The Hunger Games, an inspiring and genre defying book series written by Suzanne Collins, has taken the world by storm ever since its publication in 2008. It has recently gained a new installment, Sunrise on the Reaping, which follows Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss Everdeen’s mentor in the original trilogy of books.
Haymitch has been a beloved character in readers’ hearts since 2008, and public support for him only grew after he was played by Woody Harrelson in the film adaptations in the 2010s. While we all loved Haymitch, we knew him only through Katniss’s eyes. He was a tortured, scarred victor from the 50th Hunger Games who had lost all his family and turned to alcohol as his only comfort. However, Collins allows us to see him in a new light in her new novel by taking us through his reaping in the Hunger Games and showing us the true history of his games.
If you haven’t read Sunrise on the Reaping yet, beware from here on out, as there will be spoilers!
We are introduced to Haymitch on his 16th birthday, coincidentally the day of the 50th Hunger Games, which is also a Quarter Quell. For the Quarter Quell, there will be twice as many tributes reaped. Haymitch has a little brother, Sid, and a mother working to support the two of them. He also has a girlfriend, Lenore Dove, who is a singer and activist of the Covey people similar to Lucy Gray Baird, the secondary protagonist of A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the fourth novel in The Hunger Games.
When defending Lenore Dove from a peacekeeper after one of the reaped tributes runs away, Haymitch himself is chosen to be reaped for his rebellion. He is reaped along with Maysille Donner, a rich and stuck up bully, childhood friend Louella McCoy, and Wyatt Callow, a quiet boy whose family makes money betting on the games.
The four are mentored by Mags from District 4 and Wiress from District 3, who readers may recognize from the original series. Haymitch also meets another tribute, Ampert, whose father is Beetee, a victor from District 3 and another original character. We are also introduced to a young Plutarch Heavensbee, who was a rebellion leader in the original trilogy and is a cameraman for the Capitol in this book. Beetee and Plutarch enlist Haymitch to help them with the rebellion, letting him in on a plan to blow up a water tank in the arena.
Many of the tributes, including Haymitch, agree to band together, but when the Games begin, Haymitch immediately leaves his allies to attempt his plan for the rebellion. He succeeds in blowing up the water tank with the help of Ampert, who is immediately killed. Unfortunately, the arena is fixed, leaving Haymitch desolate at his failure to make a difference. He eventually teams up with Maysilee, but when she too is killed, he attempts one final search for his allies until everyone is dead except for him and a tribute from District 1. The girl attempts to kill him, but her axe flies off a force field in the arena and instead kills her. Haymitch wins, but upon his return to District 12 he finds his family and his girlfriend killed to punish him for his actions against the Capitol.
Alright, so clearly this was a long book. A lot happened, a lot of characters were introduced, and we finally got to find out more information on events we’ve wondered about for so long. Overwhelming support and 5-star reviews have flooded Goodreads, Instagram, and TikTok, but I don’t really agree.
I don’t think this book was very good.
I’ll start with my minor grievances. I don’t actually believe this book was well written, at all. The characters were flat, with barely any personality. Haymitch is a male Mary Sue (a character with no flaws or weaknesses) and barely similar at all to the Haymitch we know and love. In the trilogy, Haymitch is clever, witty, sharp, and seems like a fighter. In this book, he’s sweet and defined by his love for his girlfriend and his family, but he isn’t much else. He doesn’t crack jokes, he doesn’t make sarcastic comments, and he seems to be good at everything but with no particular talents or skills to mark him as a unique character. And he certainly has no flaws. He’s never rude, or mean, or even has a slightly negative thought. I don’t even believe he’s a real person, honestly.
Haymitch isn’t the only bad character, though. His girlfriend Lenore Dove has no traits other than singing and being rebellious, and we’re supposed to believe in her and Haymitch’s love story with no backstory or history to get us invested. There are so many references to her that by the end of the novel I didn’t even care when she died. Her death is perhaps the most nonsensical in the story. She perishes after eating a poisoned gumdrop that President Snow left for her in a valley right after she reunites with Haymitch. How did Snow know she would find them? How did he know she would want to eat random gumdrops? How did he know Haymitch and her would reunite in that specific valley? We don’t know, making it the most idiotic death I’ve ever read.
Another big gripe I had with this novel was the fanservice. I’ve seen many devout Suzanne Collins fans getting angry with people saying this online, but anyone who can’t admit that this book was written for the sole purpose of satisfying fans is delusional. We find out that Haymitch was best friends with Katniss’s father and knew her mother, and Peeta’s father. Why would this never come up in the original series? Again, another question with no answers because it simply makes no sense in any way.
Katniss’ parents being included was not the only instance of catering to fans. The idea that Mags and Wiress were Haymitch’s mentors, but never disclosed that to Katniss when they became allies in Catching Fire is crazy. The inclusion of Mags, Wiress, and even Beetee made no sense and just made me annoyed. I like seeing characters I know in prequels, but when there is genuinely no reason for their presence, it just takes me out of the reading experience.
But above all, above the gimmicky character cameos and poorly written personalities, there was one thing that made this book irredeemable. The plot.
Haymitch is introduced as a random boy from District 12 who is unfairly chosen to be in the Hunger Games. However, instead of wanting to get home to his family, or feeling anger at his unfair circumstances, the only thing he seems to care about is defying the Capitol. I can understand wanting to rebel, as the Capitol is incredibly evil and responsible for all the horrors of his life. However, a sixteen year old boy being so eager to give up his life and not have any regard for himself, instead only thinking about the rebellion while he has a family and girlfriend to get home to, just makes no sense.
Haymitch’s rebelliousness is somehow immediately identified by everyone in the rebellion, who recruit him to fight against Snow. I found myself wondering why all these members of a revolution would trust a random child after a few days and tell him all the secrets of their missions. I never really got an answer, and while I appreciate the message of the novel that Haymitch’s failure at rebellion demonstrates that the rebellion of the original trilogy was years in the making, it just made me more confused. Katniss and Peeta were almost killed and always threatened for their rebellious actions, yet Haymitch doing arguably worse resulted in him living on. I just can’t buy that President Snow wouldn’t have found a way to kill Haymitch.
At the end of the day, I’m sad about this book. I truly wanted to love it, and I truly wanted it to enhance my understanding of the series and its characters. But I honestly believe this book shouldn’t have been written, much less published. It doesn’t add anything to the narrative, and if this book had no connection to The Hunger Games and had to stand on its own, no one would think it is a good novel.
I can only hope that the movie adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping is better than the book, which as a reader is a truly tragic statement to make.