If there’s one show that’s at the top of everyone’s watch list and the topic of conversations everywhere, it’s Squid Game. Set in South Korea, the Netflix show features a group of desperate delinquents who have one thing in common: they are all in an insurmountable amount of debt. Approached by the same unnamed salesman, played by Train to Busan actor Gong Yoo, they are invited to participate in games that could solve all their money problems. Without spoiling, let’s just say these simple games are a matter of life and death.
Compelling and bingeable TV, as well as a sharp commentary on class, poverty and capitalism in South Korea, it’s no wonder it’s become the most watched series on Netflix. But you might be wondering, is there a Squid Game book? Sadly no, but there are plenty of books like Squid Game out there — if you know where to look!
If you’re on board with the Squid Game phenomenon, here’s what you should read next.
Battle Royale: Remastered
by Koushun Takami
In a dystopian future Japan, forty-two junior high school students are outfitted with weapons and bid to kill one another until there is only one left standing.
Buy it here
The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Buy it here
Bullet Train
by Kotaro Isaka
Five assassins find themselves on a bullet train from Tokyo competing for a suitcase full of money. Who will get to the last station alive? An original and propulsive thriller from a Japanese bestseller.
Buy it here
Lord of the Flies
by William Golding
A group of boys are marooned on a tropical island. The book portrays their descent into savagery and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves.
Buy it here
Sword Art Online
by Reki Kawahara
A new virtual reality game is released that allows users to completely immerse themselves in the game world, but when the game goes live, the players realise they are now trapped in the virtual world. Their bodies are held captive and they are issued a chilling ultimatum: conquer all one hundred floors of the game to regain your freedom. But “game over” means certain death — both virtual and real …
Buy it here
The Island
by M. A. Bennett
A contemporary take on the savage classic Lord of the Flies: a group of mismatched, modern-day teenagers must fight to survive on a deserted island.
Buy it here
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
by Cho Nam-Joo & Jamie Chang (Translator)
The life story of one young woman born at the end of the twentieth century raises questions about endemic misogyny and institutional oppression that are relevant to us all.
Buy it here
Alice in Borderland
by Haro Aso
An action-packed thriller and source of the hit Netflix drama of the same name, where the only way to survive is to play the game!
Buy it here
—Squid Game is streaming now on Netflix.
Comments
October 22, 2021 at 6:23 pm
Also, Stephen King’s original The Running Man. An underrated masterpiece.
November 27, 2021 at 9:41 am
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is also a great dystopian sci-fi