This year alone, books of all genres have made their way to the screen. The TV shows “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “Heartstopper” and “Shadow and Bone” are all based on books, as well as the movies “Red White and Royal Blue” and the new Hunger Games “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” In this article, I’ll be ranking these five films from the worst to best book-to-movie adaptations.
The lowest in the rankings is “Shadow and Bone,” by Leigh Bardugo, which released its second season in March of this year. I found the books to be enjoyable but enjoyed the spin-off series much better. Season one of the show was well done and accurate to the books, but characters from the spin-off book “Six of Crows” were added into the season, when chronologically these characters’ stories do not take place until after “Shadow and Bone” ends.
I found this decision strange, however, it wasn’t terrible because “Six of Crows” was one of my favorite books, and I wasn’t going to complain about having more of them. Once the second season came around, I assumed the Crows storyline would follow their first book. When it didn’t, I was confused. They took aspects from the first book “Six of Crows” and the second book “Crooked Kingdom” and combined them for another new storyline that didn’t make sense.
Additionally, the execution of the second season compared to the book fell flat and wasn’t accurate. Overall, if you separate the show from the book, it’s a good watch and entertaining. On the other hand, as a book adaptation, some things could’ve been executed better, such as the separation of the plots and the cohesion of the storyline.
Preceding “Shadow and Bone” would have to be “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” ranking number four. “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” also referred to as “TSITP,” released its second season this summer on Amazon Prime Video. After the abundant success of the first season, there was no doubt the series would continue.
While I read the books and thought they were simply subpar, I enjoyed the show more. Firstly, the books took place in the early 2000s where the show took a modern spin, setting it in 2020, and making it more relatable for teens today. Author Jenny Han tweaked the original plot to keep the show more relatable and kept it mainly accurate to the books at the same time. These changes did their job and made the show more enjoyable than the books, allowing me to see myself in the characters. But from book to screen, many things were different, which is why it’s ranked at number four.
Next up is “Red, White and Royal Blue,” which made its on-screen debut on Prime Video this summer as well, bringing the well-loved story of FSOTUS Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry Fox to life. This is one of my favorite books and I was ecstatic to hear it was going to be a movie. While I loved the movie, some things could’ve been done better. First, the pacing was a bit fast, and I would’ve loved to see more of the domestic moments between Alex and Henry and less of their physical relationship.
There were also characters removed from the movie like Alex’s sister June, who was vital in supporting Alex when he came to terms with his sexuality. Once again the movie was incredible by itself and did a better job at adapting than “Shadow and Bone,” but is still not the strongest book-to-screen adaptation this year.
Ranked number two is “Heartstopper,” by Alice Oseman, a hit comic book turned TV show on Netflix. Because the book already had drawings and a sense of what the characters looked like, the casting was incredible and almost identical to the comics. Oseman brought the book to the screen beautifully and displayed the struggles of the characters perfectly. After debuting number one on Netflix after the release of season one, “Heartstopper” was renewed for not only a season two but a season three as well. The show stays accurate to the book and brings scenes to life exactly how they were displayed in the comic.
Finally in first place is the new “Hunger Games” movie “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” As the most recent release on this list, “The Hunger Games” made its big screen debut on Nov. 18 and sat at number one at the box offices for two weeks straight. Notorious for incredible book-to-movie adaptations, author Suzanne Collins and director Francis Lawrence did not disappoint with this new movie. The casting was perfect and while of course, some things from the book had to be left out, they did a great job of keeping in the important parts while adding humor to a mainly serious story. The only critique is the relationship between Coriolanus and Lucy Gray. It could have been displayed as more prominent as it was in the book, but other than that it was a beautiful movie and an amazing adaptation.
