Blog

I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this top 5. There are SO MANY excellent movie adaptations of excellent books. With this in mind, I’ve tried to stay away from the obvious choices (read: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Twilight, Narnia, Divergent …) but that is a VERY difficult task …   

1. Stardust

When I first watched Stardust, I didn’t actually realise that it was based on an incredible novel by Neil Gaiman, and it was only recently that I sat down and read the book (and what a book it is). This film makes the list because it features the incomparable Captain Shakespeare (who I have waxed lyrical about in this blog post), played by a feather boa-wearing Robert de Niro. Who else? A natural choice.

2. Silver Linings Playbook

Ok, not strictly YA, by The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick is one of my favourite books of all time (if you haven’t read it yet, read it). As a die-hard fan of the book, I was sceptical to what David O. Russell was going to do Quick’s masterpiece (I’m not biased at all) – but it’s great! The plot of the film differs slightly to the book, but it has both Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in, so … winning. J-Law won an Oscar for this one too – watch it!

3. How to Train Your Dragon

Without a doubt, my favourite (non-Disney) animated film EVER, based of course on Cressida Cowell’s hugely popular novel. To those who claim Despicable Me is better: It has DRAGONS. It has VIKINGS. It has GERARD BUTLER’S AMAZING SCOTTISH BURR. Who wouldn’t want a Toothless? He’s AMAZING.

4. The Hunger Games series

I tried to stay away from the obvious choices, but I can have one, can’t I? Based on Suzanne Collins’ bestsellers, the Hunger Games films are cinematically brilliant. These are amazing films, not overdone, which create a real tension and sense of foreboding (especially in the arena scenes). You genuinely feel terrified when you see Katniss first come up the lift into the arena, and it’s a film that really sparks debate when you watch it: how would you survive? A++. Plus, Katniss is just awesome.

5. The Maze Runner series

Of course! James Dashner’s hit series has had two movie adaptations so far, with the second film The Scorch Trials released in September. Action-packed, gripping and keeping you on the edge of your seat if ever a film did, Wes Ball has done an amazing job of converting page to screen. The Maze is ridiculously daunting, the Grievers are terrifying and the cast is brilliant. It’s even had the seal of approval from my sixteen-year-old brother, who said TST was ‘his film of the year’ (very high praise indeed).

What do you reckon? Tweet us at @chickenhsebooks!