Spoiler free review ahead.
I have always been a huge Hunger Games fan. I’ve seen everything from the books to the movies, so I was ecstatic when Suzanne Collins announced she was releasing a new book in the The Hunger Games Franchise. Sunrise on the Reaping focuses on a younger version of Haymitch Abernathy and his experience in the 50th Hunger Games. For those of you who don’t know who that is, he was the mentor of Katniss and Peeta during the original The Hunger Games book, and is played by Woody Harrelson in the movies.
The Hunger Games novels are about a fictional dystopian future where the former United States has become 12 districts and one Capitol, called Panem. The districts, where a majority of people are living in severe poverty and are being oppressed by the Capitol, where the wealthy and lawmakers live. Once a year, each district must give one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in a fight to the death in an arena called The Hunger Games. Only one child out of all 24 tributes reaped is allowed to survive.. So clearly, this series does have some dark elements to it. Haymitch’s games happen to be the 50th, a quarter quell year with an added “special” twist, with a changing theme. For this year’s games, President Snow announced there would be double the number of tributes reaped than a “regular” year.
Let’s start with the positives of this book. Suzanne Collins did a phenomenal job of painting the picture of Haymitch’s life — she goes into great detail and leaves no plot holes at all. She makes the characters come to life, so much so that you almost forget they are fictional characters. I was emotionally attached to a majority of the characters in the book, who felt like real people living real lives. This is also why I was sobbing so many times throughout this book. Without giving any spoilers, a majority of the characters die, like all the other Hunger Games novels, which was also very emotional. I thought it was interesting how she incorporated characters from the previous books, and told some of their back story as well.
Another positive is that I personally wanted to learn more about Haymitch after reading the first three books, and with this book, I did just that. He’s a very complex character, so I wanted to know his backstory and why he acted as he did. This context is explained in Sunrise on the Reaping and made me understand him more as a character. Let’s just say that Haymitch Abernathy lived a hard life, which is highlighted in the new book —it explains all his lore. So many quirks of his in the other books fall into place in Sunrise on the Reaping. This is a detailed book, and will not make much sense if you haven’t read the other books first.
One thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was the number of characters there were. At times, it was hard to follow because I had to memorize so many names. There were 48 tributes, plus dozens of other characters to keep track of. Each character plays an important role, too, so that makes things even more complex. I genuinely don’t think there are any unimportant characters in this novel.
A second critique is that the ending felt very abrupt. It could’ve been drawn out instead of being rushed in the very last chapter. It was a very fast and unexpected ending that could have used more time — I would have liked more detail. The ending will also literally break your heart. I finished the book while flying back to college for spring break and sobbed on the plane.
I loved this book, and I think Suzanne Collins did a fantastic job yet again. Sunrise on the Reaping is a book that you could read a million times, and still find new details you haven’t previously noticed. This book had me feeling all the emotions and was a rollercoaster ride. I would heavily recommend this book to previous fans of the series and encourage you to read it. This is by far my favorite book in the entire series, and I cannot wait for the movie to come out. I would give this one 5/5 stars.