stephenie Meyer had, in which Edward the vampire, appeared to her. Also, Breaking Dawn Pt II was the worst of the Twilight movies because it was so over the top stupid.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

I heard recently that Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy is being called “The Next Hunger Games.” Why? Is it because both The Hunger Games and Divergent belong to the genre known as dystopian literature? Is it because dystopian literature is a hot genre these days?  Is it because The Hunger Games and Divergent have been made into movies? The film adaptation of Divergent comes out in March 2014 and Hollywood has already decided to do a sequel, regardless of whether or not Divergent does well at the box office. When I read Divergent, I saw some similarities to The Hunger Games, specifically how in both books teenagers were forced to fight each other. In Divergent, however, they were not supposed to kill each other. I like both The Hunger Games and Divergent. I do see a potential problem for the film adaptation of Divergent— it probably won’t appeal to young male viewers because in the book there is a lot of kissing. However, the violence would probably appeal to them.

The Dust Lands: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

The Dust Lands: Blood Red Road has been compared to The Hunger Games. I have never heard of this book or of its author Moira Young. I also do not know anyone who has read this book. Publishers Weekly calls it “A natural for Hunger Games fans.” MTV’s Hollywood Crush blog describes it as “Better than The Hunger Games…This book will blow you away.”  Novel Novice blog wrote that, “When it comes to YA dystopian literature, The Hunger Games pretty much set the bar. Blood Red Road by Moira Young may have just raised that bar.”

The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins

While Harry Potter was written for children, many young adults read it and enjoyed it. Young Adult (YA) literature has been around since the 1960’s and 1970’s, but may not have been as popular as it is today. The Twilight novels belong to the YA genre but also the paranormal romance genre. The Hunger Games led to the invention of YA dystopian literature. Divergent and Blood Red Road belong to this genre too. Maybe this is why everything that is written is called the “Next Harry Potter” or the “Next Hunger Games.”