What's the next Hunger Games?

It could be the Chaos Walking trilogy.  It has just been announced that the very offbeat screenwriter and director, Charlie Kaufman writer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation(DVD ADAPTATION) , and Being John Malkovich (DVD BEING) has signed on to write the first screenplay in the Chaos Walking Trilogy.  The Knife of Never Letting Go is the story of a planet where all the thoughts of men and animals can be head as the Noise.  After a young man named Todd discovers a girl named Viola, his decision to save her leads to the discovery of terrible secrets.  The trilogy eventually leads to all out warfare with the after of a planet in the balance.  You can read my reviews of the third book here.  This series has all the makings of a new Hunger Games.  Love, violence, dystopia, questions about the inhumanity of war and all that other great stuff! 

So check out the trilogy before the movie gets made and everyone and their Aunt Mildred is in line to read it!  And let us know in the comments what YOU think the next YA book series big movie should be based on.

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness YP FIC NESS

War makes monsters of men. Todd and Viola having finally captured Mayor Prentiss only to discover that an army of Spackle (a race indigenous to the planet humans have colonized) are bearing down on them. Todd must make allies with his most hated foe while Viola is forced to fight alongside Mistress Coyle, who tried to make Viola an unwitting suicide bomber just hours before. With all sides determined to destroy each other utterly and the Spackle being led by one that personally wants to see Todd dead, there seems to be no road for peace possible in this thrilling and complex end to the Chaos Walking Trilogy.

This is the best book I have read all year. The Chaos Walking Trilogy is filled with complicated and fascinating characters that have to make difficult decisions that never have neat answers. The trilogy pushes the main heroes Todd and Viola through amazing suffering and never gives them an easy out for a choice. Their choices always have serious consequences that echo throughout the entire series. And Mayor Prentiss is maybe the best villain in YA literature ever. He is more complex than most heroes and it is great fun to try and guess what he is really up to as he manipulates everything around him. Besides great characters the plot is filled with amazing suspense and loads of huge twists that will completely blow you away. The series as a whole is good at doing this but Ness really brought the best to the last. And if plot and characters being some of the best in YA lit weren’t enough the writing is really great too. We get the perspectives of Todd, Viola, and the Spackle that wants Todd dead called The Return. Ness created a whole culture for the Spackle that makes the war much more tragic because the reader is torn on which side to really want to lose. All in all if you enjoy reading good YA series then you should absolutely read the entire Chaos Walking Trilogy. Start with the Knife of Never Letting Go.