If you liked the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, you’ll definitely love Joelle Charbonneau’s The Testing. This book is about a girl named Cia, who has spent her entire life dedicated to her schoolwork in order to qualify for the testing. Everyone has been told that those selected attend the university in the capital, Tosu City, and become the leaders of the colonies. Once Cia is selected, her father warns her about the testing. He cannot remember his own testing, and believes that the government wipes the memories of those who participate. However, he does have nightmares, along with a couple other people in the colony who also participated in the testing. Then Cia meets the capitol official, and they leave for Tosu City.

This series shares a lot of the same characteristics as the Hunger Games, and is also a trilogy.

One review on Barnesandnoble.com really shows how similar these two books are:

Hunger Games: country is split into districts with one capital

The Testing: country is split into colonies with one capital

Hunger Games: each district specializes in one occupation

The Testing: each colony specializes in one field of science

Hunger Games: children from each district are selected to participate in the Games

The Testing: children from colonies are selected to participate in the Test

Hunger Games: participation is mandatory

The Testing: participation is mandatory

Hunger Games: main character is Katniss who is thrown into the Games with a guy from her district named Peeta

The Testing: main character is Cia who gets selected for the Test with a guy from her colony named Thomas

Hunger Games: silver parachute brings Katniss supplies

The Testing: brown cloth bag thrown over the fence brings Cia supplies

Hunger Games: Peeta gets severely injured; Katniss heals him

The Testing: Thomas gets severely injured; Cia tries to heal him

Hunger Games: mutts attack Katniss

The Testing: weird animal/human hybrids attack Cia

Hunger Games: Katniss protects Prim back in her district

The Testing: Cia protects Daileen in her colony

Hunger Games: Katniss buries Rue

The Testing: Cia buries dead girl from some other colony

Hunger Games: the capital is always watching them

The Testing: the testing officials are always watching them

Hunger Games: “May the odds ever be in your favor.”

The Testing: “Best of luck.”

After reading that, you can easily see that the Hunger Games inspired The Testing. I’ve also read the second book in The Testing trilogy, and that’s when the two series become a lot more different. If the third book in The Testing trilogy is as good as the first two, I think I might prefer this series to the Hunger Games, simply because the third book in the Hunger Games was kind of a let down.

I do think that the Hunger Games goes a little more in-depth with the characters, but I really enjoyed The Testing, and I highly recommend it for Hunger Games fans!