Attention 2012 dystopian fanatics… we’re back! Sunrise on the Reaping, the newest addition to the Hunger Games series, came out on Tuesday, March 18, and you best believe I was at my local Barnes & Noble when it opened. I sped through the book, reading it in two days, but I was still at risk of spoilers, because apparently reading 400 pages in 48 hours is too slow for people. I read during every waking hour, so maybe I’m just a slow reader. Suzanne Collins announced this book about nine months ago, and announced the movie adaptation to be released on Thanksgiving of next year, 2026 (I’m not sure I can wait that long). I’ve been counting down the days and telling myself everything will be okay because we get new and old lore, new and old characters, and after reading the book, I can confirm that the super fanatics (me) have been fed until the movie comes out.
I still remember the first time I was introduced to The Hunger Games. I remember watching the cornucopia scene in the first movie with two friends when I was about nine or 10, my face the picture of complete shock, because it’s a crazy thing to watch as a nine-year-old. But, I haven’t looked back since. I watched all the movies and fell in love with them. I didn’t read the books until high school, about five years ago, yet I was grateful, because I don’t think I would have fully understood it if I had read it as a preteen. I didn’t read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes until right before the movie came out, but I went to the NYC movie premiere and “A Night in Conversation” with the cast, which was phenomenal. I was even lucky enough to meet Rachel Zegler and Hunter Schafer, two stars of the movie, after the talk, and I got my book signed. The movie and book were incredible, but I think most people, including me, were really begging Collins for a Haymitch book. And finally, we were blessed with an announcement last summer.
Collins has said before that she only writes when she has something to say, and looking at our current state of the world in discussion with the book, she had many things to say. A large theme in the book is the discussion of propaganda, and I think that relates to our current political and social climate immensely. For most people, it’s hard to miss what she’s trying to communicate, but those who do understand know that the points of the book will still fly over some people’s heads. The book went as far as talking about how AI (artificial intelligence) was banned in Panem, and there was a disclaimer on the copyright page saying that this book must not be used for AI without the author’s permission. It’s crazy that we live in a time where this needs to be said.
Sunrise on the Reaping was, in my opinion, life-changing. Being a fan of the series and having read the books, I knew how Haymitch won the games and parts of what happened, but this book added so much more to the story. The lore drops throughout the entire story, and the unexpected characters that appeared, had my eyes bulging out of my head; I had to take breaks from reading. It was insane, and honestly totally depressing. If you’ve read or watched the original trilogy, you know who Haymitch is, and who/what he surrounds himself with, so seeing who he was before he was sent to the games is like looking at a completely different character.
I am extremely interested in what they will do with the movie— if they’ll keep the character description for Haymitch, or find someone who looks similar to Woody Harrelson, and what they’ll keep in and what they’ll cut. I think everything in the book is important enough to put in the movie, but movies can only be so long, and they won’t be able to fit everything into it. I also wonder if they’ll have cameos for the characters mentioned in the book. There’s definitely room to do this, and it would be a very nostalgic touch for original fans. Overall, this book was amazing. I had a fulfilling and upsetting two days reading it, and can’t wait for the movie to come out. I’m excited to see the casting and what Collins has to say about it. I’ll continue to be a fan of Collins and this series for as long as I live. People will now, of course, be begging for more, especially from Finnick’s story, but I really appreciate that Collins doesn’t write just because the fans beg her to, instead writing when she feels she can make change and bring attention to important issues. So, I won’t beg for another book; I know that when the time is right, we’ll get more. I’ll continue to savor Sunrise on the Reaping and make it my entire personality until the movie comes out, and then make that my entire personality for probably forever. Prepare to laugh, cry, and want to kill President Snow all over again. Sunrise on the Reaping is the ride of a lifetime!