Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Hi everybody, and welcome to a new Top Ten Tuesday!
Today’s topic is a genre freebie and to be honest, I’ve been so deep into my Dungeon Crawler Carl series haze that it is hard to think about anything else. So I was struggling to come up with something for this topic until my brain helpfully provided “Hey, can’t we do something to do with Dungeon Crawler Carl?” (Yes, the haze is strong). So then I made the connections: DCC > deadly games and voila, the idea was born to make a list about books featuring deadly games, trials and competitions!
Also, this is a mix of books I’ve read (and loved), and books still on my TBR. Here we go!
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – A LitRPG in which the apocalypse is here, aliens have seized the planet and the survivors have the opportunity to compete in a sadistic televised game show. We follow Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut. Beware, if you start this series, you may think of nothing else (the DCC haze…)
Phantasma by Kaylie Smith – A gothic romantasy in which a necromancer enters a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion to save her sister. The game is based on the seven circles of hell.
The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent – the adopted human daughter of the vampire king enters a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself. Oh, and she’s the only human in the tournament.
Powerless by Lauren Roberts – In a world where the Elites have all these cool powers and rule the world but hunt everyone without any powers, one girl is surviving by pretending to have a psychic power. But when she accidentally saves the prince, she’s thrust into the spotlight and forced to enter the Purging Trials, a brutal competition to showcase the Elite’s powers.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – the dystopian classic!
We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark – In a Roman-inspired world ruled by merciless vampires, Arvelle must enter the Sundering, an arena where the strongest survive to be selected for the emperor’s elite guard.
The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen – The Gods of Olympus hold a deadly contest with mortals they let compete in their stead, in order to determine the new ruler to sit on the throne. This time, Hades chooses a sarcastic office clerk as his champion…
Alice in Borderland by Haro Aso – Manga series. After a strange fireworks show, 18-year old Arisu and his friends are transported to a strange parallel world, where they have to play games based on cards in order to survive. Also a tv show, which I loved.
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir – A deadly competition in a Roman-inspired world and a doomed romance between a slave and a soldier.
The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas – A Mexican-inspired YA fantasy in which teens compete in The Sunbearer Trials. The winner carries light and life to all the temples of Reino del Sol, but the loser will be sacrificed to Sol.
Tell Me:
Do you like to read books with deadly games, trials and competitions?
Have you read and enjoyed any of these books? Any other recommendations?
I recognize a couple of these and have read Suzanne’s THG too! 🙂
The Hunger Games is such a classic 🙂
Funny coincidence – my boss just lent me a copy of Dungeon Crawler. When he said it had some “potty humor” I was pretty sure it was not for me but I am going to give it a try this week. I did enjoy the first Hunger Games but thought later books in the series did not live up. I dragged my then boyfriend to the movie and I think he enjoyed it, despite being the only guy in the theater!
Haha the humor in Dungeon Crawler Carl is a bit out there indeed, but there’s also a lot of heart and amazing characters. I hope you’ll end up enjoying it!
I contemplated whether to pick a similar topic today, but there are so many interesting ones on your list!
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2026/03/03/top-ten-tuesday-books-to-diversify-your-reading-3-the-ya-edition/
I look forward to seeing your picks if you ever decide to do this topic! 🙂
I didn’t know there were so many books like this!
Indeed, I also thought this would be a trickier topic, but I got to 10 fairly quickly 🙂
Hunger Games – classic!
It’s such a classic indeed, forever one of my favorite reads!
I’m really trying to get DCC on my reading list
Thanks for sharing your #TTT
I hope you’ll love DCC if you decide to give it a try!
Such a fun idea for a list! Hoping to start DCC soon!
Yay, hope you’ll love DCC! 🙂
I love this topic! I need to look up these books because I haven’t read all of them.
Yay, hope you’ll enjoy if you decide to pick up any of these books!
I think I’m in the minority here of people who don’t really enjoy a trial/competition themed book (I did enjoy the Hunger Games though) – which might be why I recognise a lot of these books but haven’t read many!
I get it – I love them a lot, but judging from the ease in which I came up with this list, maybe this trope has been a bit overused recently…
How many of the books were published AFTER The Hunger Games? I am always curious to learn which book started a publishing craze ad Twilight did for vampires.
I think The Hunger Games was indeed the earliest publication from this list – it definitely seemed like a trendsetter in terms of the genre!
The closest I can think of that I’ve read recently is The Treasure Hunter’s Club by Tom Ryan. It’s had Goonies vibes.
Here’s my TTT: https://readbakecreate.com/favorite-historical-fiction-reads-of-2025/
Thanks, I didn’t know about that one so I’ll have to check it out!
The Hunger Games was likely the only book other than Lord of the Flies that I feel would qualify as deadly games or trials. I loved the former, still despise the latter. Phantasma from your list caught my eye.
https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2026/03/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-amateur-sleuth.html
The Hunger Games is definitely a classic! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
Yeah, I am one of those people who still hasn’t read The Hunger Games. I do enjoy stories with competitions. A fun post for today!
Loved The Hunger Games and An Ember in the Ashes. I think I’ll add We Who Will Die to my TBR lottery.
Loved the Hunger Games and Sunbearer Trials!
I’ve read so many of these. I’m so glad you are loving DCC! I loved We Who Will Die!