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The Hunger Games #0.5
Изгревът в деня на Жътвата
Ако съдбата ти е да изгубиш всичко, което обичаш, има ли за какво да се бориш?
Когато слънцето изгрява в деня на Петдесетите игри на глада, окръзите на Панем са сковани от страх. Тази година е юбилейна и от домовете им ще бъдат взети два пъти повече трибути.
В Окръг 12 Хеймич Абърнати се мъчи да не се тревожи прекалено за шансовете си. Интересува го единствено да преживее този ден и да бъде с момичето, което обича. Когато чува името си, усеща как всичките му мечти се разбиват. Откъснат е от семейството и любимата си и е изпратен с още трима други от Окръг 12 в Капитола: малката му съседка, която му е почти като сестра, местния букмейкър и най-превзетото момиче в града. Игрите започват и Хеймич разбира, че му е писано да изгуби. Но в него има нещо, което не иска да се предаде... и борбата продължава далече извън смъртоносната арена.
Когато слънцето изгрява в деня на Петдесетите игри на глада, окръзите на Панем са сковани от страх. Тази година е юбилейна и от домовете им ще бъдат взети два пъти повече трибути.
В Окръг 12 Хеймич Абърнати се мъчи да не се тревожи прекалено за шансовете си. Интересува го единствено да преживее този ден и да бъде с момичето, което обича. Когато чува името си, усеща как всичките му мечти се разбиват. Откъснат е от семейството и любимата си и е изпратен с още трима други от Окръг 12 в Капитола: малката му съседка, която му е почти като сестра, местния букмейкър и най-превзетото момиче в града. Игрите започват и Хеймич разбира, че му е писано да изгуби. Но в него има нещо, което не иска да се предаде... и борбата продължава далече извън смъртоносната арена.
384 pages, Paperback
First published March 18, 2025
96.9k people are currently reading
414k people want to read
About the author
Suzanne Collins
50books113kfollowersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the ŷ database with this name.
Since 1991, Suzanne Collins has been busy writing for children’s television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. For preschool viewers, she penned multiple stories for the Emmy-nominated Little Bear and Oswald. She also co-wrote the critically acclaimed Rankin/Bass Christmas special, Santa, Baby! Most recently she was the Head Writer for Scholastic Entertainment’s Clifford’s Puppy Days.
While working on a Kids WB show called Generation O! she met children’s author James Proimos, who talked her into giving children’s books a try.
Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, she was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you’re much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you’re not going to find a tea party. What you might find...? Well, that’s the story of Gregor the Overlander, the first book in her five-part series, The Underland Chronicles. Suzanne also has a rhyming picture book illustrated by Mike Lester entitled When Charlie McButton Lost Power.
She currently lives in Connecticut with her family and a pair of feral kittens they adopted from their backyard.
The books she is most successful for in teenage eyes are The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. These books have won several awards, including the GA Peach Award.
Since 1991, Suzanne Collins has been busy writing for children’s television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. For preschool viewers, she penned multiple stories for the Emmy-nominated Little Bear and Oswald. She also co-wrote the critically acclaimed Rankin/Bass Christmas special, Santa, Baby! Most recently she was the Head Writer for Scholastic Entertainment’s Clifford’s Puppy Days.
While working on a Kids WB show called Generation O! she met children’s author James Proimos, who talked her into giving children’s books a try.
Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, she was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you’re much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you’re not going to find a tea party. What you might find...? Well, that’s the story of Gregor the Overlander, the first book in her five-part series, The Underland Chronicles. Suzanne also has a rhyming picture book illustrated by Mike Lester entitled When Charlie McButton Lost Power.
She currently lives in Connecticut with her family and a pair of feral kittens they adopted from their backyard.
The books she is most successful for in teenage eyes are The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. These books have won several awards, including the GA Peach Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72,820 reviews
March 19, 2025
i wanna preface this by saying that the hunger games are probably my most re-read books ever, so much so that i can recite paragraphs of them and i also might or might have not written a college paper about them. i also seem to be in the minority of people who enjoyed tbosas, despite having minor issues with it. so trust me when i say that i went into this with an idea that i would at least somewhat enjoy this book. oftentimes when series get really popular, the authors make sequels or spin-offs that are not always that necessary. i respected the fact that Suzanne did not follow this pattern, did not release new books when young adult dystopian fiction was at its peak � so i believed that the reason why she published the prequels was because she had something important to say. now i no longer think so and i think this book either needed more time or should not have been published at all. i will try to be detailed and provide all of my reasoning for such a low rating because i am not hating on this book just for the sake of it, believe me � if i could choose to like it � i would. It would make my life much easier.
right off the bat, the writing in this feels a lot clunkier and heavy-handed than the original trilogy. also felt like it was dumbed down, even though the people who are picking this book up are most likely adults who grew up on this series. regardless, YA does not have to mean that the writing is juvenile, which the previous books proved. i remembered i also noticed the difference in writing between tbosas and the original trilogy, and i enjoyed it a bit less because of it... so i was willing to look past it.
however, not only did this book feel like you’re reading fanfiction of the original trilogy, in addition, there were so many character cameos that it felt forced and silly. i would be happier if we found out this was written by a ghostwriter or something, because i refuse to accept this as canon text written by the same person that wrote my absolute favorite series. what is worse is that characters you have already seen and whose personalities you are already somewhat familiar with did not feel like themselves. not a single character was behaving in a believable way. probably my best example is the usually subtle, older snow that always had interesting interactions with katniss. i adored their conversations where a lot of things were not explicitly said but were heavily implied. in this book, haymitch talks to snow and snow sounds like a barely legal reddit-pilled incel and he’s almost 60. you’re telling me that is the same person whose book we already got and who is such an interesting character in the original trilogy? okay.
incredibly bad character work also applies to the main character as well as the character relationships. both the hunger games and this start with the day of the reaping and both katniss and haymitch are immediately given a backstory and if we are being honest, we do not spend that much time with them in their daily life before they get reaped and taken out of their routine. but while the original trilogy manages to establish incredibly complex and believable family dynamics and relationships in such a short period of time, same cannot be said about haymitch’s story. his love interest, lenora dove is introduced and is supposedly the love of his life. even if we ignore the inherent dramatic dynamics of teenage love and the fact that the reaping process makes children of the districts grow up quicker (therefore it adds to their end-all-be-all sense of importance of human and romantic relationships), the love between them is barely felt. and for good reason, the first few chapters felt more like the author was trying to put in as many familiar names and characters before the clock ran out as well as establish the most clumsy connections to the the snow prequel and establish the katniss-lucy connection. kinda felt like i was being hit on the head with a frying pan. so much of the relationship development was told and not shown.
haymitch as a character and his inner monologue contribute exactly nothing to the overall narrative. not only does he not feel like the haymitch we know and love, but he also could be replaced with my uncle’s ex wife’s family dog and the story would stay the same. now you could argue with me and say: “but maja, the haymitch we know is the haymitch that went through all of that and then some and is a middle-aged alcoholic� and here he is as a 16 year old teenager, it is not the same�. well yeah, but he is the same person still so some of his charm, humor or personality should shine through. but he just feels like nothing but a placeholder for this entire book and what the author wants to do, which i will get into.
and what does this book establish exactly? without any specific spoilers, this book is used to connect the happenings between the first and the second book of the original trilogy. it is just a tool that is used to explain how haymitch ended up knowing about plutarch and the entire arena plot. however, it feels like the author had a clear goal in mind and no time or effort for actually getting there. haymitch is given a task that not only puts him in danger but also could hurt the people who he left behind in the districts. for some reason, and beats me how, he decides to go along with the plot of rebelling against the capitol. not only do we not know why he does it, because we barely know what he thinks about any topic (or we do but it is just so...not organically developed), but also he just stupidly decides to trust people he is meeting the first time in his life and whose intentions or hidden agendas he does not know anything about. compared to katniss not even trusting peeta at the start, it is kinda laughably different. the entire book is so conveniently plotted to set up the events of catching fire, that it actually insults my intelligence as a reader. and dare i say it definitely takes away from the genius and very beloved and kinda now-not-mysterious-in-origin plot of catching fire. i understand that the author had to show how everything started, but if you have an end goal you cannot just forget to motivate your character behaviors in a believable way.
another thing that i absolutely did not find believable at all are the actual games. this book is set “only� 24 years before the events of the first book in the original trilogy. when I read TBOSAS I was fascinated to read about how much the hunger games changed and how they developed throughout history. from something even capitol residents were not fond of to the absolute propaganda machinery and spectacle we see with the 74th and the 75th hunger games. in this book not only are we at the 50th games, meaning 40 years after the 10th games we see in TBOSAS, we are also at the second quarter quell. yet everything about the game organization and logistics feels so juvenile and clumsy, like we are closer to the not well thought out organization the games had at the beginning. the most powerful weapon capitol has is fear and propaganda, so seeing capitol being show as mostly incompetent and messy did not sit well with me so far into the yearly tradition of the hunger games. even the interviews and all of the pre-game events feel like genuinely bad TV, which you cannot say about the 74th and the 75th pre-game ceremonies. the point of this book also was to show the power of propaganda and how different haymitch’s lived experience of the games was compared to the actual footage they showed on TV. but that falls completely flat and is very much on the nose pointed out from his POV, which kind kills the power of the message.
another thing that i understand is the fact why the arena plotline falls very flat. not only do we already know what will happen at haymitch’s games but we also have double the amount of tributes, which makes it harder to connect to anyone or care about anyone dying. so it is not an easy job to make the stakes feel high. however, while i cannot fault suzanne collins for the fact most tributes and arena events felt so very forgettable, i genuinely felt like the only relationship we were supposed to care about was the relationship between haymitch and his district ally, katniss� mother best friend, maysilee. and yet we do not. because it is so badly underdeveloped. those two come from two different backgrounds, there is an obvious class difference between the city folk and the people who live at the seam, as we already established. i understand that they are supposed to go from dislike to reluctant allies to friends, but at the end of the book haymitch refers to her as her sister which is one of the most ridiculous parts of this, and there are many. there is not one point in which we feel anything realistically changed between them and we are meant to believe they went through this whole journey of changing their opinion of one another?! okay! also there were some parts where haymitch was purposefully put in situations that parallel katniss and those felt really forced and really obviously emotionally manipulative.
at the end of the book, the inevitable tragedy befalls on haymitch, capitol has its revenge. yet i felt absolutely nothing, because of already mentioned lack of properly established relationships. the epilogue, which refers to end of mockingjay actually made me actively mad because i refuse to be emotionally manipulated with a mention of familiar characters i adore with my entire heart after the entirety of this mess. i will be seated for the movie, but the book and i have finished our friendship and i will happily choose to disregard this as part of the canon. and if the author decides to write about finnick next, i would gladly not have it at all if it means anything remotely similar to this experience.
right off the bat, the writing in this feels a lot clunkier and heavy-handed than the original trilogy. also felt like it was dumbed down, even though the people who are picking this book up are most likely adults who grew up on this series. regardless, YA does not have to mean that the writing is juvenile, which the previous books proved. i remembered i also noticed the difference in writing between tbosas and the original trilogy, and i enjoyed it a bit less because of it... so i was willing to look past it.
however, not only did this book feel like you’re reading fanfiction of the original trilogy, in addition, there were so many character cameos that it felt forced and silly. i would be happier if we found out this was written by a ghostwriter or something, because i refuse to accept this as canon text written by the same person that wrote my absolute favorite series. what is worse is that characters you have already seen and whose personalities you are already somewhat familiar with did not feel like themselves. not a single character was behaving in a believable way. probably my best example is the usually subtle, older snow that always had interesting interactions with katniss. i adored their conversations where a lot of things were not explicitly said but were heavily implied. in this book, haymitch talks to snow and snow sounds like a barely legal reddit-pilled incel and he’s almost 60. you’re telling me that is the same person whose book we already got and who is such an interesting character in the original trilogy? okay.
incredibly bad character work also applies to the main character as well as the character relationships. both the hunger games and this start with the day of the reaping and both katniss and haymitch are immediately given a backstory and if we are being honest, we do not spend that much time with them in their daily life before they get reaped and taken out of their routine. but while the original trilogy manages to establish incredibly complex and believable family dynamics and relationships in such a short period of time, same cannot be said about haymitch’s story. his love interest, lenora dove is introduced and is supposedly the love of his life. even if we ignore the inherent dramatic dynamics of teenage love and the fact that the reaping process makes children of the districts grow up quicker (therefore it adds to their end-all-be-all sense of importance of human and romantic relationships), the love between them is barely felt. and for good reason, the first few chapters felt more like the author was trying to put in as many familiar names and characters before the clock ran out as well as establish the most clumsy connections to the the snow prequel and establish the katniss-lucy connection. kinda felt like i was being hit on the head with a frying pan. so much of the relationship development was told and not shown.
haymitch as a character and his inner monologue contribute exactly nothing to the overall narrative. not only does he not feel like the haymitch we know and love, but he also could be replaced with my uncle’s ex wife’s family dog and the story would stay the same. now you could argue with me and say: “but maja, the haymitch we know is the haymitch that went through all of that and then some and is a middle-aged alcoholic� and here he is as a 16 year old teenager, it is not the same�. well yeah, but he is the same person still so some of his charm, humor or personality should shine through. but he just feels like nothing but a placeholder for this entire book and what the author wants to do, which i will get into.
and what does this book establish exactly? without any specific spoilers, this book is used to connect the happenings between the first and the second book of the original trilogy. it is just a tool that is used to explain how haymitch ended up knowing about plutarch and the entire arena plot. however, it feels like the author had a clear goal in mind and no time or effort for actually getting there. haymitch is given a task that not only puts him in danger but also could hurt the people who he left behind in the districts. for some reason, and beats me how, he decides to go along with the plot of rebelling against the capitol. not only do we not know why he does it, because we barely know what he thinks about any topic (or we do but it is just so...not organically developed), but also he just stupidly decides to trust people he is meeting the first time in his life and whose intentions or hidden agendas he does not know anything about. compared to katniss not even trusting peeta at the start, it is kinda laughably different. the entire book is so conveniently plotted to set up the events of catching fire, that it actually insults my intelligence as a reader. and dare i say it definitely takes away from the genius and very beloved and kinda now-not-mysterious-in-origin plot of catching fire. i understand that the author had to show how everything started, but if you have an end goal you cannot just forget to motivate your character behaviors in a believable way.
another thing that i absolutely did not find believable at all are the actual games. this book is set “only� 24 years before the events of the first book in the original trilogy. when I read TBOSAS I was fascinated to read about how much the hunger games changed and how they developed throughout history. from something even capitol residents were not fond of to the absolute propaganda machinery and spectacle we see with the 74th and the 75th hunger games. in this book not only are we at the 50th games, meaning 40 years after the 10th games we see in TBOSAS, we are also at the second quarter quell. yet everything about the game organization and logistics feels so juvenile and clumsy, like we are closer to the not well thought out organization the games had at the beginning. the most powerful weapon capitol has is fear and propaganda, so seeing capitol being show as mostly incompetent and messy did not sit well with me so far into the yearly tradition of the hunger games. even the interviews and all of the pre-game events feel like genuinely bad TV, which you cannot say about the 74th and the 75th pre-game ceremonies. the point of this book also was to show the power of propaganda and how different haymitch’s lived experience of the games was compared to the actual footage they showed on TV. but that falls completely flat and is very much on the nose pointed out from his POV, which kind kills the power of the message.
another thing that i understand is the fact why the arena plotline falls very flat. not only do we already know what will happen at haymitch’s games but we also have double the amount of tributes, which makes it harder to connect to anyone or care about anyone dying. so it is not an easy job to make the stakes feel high. however, while i cannot fault suzanne collins for the fact most tributes and arena events felt so very forgettable, i genuinely felt like the only relationship we were supposed to care about was the relationship between haymitch and his district ally, katniss� mother best friend, maysilee. and yet we do not. because it is so badly underdeveloped. those two come from two different backgrounds, there is an obvious class difference between the city folk and the people who live at the seam, as we already established. i understand that they are supposed to go from dislike to reluctant allies to friends, but at the end of the book haymitch refers to her as her sister which is one of the most ridiculous parts of this, and there are many. there is not one point in which we feel anything realistically changed between them and we are meant to believe they went through this whole journey of changing their opinion of one another?! okay! also there were some parts where haymitch was purposefully put in situations that parallel katniss and those felt really forced and really obviously emotionally manipulative.
at the end of the book, the inevitable tragedy befalls on haymitch, capitol has its revenge. yet i felt absolutely nothing, because of already mentioned lack of properly established relationships. the epilogue, which refers to end of mockingjay actually made me actively mad because i refuse to be emotionally manipulated with a mention of familiar characters i adore with my entire heart after the entirety of this mess. i will be seated for the movie, but the book and i have finished our friendship and i will happily choose to disregard this as part of the canon. and if the author decides to write about finnick next, i would gladly not have it at all if it means anything remotely similar to this experience.
March 25, 2025
The tale of survival, of death and despair,
Where the Capitol’s twisted games poison the air.
A broken boy, a hollow shell,
Left to wander a living hell..
Suzanne Collins has done it again you'll . Some books entertain. Some books haunt. This one? It devours! This book isn’t just about survival; it’s about what survival takes from you. The way it rips pieces from people, leaving them breathing but never whole. Love, war, grief, hope—it’s all tangled together in something so devastatingly raw that it hurts in the best way possible.This book doesn’t just tell a story—it drags you into the darkness of Panem, suffocates you with its political tension, and then leaves you staring into the void, questioning everything.
Sunrise on the Reaping is everything I wanted and more—a brutal, gut-wrenching dive into Haymitch Abernathy’s past.Seeing him go from a District 12 underdog to a victor was both thrilling and heartbreaking. Suzanne Collins masterfully peels back his layers, showing the raw survival, strength, and sacrifice that shaped him. This prequel isn’t just a story—it’s an experience, and I felt every moment of it.
“You don’t win the Hunger Games by playing fair. You win by knowing the rules better than they do.�
🍁-"The heart of the story"
~Haymitch Abernathy � The Reluctant Survivor-A boy who played, and a man who stayed
Haymitch isn’t just a drunken mentor with a tragic past—he’s a brilliant strategist, a survivor, and a boy who never wanted to be a hero.
-His greatest weapon? His mind.
-He survives, outsmarts, and plays the Capitol’s game better than they do.
-And yet—he pays the price. Oh, does he pay. Every sarcastic remark, every drink he drowns himself in years later—it all makes sense now. This book doesn’t just explain why Haymitch is broken. It makes you feel every single piece of him shattering.
---------------------------------
"The Rise, The Fall, The Aftermath" -
🏹Part 1: The Birthday �Innocence and Foreboding
Introducing a younger, sharper Haymitch before the Capitol destroys him. The Second Quarter Quell twist immediately sets a dark tone, making the Games feel even more brutal before they even begin.On his sixteenth birthday, Haymitch awakens to the dual weight of celebration and dread, as Reaping Day looms. His bond with his younger brother, Sid, and his affection for his girlfriend, Lenore Dove, paint a picture of youthful innocence amidst impending doom. Haymitch's thoughts reflect his resignation to the Capitol's oppressive rituals
“I wouldn’t want to ruin it.� “You won’t. That’s what it’s made for.� She touches the snake’s head, then the bird’s, in turn. “It takes a lot to break these two. They’re survivors.�
It’s all been taken away. My love, my home, my ma, my sweet little
brother . . . why did I tell him he’s the man of the house now? That wasn’t
fair.
------------------------------------
🏹 Part 2: The Rascal�Survival and Sacrifice
Thrust into the brutal landscape of the 50th Hunger Games, Haymitch's cunning and resilience come to the forefront. His alliance with Maysilee Donner offers a glimmer of hope, yet the arena's relentless cruelty tests their resolve. The Capitol's manipulation is evident, as tributes grapple with both physical threats and psychological torment.“They will not use my tears for their entertainment.�
-----------------------------------
🏹Part 3: The Poster �Desolation and Defiance
Winning the Games doesn’t mean freedom—it never does. Haymitch walked out of that arena alive, but at what cost? The Capitol took what little he had left, making sure he knew that survival came with a price. And yet, even in his lowest moments, there’s this quiet resistance burning in him. It’s in the way he plays the role they expect, but never fully gives in.
“And that’s part of our trouble. Thinking things are inevitable. Not believing change is possible.�
💎Highlights & Insights:
🪶The Atmosphere: The book drips with tension. Every page feels like standing on the edge of a cliff, waiting for the inevitable fall.The 50th Hunger Games is more twisted, deadly, and psychologically tormenting than ever.
🪶Rebellion in the Making:This is where it starts. This book lays the groundwork for the future uprising. You’ll see hints of how Haymitch’s actions inspire later generations and why he ultimately becomes an instrumental figure in Katniss’s rebellion.
🪶The Writing: It’s haunting, poetic, and absolutely gut-wrenching. Some lines hit like a punch to the chest.
🪶The Relationships: Oh, the dynamics here are something else. Whether it’s love, loyalty—it’s all-consuming."They will not use our tears for their entertainment."
🪶The Reaping & Survival Themes: It’s not just about who survives, but how they survive. The psychological weight of it all?? Brutal.
"I love you like all-fire."-I sob!!
"I love you like all-fire too."
🪶The Journey of Haymitch Abernathy � A Story of Alliances, Loss, and Survival
One of the most compelling aspects of Sunrise on the Reaping is Haymitch’s relationships—his allies, his friendships, and the devastating losses that shape the man we come to know in The Hunger Games.
🪶The Loss-Haymitch doesn’t just lose people in the arena—he loses them after he wins. The Capitol ensures that his victory comes at a cost. His allies, his lover, his remaining friends in District 12—one by one, they are taken away.Every person Haymitch dared to care about was used against him. By the time we meet him in The Hunger Games, he is not just a bitter, drunken mentor—he is someone who has lost everything and is barely holding on.
“Winning isn’t surviving. It’s just a different way to die.�
🪶The epilogue!? just wrecks me emotionally -Oh My heart. The weight of survival, of responsibility, of love that keeps him tethered to life when part of him is ready to go—STOP, it’s too much. The way he’s not allowed to give up because he has people to care for now?? But she’s waiting for him. She’s still there. It’s like an understanding beyond death.�
- No I am not crying 😭
🍂~Sunrise on the Reaping? Yeah, this one hurts. and this book bled through me.So here's a poem I wrote:
The Silent Survivor
In the shadow of the Capitol’s gleam,
A boy from District 12 is thrown in the scheme.
The Cornucopia, a feast of pain,
Where survival’s blood is mixed with rain.
Through shifting ground and poisoned air,
He plays a game that isn’t fair.
Mutts with eyes like memories old,
Chasing him, relentless and cold.
The Capitol watches, but they unsee,
The boy he becomes, the man to be.
He wins, but victory comes at a cost,
His home, his love—everything lost.
Playlist
🎵 "Arcade" � Duncan Laurence ("Small-town boy in a big arcade I got addicted to a losing game") 🎵 "Control" � Halsey (Haymitch vs. the Capitol)
🎵 "Survivor" � Destiny’s Child (Because somehow, he did.)
🎵 "The Archer" � Taylor Swift (Pain, just pain.)
🎵 "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" � Lorde (The Capitol’s anthem, basically.)
🎵 "I Love You Like Fire" � Florence + The Machine (Because yes.)
🎯FINAL THOUGHTS �
If The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes made you sympathize with Snow, Sunrise on the Reaping will make you ache for Haymitch. Collins once again proves she’s a master at crafting morally complex characters and gut-wrenching stories. Fans of The Hunger Games—this is a must-read.
✔️ If you love The Hunger Games? � You need this book.
✔️ If you want to understand Haymitch like never before? � Read it.
✔️ If you enjoy books that leave you emotionally wrecked? � This is it.
Sunrise on the Reaping doesn’t just tell a story—it makes you feel every ounce of pain, every flicker of hope, and every cruel twist of fate. Collins proves once again why she is a master of dystopian fictionDid I finish the book, or did it finish me? 💔 Hitting 100% felt like standing in the aftermath of something devastatingly beautiful—shattered, breathless, and forever changed. Some stories don’t just end; they linger, carve into you, and leave behind a piece of themselves. Suzune’s women never just tell a story—they unravel you, stitch you back up, and leave you aching for more. 📖🥀
Also Now, we get to see young Haymitch suffer in 4K. Can’t wait to witness his sanity slowly crumble while the Capitol turns his life into a twisted spectacle. Love that for him. Truly.And let’s talk about the casting—if they mess up Young Haymitch, I will be sending a very strongly worded letter I mean an unhinged Twitter thread lol!.
Suzanne Collins, I applaud you� but also, how dare you.
Now excuse me while I sit in silence and process my pain.
----------------------------------
---------------------------------- � ⁀�pre-view:🎯
"Blood, betrayal, and the Capitol’s twisted games... welcome to the Hunger Games, AGAIN."
"Twice the tributes, twice the dread, play the game or end up dead." 🎭🔥 - OH YESS!!
"Haymitch Abernathy in his prime? Oh, I’m about to be seated—AND destroyed."
We’re stepping back into the arena, but this time, it’s the Quarter Quell—twice the tributes, twice the chaos, and a young Haymitch Abernathy fighting for survival. Expect backstabbing alliances, Capitol cruelty at its peak, and a victor’s journey that changes everything. But what about the ones left behind? Will we see his family? Will we get Maysilee’s POV? Because that would absolutely slap. A dual POV between Haymitch and his brother watching the Games unfold from District 12? Now that would be next-level heartbreak.
And let’s talk about that title—Sunrise on the Reaping? A little too hopeful, don’t you think? Suzanne, WHAT ARE YOU COOKING? 👀 Propaganda? Resistance brewing? GIVE ME EVERYTHING.
The Quarter Quell. Heartbreak. Rebellion. Brutality. I just KNOW this book is going to wreck me. BRING. IT. ON. 🔥🏹 BR with - Joshua.
March 27, 2025
“Sure as the sun will rise tomorrow.�
I honestly have no words to describe this masterpiece. It was honestly so good, like it’s been days since I finished it, and I'm still hungover from this book. I am honestly trying to move on, but it's not happening. Sunrise captured me so easily, and it literally enveloped my brain—like, I CANT SLEEP because the events just replay in my mind. I just know the movie will traumatize me even more, but I feel like everybody will end up liking this book because this is her best and certainly my favorite by her. But the people who have read the original trilogy and have met Haymitch AND the ones who love Haymitch would absolutely devour this book because we desperately needed this story, to fill some gaps left for his character in the original trilogy and honestly, the satisfaction that I got when I read and understood. This book in one word would be heartbreaking but there is so much that this story covers, and I love how so many of the events in this book reflect real-world problems.
“Lenore Dove, I love you like all-fire. That’s for always.�
There's so much that I want to talk about before I actually dive into the characters and expand from there, but the thing that won me over here and in her previous books would be her writing style. I love how when Suzanne picks up her pen, she targets the problems/conflicts/injustices/atrocities committed in the real world and writes about them. Honestly, I feel like The Hunger Games is one of the best books that basically built this dystopian world, which slowly shows what our world is turning into, and Suzanne is such a brilliant writer for being able to capture it. She made this book so complex but addicting—like, the only reason I stopped reading this book was because I needed to go to my uni, and bro� I usually sleep on the way to my uni, butttt I didn’t just for this book. It had me so hooked and so engrossed that I couldn’t even stop if I wanted to. The way she writes such horrifying stories with such a brutal, unflinching style—she doesn’t shy away from the details either. I loved how impactful her whole style is. The wording and the quotes that she uses to reflect the story, the way she symbolizes them, and how there's a deeper meaning behind them—if you read between the lines, you'll know how hard it would hit.
"The moment our hearts shattered? It belongs to us."
Sunrise on the Reaping transported me back to the 2010s when I read this book, and the rush of nostalgia that crashed against me tipped me over into the memories that I had of reading and loving the original world and being transported into this dark and gritty world of Panem. She captured that feeling beautifully, and honestly, the feeling didn’t change when I read this book because when some authors release books set in the same universe after years (prequels or spin-offs), they feel different in some ways—either the author’s writing has changed or the way she saw the world changes, and it reflects on the book. But this book?? It made me feel exactly like The Hunger Games did. Like, I remember sitting and reading it, and the feelings that I had were the exact same that I had here. Suzanne’s writing is already perfect, but the way she was able to capture that intensity of emotions that we felt 15 years ago is just insane.
“They will not use my tears for their entertainment.�
Since I am rambling, I might spill some SPOILERS, so proceed with CAUTION!!!
SPOILERS!! ONLY WARNING!!
Haymitch � A Deep Dive into His Character:
Let’s take a deep dive into his character. He's the second character from whose perspective we experienced the reaping and the Games, and I thought that there would be similarities when it comes to his character with Katniss, but they were so different. His entire inner monologue was so good. Where I found Katniss to be very outspoken when it came to rebellion and more fierce, Haymitch was more silent and observant. His character was so well written, his inner turmoil, his whole arc, the way one might think that his story is about hope, but for me, it's about survival in a place where there is no hope and how it turns into survival with a tinge of hope as the story concludes. My heart broke for Haymitch—like, it broke into pieces and was then stomped on. Everything that happened to him was some of the most cruel, dark, and traumatizing storylines that I have ever read. The way it was able to capture that depressing nature so naturally was also very impressive. He lost so much, he tried so hard to save people, but it ended up just him losing them, and the way the Capitol was so unjust towards him—they did everything to break him. They gave him hope and took it away. Whenever he thought he could be happy, they would take that away as well. Everything that happened to him looks even worse when you actually see how he saw so many tributes from District 12 being reaped before Katniss, and how he tried to help them and mentor them to survive, but they would just end up dying, and how he had to live with that was soooo sad.
Haymitch's breakdown and how the side characters fueled that:
I honestly just have to dissect everything and analyze it because I am honestly so feral about this book, but I loved the representation of how we got to see Haymitch break piece by piece, and it hit so hard. Like, you knew that it would happen, but the writing was so impactful that it hit more than anticipated. The character he was before the Games, during the Games, and after the Games were all so different. Before the Games, he was just a boy who was in love. He was always clever and smart, but he was somewhat happy, and then the Games started—that's where his downfall began. There were so many characters that fueled that, like Wyatt, a fellow district member who he grew close to, and his death hit Haymitch harder than he anticipated. Uff, the way he was thinking about Wyatt and thought he would survive when he was escaping at the start, but when he heard the cannon boom and started sobbing when he found out about Wyatt—I think that broke a piece of him. Then came Ampert. His death felt like a promise broken to Beetee, and it hurt even more because Beetee was put in the Games and had to watch his son die. Haymitch tried so hard to save him, so I feel like that was another step toward his descent into madness. Then came Maysilee, and I LOVED HER SO MUCH!! She was so badass, but the way she was so brutally murdered by the Jabberjays showed Haymitch how the Capitol could change and get whatever they wanted, and it hit him more because he felt that she died because of him, and she was the last one from her district!! Their banter was so good, and man, I felt so bad when she died because, honestly, Haymitch's breakdown was so much worse than I anticipated. Another character who contributed was Louella, both the real and fake one. Their deaths showed how much Haymitch was willing to do for his people. I do feel like Maysilee's death was the major step toward his destruction. Wellie was one of the last hopes of Haymitch ruining the Games by saving her so there would be no victors, but he COULDN’T SAVE HER EITHER. How much did this man have to suffer? I think that's where that hopelessness started. During the Games, we slowly start to see implications of who he'll turn into with all the deaths that he witnesses, but then we move to the aftermath of the Games.
Imagine coming home after surviving the Hunger Games, thinking you'll meet your family, but you see your house burning with your mom and little brother in it. They were used as a threat against Haymitch by Snow, showing who the one with power is, and it broke my heart so much because he wanted to meet his brother so badly, and they were so innocent. This wasn't the worst part, though. The worst part was him being with Lenore Dove, the woman he loves. The woman he fought everything for, only to lose her at the time when he actually thought he could be with her. That too was a ploy of Snow, and I hated how Haymitch noticed it but was too late. The way she died in his arms—that is one of the most heartbreaking deaths that I have ever read, and I fully believe that it was Haymitch's final descent into madness because she was his light in this cruel, dark world. After her death, he literally lost everyone, so after the Games, we see Haymitch slowly let his depression take over him, and he would drink himself to the point where he could forget everything. It was so sad to see such a beautiful boy break because of the cruelty of the world.
“In fifty years, we’ve only had one victor, and that was a long time ago. A girl who no one seems to know anything about.�
The side characters besides the ones I mentioned—the ones we already met—stole the show. Mags, the woman who captured our hearts in Catching Fire, showed us why in this book. She was so good and so kind that Haymitch trusted and opened up to her. He felt comforted by her presence. She knew the cost of losing everything, and I think Haymitch resonated with that. I loved Wiress so much, and Beetee as well. Wiress was such a queen, the only victor to win a game without killing anyone. You deserved so much better than what this vicious world gave you. And Beetee, who was destined to do so much but ended up being forced to be a pawn and was tortured so much!! He lost so much—imagine being in the Games, then being forced to watch your son die in the Games, only to go to the Games yourself and lose your closest friend. MY HEART BROKE FOR HIM. Plutarch was one of the most clever characters ever written. The way he was able to control the media and create a spectacle and entertainment for people eventually led to him earning a role as the head Gamemaker in the future books. I loved how he secretly was working for the rebellion, how he was so sly and knew how to manipulate the media, but I also loved how he realized that what the Capitol was doing was wrong and tried to change it.
Parallels and how this book perfectly fit as a puzzle piece:
Snow’s methods to maintain power led to victors and their loved ones being punished. We saw Katniss being tortured, Finnick being forced into prostitution, Beetee witnessing his child’s death, Johanna's entire family being killed because she refused to accept prostitution, and Haymitch losing everyone because he challenged Snow and won. This was also shown through the Quarter Quells, where Snow tried to crush the victors' influence—first by doubling the tributes in the Second Quarter Quell and later by forcing all previous victors back into the Games for the 75th Quarter Quell.
Wellie dying was a parallel to Rue dying.
The Capitol’s fear of music as a form of resistance—Lucy Gray inspired people and incited a rebellion through her songs, and we see the same with Lenore and later Katniss. Every time, the Peacekeepers tried to kill the idea of it, repress it, and shut it down.
Media propaganda—Haymitch's family being used for entertainment paralleled Katniss and Peeta’s relationship being manipulated. The tributes themselves being used as media pawns was another clear parallel to the original trilogy.
The Mockingjay pin as a symbol of resistance—Maysilee initially wore it, and it later became a vital emblem when Katniss wore it.
The way the story also fit in so well—we now understand why Haymitch drinks so much and fully grasp the extent of his trauma. I always thought he drank because he was tired of losing the victors he mentored, and while that was part of it, this book solidified the true depth of what he endured. It also explains why Snow was so afraid of the victors—specifically Katniss—because he saw the same defiance in her that he once saw in Haymitch. The way both of them publicly challenged Snow and tried to destroy the forcefield, changing the perception of the Games, was a direct parallel. This book also helps us understand why there was such a strong sense of trust between Beetee, Wiress, Mags, Finnick, and Haymitch. It also provides insight into Plutarch's character, his past, and his ability to manipulate the media, which ultimately shaped his role in the original trilogy. Finally, it reinforced how important and significant the Mockingjay pin was.
“I know that every year for my birthday, I will get a new pair of tributes, one girl and one boy, to mentor to their deaths. Another sunrise on the reaping.�
The setting was much darker here—District 12 felt more desolate, gloomy, and harsh. The Peacekeepers and the Capitol were portrayed as even more ruthless, wealthier, and crueler, going to the extent of punishing double the tributes for their own entertainment. This was captured so well. It created a perfect atmosphere that fully immersed us in that world and allowed us to feel everything this book had to offer. I feel like that is incredibly difficult to achieve—to create a world so heavily influenced by real-world problems and give it such depth—but she did it! And I will always praise her for it.
“I will pay for it with my death and with the broken hearts and lives of everyone who loves me.�
This part is personal to me and how I felt this book and its themes related to real-world events and the many similarities I noticed as I read, which I absolutely could not deny or overlook:
I could not deny the parallels between what the Palestinians are going through and this entire series. It's widely known that Suzanne targets real-world oppression in her books, and the human rights abuses, military occupation, and corrupt regime of the districts parallel the events unfolding in Palestine. Specifically, the way the Peacekeepers oppress civilians by overwhelming them with military weapons and power, using propaganda to silence the oppressed, starving and killing people, and destroying homes all mirror the genocide being committed in Palestine. Additionally, the way the Capitol makes the districts hopeless by continuing the reaping ceremony year after year, inch by inch, trying to eradicate any remaining hope, parallels what is happening in Palestine, with the so-called brief periods of "ceasefires." Even the role of media manipulation shown in this book directly reflects the propaganda used to control the narrative surrounding the Palestinian genocide.
"Don’t you . . . let it . . . rise . . ."
"I can’t stop it. You know I can’t stop it."
". . . on the reaping," she whispers.
.
"She releases her grip enough to lock her pinkie around mine. Looking, I think, for a final confirmation of the promise we made to each other."
.
"Pain stabs my chest, and I wonder if a person’s heart can really break. Probably. The word brokenhearted had to come from somewhere."
.
“Fire is catching, she’d say, but if this one burns down the arena, I say good riddance.�
.
“I’m entirely the Capitol’s plaything. They will use me for their entertainment and then kill me, and the truth will have no say in it.�
.
“I don't want to beg. Or plead for my life. I want to go out with my head up.�
.
“But she was smarter than me, or luckier. She's the one who finally kept that sun from rising.�
.
"Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.�
.
A cannon fires. Somewhere, Beetee’s heart breaks into fragments so small it can never be repaired.�
.
"I lie on her grave and remain there as night falls, dawn breaks, and blackness descends again. I tell her everything and beg her to return to me, to wait for me, to forgive me for all the ways in which I have failed."
.
"Maysilee leaves the world the way she wanted, wounded but not bowed."
.
“Every year we let them herd us into their killing machine. Every year they pay no price for the slaughter. They just throw a big party and box up our bodies like presents for our families to open back home.�
.
“I want to scream out the truth. A boy’s head was blown off! People in 12 were shot! My reaping was rigged! But I just sit there, mute and radiating implicit submission. Snow has me by the short hairs and he knows it.�
Overall, this was a spectacular book, and I would urge everyone to read it!
__
This felt like a piece of a puzzle that fits perfectly in. It made me understand so many things and the depression that this book caused me 😭😭😔 RRTC because I need to unload.
Buddy read with Buket
___
MOVE BITCH 🏃🏻🏃🏻🏃🏻 HAYMITCH IS HERE!
___
Since I can't update on this book, I'll just use this space to write my cr thoughts because I'm spiraling 🤸🏻
Part 1,
Chapter 5: That slap that maysilee delivered was soooo satisfying to read 🤭
Chapter 7: BEETEE, WIRESS AND MAGS HOW I MISSED YOU 😭
Chapter 8: what kind of drug didiss Collins add to this book.
Chapter 9: If there's one thing common in every book, it's beetee getting tortured 😭
Part 2,
I've lost count because I sped through but I'm on chapter 16 and AHHHH Effie trinket came 😭 I missed her. The interviews were soo good and the game just started and I'm hooked all over again.
This level of torture is not good for my health ✋🏻😔✋🏻. Alsooo I'm loving how this is going and how each chapters end is so intense.
___
I need this book like I need air 😔
___
The hunger games was a book that I read before I became an avid reader it was possibly what drove me towards reading more books because I read that series in 2012 and Haymitch's character always intrigued me, I always wanted to know more about him and now finally after 12 years we are getting his book 😭 I AM SO HAPPY
.There's a movie in development?!?! (that was fast 😭)
.Its set 24 years before the hunger games.
.It is the 50th hunger games
I honestly have no words to describe this masterpiece. It was honestly so good, like it’s been days since I finished it, and I'm still hungover from this book. I am honestly trying to move on, but it's not happening. Sunrise captured me so easily, and it literally enveloped my brain—like, I CANT SLEEP because the events just replay in my mind. I just know the movie will traumatize me even more, but I feel like everybody will end up liking this book because this is her best and certainly my favorite by her. But the people who have read the original trilogy and have met Haymitch AND the ones who love Haymitch would absolutely devour this book because we desperately needed this story, to fill some gaps left for his character in the original trilogy and honestly, the satisfaction that I got when I read and understood. This book in one word would be heartbreaking but there is so much that this story covers, and I love how so many of the events in this book reflect real-world problems.
“Lenore Dove, I love you like all-fire. That’s for always.�
There's so much that I want to talk about before I actually dive into the characters and expand from there, but the thing that won me over here and in her previous books would be her writing style. I love how when Suzanne picks up her pen, she targets the problems/conflicts/injustices/atrocities committed in the real world and writes about them. Honestly, I feel like The Hunger Games is one of the best books that basically built this dystopian world, which slowly shows what our world is turning into, and Suzanne is such a brilliant writer for being able to capture it. She made this book so complex but addicting—like, the only reason I stopped reading this book was because I needed to go to my uni, and bro� I usually sleep on the way to my uni, butttt I didn’t just for this book. It had me so hooked and so engrossed that I couldn’t even stop if I wanted to. The way she writes such horrifying stories with such a brutal, unflinching style—she doesn’t shy away from the details either. I loved how impactful her whole style is. The wording and the quotes that she uses to reflect the story, the way she symbolizes them, and how there's a deeper meaning behind them—if you read between the lines, you'll know how hard it would hit.
"The moment our hearts shattered? It belongs to us."
Sunrise on the Reaping transported me back to the 2010s when I read this book, and the rush of nostalgia that crashed against me tipped me over into the memories that I had of reading and loving the original world and being transported into this dark and gritty world of Panem. She captured that feeling beautifully, and honestly, the feeling didn’t change when I read this book because when some authors release books set in the same universe after years (prequels or spin-offs), they feel different in some ways—either the author’s writing has changed or the way she saw the world changes, and it reflects on the book. But this book?? It made me feel exactly like The Hunger Games did. Like, I remember sitting and reading it, and the feelings that I had were the exact same that I had here. Suzanne’s writing is already perfect, but the way she was able to capture that intensity of emotions that we felt 15 years ago is just insane.
“They will not use my tears for their entertainment.�
Since I am rambling, I might spill some SPOILERS, so proceed with CAUTION!!!
SPOILERS!! ONLY WARNING!!
Haymitch � A Deep Dive into His Character:
Let’s take a deep dive into his character. He's the second character from whose perspective we experienced the reaping and the Games, and I thought that there would be similarities when it comes to his character with Katniss, but they were so different. His entire inner monologue was so good. Where I found Katniss to be very outspoken when it came to rebellion and more fierce, Haymitch was more silent and observant. His character was so well written, his inner turmoil, his whole arc, the way one might think that his story is about hope, but for me, it's about survival in a place where there is no hope and how it turns into survival with a tinge of hope as the story concludes. My heart broke for Haymitch—like, it broke into pieces and was then stomped on. Everything that happened to him was some of the most cruel, dark, and traumatizing storylines that I have ever read. The way it was able to capture that depressing nature so naturally was also very impressive. He lost so much, he tried so hard to save people, but it ended up just him losing them, and the way the Capitol was so unjust towards him—they did everything to break him. They gave him hope and took it away. Whenever he thought he could be happy, they would take that away as well. Everything that happened to him looks even worse when you actually see how he saw so many tributes from District 12 being reaped before Katniss, and how he tried to help them and mentor them to survive, but they would just end up dying, and how he had to live with that was soooo sad.
Haymitch's breakdown and how the side characters fueled that:
I honestly just have to dissect everything and analyze it because I am honestly so feral about this book, but I loved the representation of how we got to see Haymitch break piece by piece, and it hit so hard. Like, you knew that it would happen, but the writing was so impactful that it hit more than anticipated. The character he was before the Games, during the Games, and after the Games were all so different. Before the Games, he was just a boy who was in love. He was always clever and smart, but he was somewhat happy, and then the Games started—that's where his downfall began. There were so many characters that fueled that, like Wyatt, a fellow district member who he grew close to, and his death hit Haymitch harder than he anticipated. Uff, the way he was thinking about Wyatt and thought he would survive when he was escaping at the start, but when he heard the cannon boom and started sobbing when he found out about Wyatt—I think that broke a piece of him. Then came Ampert. His death felt like a promise broken to Beetee, and it hurt even more because Beetee was put in the Games and had to watch his son die. Haymitch tried so hard to save him, so I feel like that was another step toward his descent into madness. Then came Maysilee, and I LOVED HER SO MUCH!! She was so badass, but the way she was so brutally murdered by the Jabberjays showed Haymitch how the Capitol could change and get whatever they wanted, and it hit him more because he felt that she died because of him, and she was the last one from her district!! Their banter was so good, and man, I felt so bad when she died because, honestly, Haymitch's breakdown was so much worse than I anticipated. Another character who contributed was Louella, both the real and fake one. Their deaths showed how much Haymitch was willing to do for his people. I do feel like Maysilee's death was the major step toward his destruction. Wellie was one of the last hopes of Haymitch ruining the Games by saving her so there would be no victors, but he COULDN’T SAVE HER EITHER. How much did this man have to suffer? I think that's where that hopelessness started. During the Games, we slowly start to see implications of who he'll turn into with all the deaths that he witnesses, but then we move to the aftermath of the Games.
Imagine coming home after surviving the Hunger Games, thinking you'll meet your family, but you see your house burning with your mom and little brother in it. They were used as a threat against Haymitch by Snow, showing who the one with power is, and it broke my heart so much because he wanted to meet his brother so badly, and they were so innocent. This wasn't the worst part, though. The worst part was him being with Lenore Dove, the woman he loves. The woman he fought everything for, only to lose her at the time when he actually thought he could be with her. That too was a ploy of Snow, and I hated how Haymitch noticed it but was too late. The way she died in his arms—that is one of the most heartbreaking deaths that I have ever read, and I fully believe that it was Haymitch's final descent into madness because she was his light in this cruel, dark world. After her death, he literally lost everyone, so after the Games, we see Haymitch slowly let his depression take over him, and he would drink himself to the point where he could forget everything. It was so sad to see such a beautiful boy break because of the cruelty of the world.
“In fifty years, we’ve only had one victor, and that was a long time ago. A girl who no one seems to know anything about.�
The side characters besides the ones I mentioned—the ones we already met—stole the show. Mags, the woman who captured our hearts in Catching Fire, showed us why in this book. She was so good and so kind that Haymitch trusted and opened up to her. He felt comforted by her presence. She knew the cost of losing everything, and I think Haymitch resonated with that. I loved Wiress so much, and Beetee as well. Wiress was such a queen, the only victor to win a game without killing anyone. You deserved so much better than what this vicious world gave you. And Beetee, who was destined to do so much but ended up being forced to be a pawn and was tortured so much!! He lost so much—imagine being in the Games, then being forced to watch your son die in the Games, only to go to the Games yourself and lose your closest friend. MY HEART BROKE FOR HIM. Plutarch was one of the most clever characters ever written. The way he was able to control the media and create a spectacle and entertainment for people eventually led to him earning a role as the head Gamemaker in the future books. I loved how he secretly was working for the rebellion, how he was so sly and knew how to manipulate the media, but I also loved how he realized that what the Capitol was doing was wrong and tried to change it.
Parallels and how this book perfectly fit as a puzzle piece:
Snow’s methods to maintain power led to victors and their loved ones being punished. We saw Katniss being tortured, Finnick being forced into prostitution, Beetee witnessing his child’s death, Johanna's entire family being killed because she refused to accept prostitution, and Haymitch losing everyone because he challenged Snow and won. This was also shown through the Quarter Quells, where Snow tried to crush the victors' influence—first by doubling the tributes in the Second Quarter Quell and later by forcing all previous victors back into the Games for the 75th Quarter Quell.
Wellie dying was a parallel to Rue dying.
The Capitol’s fear of music as a form of resistance—Lucy Gray inspired people and incited a rebellion through her songs, and we see the same with Lenore and later Katniss. Every time, the Peacekeepers tried to kill the idea of it, repress it, and shut it down.
Media propaganda—Haymitch's family being used for entertainment paralleled Katniss and Peeta’s relationship being manipulated. The tributes themselves being used as media pawns was another clear parallel to the original trilogy.
The Mockingjay pin as a symbol of resistance—Maysilee initially wore it, and it later became a vital emblem when Katniss wore it.
The way the story also fit in so well—we now understand why Haymitch drinks so much and fully grasp the extent of his trauma. I always thought he drank because he was tired of losing the victors he mentored, and while that was part of it, this book solidified the true depth of what he endured. It also explains why Snow was so afraid of the victors—specifically Katniss—because he saw the same defiance in her that he once saw in Haymitch. The way both of them publicly challenged Snow and tried to destroy the forcefield, changing the perception of the Games, was a direct parallel. This book also helps us understand why there was such a strong sense of trust between Beetee, Wiress, Mags, Finnick, and Haymitch. It also provides insight into Plutarch's character, his past, and his ability to manipulate the media, which ultimately shaped his role in the original trilogy. Finally, it reinforced how important and significant the Mockingjay pin was.
“I know that every year for my birthday, I will get a new pair of tributes, one girl and one boy, to mentor to their deaths. Another sunrise on the reaping.�
The setting was much darker here—District 12 felt more desolate, gloomy, and harsh. The Peacekeepers and the Capitol were portrayed as even more ruthless, wealthier, and crueler, going to the extent of punishing double the tributes for their own entertainment. This was captured so well. It created a perfect atmosphere that fully immersed us in that world and allowed us to feel everything this book had to offer. I feel like that is incredibly difficult to achieve—to create a world so heavily influenced by real-world problems and give it such depth—but she did it! And I will always praise her for it.
“I will pay for it with my death and with the broken hearts and lives of everyone who loves me.�
This part is personal to me and how I felt this book and its themes related to real-world events and the many similarities I noticed as I read, which I absolutely could not deny or overlook:
I could not deny the parallels between what the Palestinians are going through and this entire series. It's widely known that Suzanne targets real-world oppression in her books, and the human rights abuses, military occupation, and corrupt regime of the districts parallel the events unfolding in Palestine. Specifically, the way the Peacekeepers oppress civilians by overwhelming them with military weapons and power, using propaganda to silence the oppressed, starving and killing people, and destroying homes all mirror the genocide being committed in Palestine. Additionally, the way the Capitol makes the districts hopeless by continuing the reaping ceremony year after year, inch by inch, trying to eradicate any remaining hope, parallels what is happening in Palestine, with the so-called brief periods of "ceasefires." Even the role of media manipulation shown in this book directly reflects the propaganda used to control the narrative surrounding the Palestinian genocide.
"Don’t you . . . let it . . . rise . . ."
"I can’t stop it. You know I can’t stop it."
". . . on the reaping," she whispers.
.
"She releases her grip enough to lock her pinkie around mine. Looking, I think, for a final confirmation of the promise we made to each other."
.
"Pain stabs my chest, and I wonder if a person’s heart can really break. Probably. The word brokenhearted had to come from somewhere."
.
“Fire is catching, she’d say, but if this one burns down the arena, I say good riddance.�
.
“I’m entirely the Capitol’s plaything. They will use me for their entertainment and then kill me, and the truth will have no say in it.�
.
“I don't want to beg. Or plead for my life. I want to go out with my head up.�
.
“But she was smarter than me, or luckier. She's the one who finally kept that sun from rising.�
.
"Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.�
.
A cannon fires. Somewhere, Beetee’s heart breaks into fragments so small it can never be repaired.�
.
"I lie on her grave and remain there as night falls, dawn breaks, and blackness descends again. I tell her everything and beg her to return to me, to wait for me, to forgive me for all the ways in which I have failed."
.
"Maysilee leaves the world the way she wanted, wounded but not bowed."
.
“Every year we let them herd us into their killing machine. Every year they pay no price for the slaughter. They just throw a big party and box up our bodies like presents for our families to open back home.�
.
“I want to scream out the truth. A boy’s head was blown off! People in 12 were shot! My reaping was rigged! But I just sit there, mute and radiating implicit submission. Snow has me by the short hairs and he knows it.�
Overall, this was a spectacular book, and I would urge everyone to read it!
__
This felt like a piece of a puzzle that fits perfectly in. It made me understand so many things and the depression that this book caused me 😭😭😔 RRTC because I need to unload.
Buddy read with Buket
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MOVE BITCH 🏃🏻🏃🏻🏃🏻 HAYMITCH IS HERE!
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Since I can't update on this book, I'll just use this space to write my cr thoughts because I'm spiraling 🤸🏻
Part 1,
Chapter 5: That slap that maysilee delivered was soooo satisfying to read 🤭
Chapter 7: BEETEE, WIRESS AND MAGS HOW I MISSED YOU 😭
Chapter 8: what kind of drug didiss Collins add to this book.
Chapter 9: If there's one thing common in every book, it's beetee getting tortured 😭
Part 2,
I've lost count because I sped through but I'm on chapter 16 and AHHHH Effie trinket came 😭 I missed her. The interviews were soo good and the game just started and I'm hooked all over again.
This level of torture is not good for my health ✋🏻😔✋🏻. Alsooo I'm loving how this is going and how each chapters end is so intense.
___
I need this book like I need air 😔
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The hunger games was a book that I read before I became an avid reader it was possibly what drove me towards reading more books because I read that series in 2012 and Haymitch's character always intrigued me, I always wanted to know more about him and now finally after 12 years we are getting his book 😭 I AM SO HAPPY
.There's a movie in development?!?! (that was fast 😭)
.Its set 24 years before the hunger games.
.It is the 50th hunger games
April 4, 2025
My god. She has done it again. I can't remember the last time I cried so much while reading. Probably Mockingjay, actually. I found this one particularly heartbreaking because I already knew how it had to end. There could only be one victor. There was no hoping for a Catching Fire type of ending... all of the other tributes were goners, it was just a matter of when and how. "Goodbye, Maysilee Donner, who I loathed, then grudgingly respected, then loved. Not as a sweetheart or even a friend. A sister." Just throw an axe into a forcefield and let it boomerang back into my gut why don't you. It'd hurt less. My one qualm is Snow's character, but that's more of an issue I have with TBOSAS than this book. I thought maybe this book would offer more insight into his character transformation, but no. He was already pure evil by the time we first meet him in this story. Ugh, Snow's arc will always piss me off, but not enough to stop me from giving this five stars. Also, I loved Plutarch. I wouldn't be upset if we got his story next, but I think what makes these books so compelling is when it’s from the POV of the districts. So, Finnick, you're up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2025
I was looking forward to this latest Hunger Games book (even though I didn't care for ), mostly because I like Haymitch as a character, but I am now fully convinced that this series has no juice left in it. This is a fan book for fans. And, if you're a fan, it has entertaining moments, but nothing about is new or necessary.
Look, I didn't hate it. The formula and themes of The Hunger Games books are all here-- dramatic reaping, infuriating parading of these kids in front of wealthy sponsors, the bloody action and danger of the games themselves --and it's a formula that has worked before. Obviously, there's less tension this time because you know how it ends. You know Haymitch's attempts to bring down the games cannot have been successful. And even the details we don't know are easy to guess.
If you want to read something very similar to The Hunger Games, this is your book. It goes reaping > dress-up > training > rating > games. The characters are different, but the plot is virtually the same.
And while I do enjoy Haymitch as a character (definitely partly thanks to Woody Harrelson), I thought there were very few new characters who were memorable. In fact, Maysilee was the only standout of the other candidates. I also could have done with a bit less of Haymitch's mooning over Lenore. She was off page for more than 90% of the book, we didn't know her very well, so it was boring hearing about her. And sorry, but I'm not enough of an Edgar Allan Poe fan for this book.
There were details about this arena that were different and cool, which I won't spoil. But overall this delivered more of the same thing we had *checks notes and dies of old age* seventeen years ago.
Look, I didn't hate it. The formula and themes of The Hunger Games books are all here-- dramatic reaping, infuriating parading of these kids in front of wealthy sponsors, the bloody action and danger of the games themselves --and it's a formula that has worked before. Obviously, there's less tension this time because you know how it ends. You know Haymitch's attempts to bring down the games cannot have been successful. And even the details we don't know are easy to guess.
If you want to read something very similar to The Hunger Games, this is your book. It goes reaping > dress-up > training > rating > games. The characters are different, but the plot is virtually the same.
And while I do enjoy Haymitch as a character (definitely partly thanks to Woody Harrelson), I thought there were very few new characters who were memorable. In fact, Maysilee was the only standout of the other candidates. I also could have done with a bit less of Haymitch's mooning over Lenore. She was off page for more than 90% of the book, we didn't know her very well, so it was boring hearing about her. And sorry, but I'm not enough of an Edgar Allan Poe fan for this book.
There were details about this arena that were different and cool, which I won't spoil. But overall this delivered more of the same thing we had *checks notes and dies of old age* seventeen years ago.
April 2, 2025
“I love you like all fire.�
6 ⭐️’s of sheer agony and pain and tears and suffering. If someone so much as utters the word gumdrop in my presence I’m punching them in the throat.
I will never be the same. I want to crawl into a hole and die a slow painful death. I actually can’t stop crying. How does one just continue living after this???????
No you will not be getting any more of a review from me I simply lost the ability to form thoughts.
“The nightmare always starts with me feeding her that gumdrop.�
“I roam around the yard like a stray dog, curl up under her window, yearning for her ghost to find me.�
“Tough and smart, her hair in two braids then, reminding me for all the world of Louella McCoy, my sweetheart of old.�
“Like the geese, we really did mate for life.�
“Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping, and she is the most precious thing I’ve ever known.�
6 ⭐️’s of sheer agony and pain and tears and suffering. If someone so much as utters the word gumdrop in my presence I’m punching them in the throat.
I will never be the same. I want to crawl into a hole and die a slow painful death. I actually can’t stop crying. How does one just continue living after this???????
No you will not be getting any more of a review from me I simply lost the ability to form thoughts.
“The nightmare always starts with me feeding her that gumdrop.�
“I roam around the yard like a stray dog, curl up under her window, yearning for her ghost to find me.�
“Tough and smart, her hair in two braids then, reminding me for all the world of Louella McCoy, my sweetheart of old.�
“Like the geese, we really did mate for life.�
“Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping, and she is the most precious thing I’ve ever known.�
April 13, 2025
4.5 stars �
� spoiler-free review!! ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ �
this book is undeniably a masterpiece. when i first picked it up, i was fully expecting the games to be intense, thrilling, and completely nerve-wracking—because double the tributes? that practically screams chaos. however, it didn’t quite deliver on that front the way i’d hoped.
it wasn’t until my reread that i realized i was no better than the people in the capitol 😭 i was so caught up in the spectacle the first time around that i missed the layers underneath—the connections, the symbolism, the way everything ties into the bigger picture of the series� it’s truly brilliant.
even though this book didn’t leave me in tears, i haven’t stopped thinking about it since, and i just know the movie is going to wreck me.
────────── ⋆⋅end⋅⋆ ──────────
pre-reread
i just finished rewatching all the films, and to say i’m unwell would be an understatement. i know i only read this book a few days ago, but after falling down a tiktok rabbit hole and seeing all the theories and connections i completely missed the first time, i feel like i have to reread it. i have a feeling it’s going to wreck me even more the second time around 😭💔
update
i definitely would’ve enjoyed this book even more if i had reread the original trilogy and TBOSAS beforehand—there were so many connections i completely missed 🤦🏻♀️� i’d highly recommend rereading the other books before picking this one up!
┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶
3.75 stars �
� mini spoiler-free review!! ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ �
i honestly didn’t think i’d finish this book in a day, especially since i’ve been stuck in such a weird reading slump lately, but i did. i’m still feeling slumpy for some reason, and i’m literally about to LOSE. MY. MIND 😭🆘
anywhooo, as someone who absolutely loved the original hunger games trilogy—both the books and films—and thoroughly enjoyed the ballad of songbirds and snakes movie, i was thrilled to dive back into the world of panem—it felt so familiar and nostalgic 🥹
i really enjoyed haymitch’s story, but i did have a few issues with it. you’d think that doubling the number of tributes would automatically raise the stakes, right? wrong. the stakes didn’t feel as high as i expected, and most—if not all—of the deaths happened so abruptly that they kind of lacked impact. were they sad? sure, but that was about it—they weren’t gut-wrenching enough imo 🫤
i also have to admit, i wasn’t the biggest fan of haymitch in the original trilogy, and unfortunately, this book didn’t change that for me. 🎶please, please, please🎶 don’t come for me, but it honestly felt like the odds were in his favour and he won the games more by luck than strategy 🤷🏻♀�
and snow� oh, how i despise him (it doesn’t help how hot tom blyth was in TBOSAS though 😔) he’s so incredibly evil, and that ending? so unfair 😭 but then again, when has anything about the hunger games ever been fair? 😪 my heart went out to haymitch, and i finally understand why he behaved the way he did in the first book ❤️�
now we just have to wait ANOTHER year for the movie 🫠 i’ll be counting down the days� and manifesting finnick’s book in the meantime! 🕯️✨🤞🏻
────────── ⋆⋅end⋅⋆ ──────────
pre-read
AAAAHH I’M SO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK 🤸🏻♀� IT BETTER GET ME OUT OF THIS WEIRD SLUMPY MOOD I’VE BEEN IN OR ELSE 😤
pre-release
THIS IS NOT A DRILL ‼️ A NEW HUNGER GAMES BOOK IN 2025 AND MOVIE IN 2026 ⁉️ SIGN ME TF 🆙
� spoiler-free review!! ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ �
“They will not use my tears for their entertainment.�
this book is undeniably a masterpiece. when i first picked it up, i was fully expecting the games to be intense, thrilling, and completely nerve-wracking—because double the tributes? that practically screams chaos. however, it didn’t quite deliver on that front the way i’d hoped.
it wasn’t until my reread that i realized i was no better than the people in the capitol 😭 i was so caught up in the spectacle the first time around that i missed the layers underneath—the connections, the symbolism, the way everything ties into the bigger picture of the series� it’s truly brilliant.
even though this book didn’t leave me in tears, i haven’t stopped thinking about it since, and i just know the movie is going to wreck me.
────────── ⋆⋅end⋅⋆ ──────────
pre-reread
i just finished rewatching all the films, and to say i’m unwell would be an understatement. i know i only read this book a few days ago, but after falling down a tiktok rabbit hole and seeing all the theories and connections i completely missed the first time, i feel like i have to reread it. i have a feeling it’s going to wreck me even more the second time around 😭💔
update
i definitely would’ve enjoyed this book even more if i had reread the original trilogy and TBOSAS beforehand—there were so many connections i completely missed 🤦🏻♀️� i’d highly recommend rereading the other books before picking this one up!
┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶┶
3.75 stars �
� mini spoiler-free review!! ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ �
”…I really can’t imagine the sun not rising tomorrow.�
“Can you imagine it rising on a world without a reaping?� 🌄
i honestly didn’t think i’d finish this book in a day, especially since i’ve been stuck in such a weird reading slump lately, but i did. i’m still feeling slumpy for some reason, and i’m literally about to LOSE. MY. MIND 😭🆘
anywhooo, as someone who absolutely loved the original hunger games trilogy—both the books and films—and thoroughly enjoyed the ballad of songbirds and snakes movie, i was thrilled to dive back into the world of panem—it felt so familiar and nostalgic 🥹
i really enjoyed haymitch’s story, but i did have a few issues with it. you’d think that doubling the number of tributes would automatically raise the stakes, right? wrong. the stakes didn’t feel as high as i expected, and most—if not all—of the deaths happened so abruptly that they kind of lacked impact. were they sad? sure, but that was about it—they weren’t gut-wrenching enough imo 🫤
i also have to admit, i wasn’t the biggest fan of haymitch in the original trilogy, and unfortunately, this book didn’t change that for me. 🎶please, please, please🎶 don’t come for me, but it honestly felt like the odds were in his favour and he won the games more by luck than strategy 🤷🏻♀�
and snow� oh, how i despise him (it doesn’t help how hot tom blyth was in TBOSAS though 😔) he’s so incredibly evil, and that ending? so unfair 😭 but then again, when has anything about the hunger games ever been fair? 😪 my heart went out to haymitch, and i finally understand why he behaved the way he did in the first book ❤️�
now we just have to wait ANOTHER year for the movie 🫠 i’ll be counting down the days� and manifesting finnick’s book in the meantime! 🕯️✨🤞🏻
────────── ⋆⋅end⋅⋆ ──────────
pre-read
AAAAHH I’M SO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK 🤸🏻♀� IT BETTER GET ME OUT OF THIS WEIRD SLUMPY MOOD I’VE BEEN IN OR ELSE 😤
pre-release
THIS IS NOT A DRILL ‼️ A NEW HUNGER GAMES BOOK IN 2025 AND MOVIE IN 2026 ⁉️ SIGN ME TF 🆙
March 27, 2025
4.5 😭😭😭😭😭
SCREAMING, CRYING THROWING UP
SCREAMING, CRYING THROWING UP
March 25, 2025
I genuinely cannot do this. I seriously cannot do this please someone spare me from this pain. I know too much.
March 20, 2025
i wanna die
March 19, 2025
I actually think I’ve dehydrated myself from the amount I’ve cried in the last 10 hours, oh my god
March 18, 2025
what do I do now that I’ve finished this?? I feel empty but it was perfect 😭
March 18, 2025
coriolanus snow you will answer for your crimes and tom blyth can’t save you
April 1, 2025
Reading Sunrise on the Reaping felt like willingly walking into a chainsaw.
I knew how this story ended because we’ve met Haymitch in The Hunger Games, and our sweet summer child is a walking pile of PTSD and liquor bottles. But knowing didn’t help. It just made every moment of camaraderie, his infinite capacity to love and every tiny spark of resistance feel even more tragic.
Worst book hangover of my life. 11/10, and wondering if I will ever feel joy again.
˦️˦️˦️
This book broke me.
I knew how this story ended because we’ve met Haymitch in The Hunger Games, and our sweet summer child is a walking pile of PTSD and liquor bottles. But knowing didn’t help. It just made every moment of camaraderie, his infinite capacity to love and every tiny spark of resistance feel even more tragic.
Worst book hangover of my life. 11/10, and wondering if I will ever feel joy again.
˦️˦️˦️
This book broke me.
March 21, 2025
Absolutely freaking loved it!!! Haymitch’s story was fantastic!
Opt for the audio and thank me later.
Full review soon.
“Somewhere in the last few weeks, my nails have turned to claws, my hair to fur. I’ve killed multiple times and preserved no life but my own. I left a simple district piglet and returned as the murderous beast that they always suspected lay in wait.�
"Nobody ever wins the games. Period. There are survivors. There's no winners"
⋆✴︎˚｡� ˗ˏˋ★‿︵� ˚ ₊⊹
Opt for the audio and thank me later.
Full review soon.
“Somewhere in the last few weeks, my nails have turned to claws, my hair to fur. I’ve killed multiple times and preserved no life but my own. I left a simple district piglet and returned as the murderous beast that they always suspected lay in wait.�
"Nobody ever wins the games. Period. There are survivors. There's no winners"
⋆✴︎˚｡� ˗ˏˋ★‿︵� ˚ ₊⊹
Want to read
June 7, 2024SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP BLOOD [bombs exploding] [eagle screech] [star spangled banner starts to play] (OOHHH SAYYY CANN YOUU SEEE)
THIS BETTER BE GOOD OR I WILL END IT ALL I SWEAR (BYYY THE DAWNNSSS EARLYYYY LIGHTTTT) [gunshots] [car crash] IM LOOSING MY MIND [screaming] [motorcycle noises] [sobbing] [helicopter noises][explosions]
THIS BETTER BE GOOD OR I WILL END IT ALL I SWEAR (BYYY THE DAWNNSSS EARLYYYY LIGHTTTT) [gunshots] [car crash] IM LOOSING MY MIND [screaming] [motorcycle noises] [sobbing] [helicopter noises][explosions]
March 20, 2025
˖ � ⟡� 5 stars ˚� � ˖
only Suzanne Collins could make me cry 30 pages into a book and then end up hyperventilating by the end of it.
only Suzanne Collins could make me cry 30 pages into a book and then end up hyperventilating by the end of it.
March 31, 2025
suzanne collins gently kissed this brick before she launched it 100mph at my head
March 31, 2025
i'm ready to be hurt again
(review to come)
(review to come)
Want to read
June 6, 2024BIG DAY FOR ANNOYING PEOPLE (me)
April 10, 2025
Teenage me would be so jealous right now.
March 22, 2025
I had 99 problems and this solved 87 of them.
March 22, 2025
I’m not well
March 21, 2025
I wish this book would've burned in all-fire.
That way I wouldn't have had to waste my time reading nonsensical fanfiction that retcons vital parts of the og trilogy. I genuinely refuse to believe this was written by the same author that wrote The Hunger Games. There's just absolutely no way.
I will die on the hill that this book should've followed Haymitch as a victor after his games. Everything about his games was already explained in canon. We could've watched Haymitch in the Capitol meeting other victors that we haven't met before, seen him mentor kids year after year just to watch them die, descend into alcoholism, go deeper into how victors were sold to people in the Capitol, the start of the rebellion, etc. But no instead we got a boring, bad retelling of his games to tell us things we already know but with some dumb cameos thrown in for fan service so people are blinded by nostalgia and not realize how much of a dumpster fire this was.
SPOILERS from here on out because I have to go into detail to make my point clear.
The nonstop cameos from past characters were overdone. Mags OR Wiress being Haymitch’s mentor would’ve been fine but BOTH is just insane. This was another opportunity for Collins to have expanded on the world and introduce us to other victors. Instead of course she chooses the easy way out and picks people we already know to dodge having to do any actual work AND blind people with nostalgia. Plutarch just happened to be assigned to District 12? Effie just happens to be the one girl's older sister? Oh and don't even get me STARTED on all the people we just happen to see name dropped while still in District 12. Not to mention that they all just felt like caricatures of themselves. This happened 25 YEARS before the og trilogy, and yet they all have the exact same personalities and zero character development. Every single connection to the original books and Ballads felt extremely forced it was painful. It was just a lazy way for Suzanne to not have to do any actual worldbuilding. Not to mention the were 73 YEARS of the games before the first book and yet all of these characters just happen to meet in the 2nd Quarter Quell??? That’s just laughably implausible and again lazy.
The plotting and pacing was just horrible. It felt like Suzanne had an end goal in mind but put zero thought into how to actually get there. The plot is just a regurgitated version of the games from book 1, but beyond predictable, straightforward, and convenient. There is not a single problem that arises that doesn't immediately have an easy, perfect solution out of nowhere. The pacing for the first half was painstakingly slow, while the last half was beyond rushed. It made it impossible to care about anything that was going on in the games or after them because we barely spent any time reflecting on it.
This had some of the most underdeveloped characters and character relationships I've read in a book. The beginning in District 12 felt like Suzanne was trying to name drop as many people as possible before the Reaping. Instead of I don't know actually building real dynamics between the characters like she was capable of in book 1, but I guess she lost that ability when writing this book. I get it there were 48 kids so we were never getting to get to know each and every one. It would've been nice to understand a SINGLE one better though. Instead we just get a bunch of one dimensional characters to feel absolutely nothing towards or are just told how to feel about them. I already felt like it was going to be hard to care about anyone's death since we already know what's going to happen, but it was made impossible to care because we knew absolutely nothing about anyone. Instead of building new relationships to make this new alliance actually make sense, Suzanne just spends more time making Haymitch talk to characters we already know and have them trust each other immediately for zero sensible reason. The careers STILL being the "dumb jocks" who suck up to the Capitol and have absolutely zero depth or personal motivations is so overdone and boring. This was Suzanne's opportunity to do something interesting with them and make them more complex but nope they're just boring characters we're told to hate and not care about their deaths. Even though they're also in the Districts and should hate that they're put to the slaughter each year too. The development of Haymitch going from hating Maysilee and not trusting her at all to calling her sister was laughably bad. That was some of the most forced dynamic change I've ever read in my life. Almost forgot how Haymitch's precious Lenore Dove is just Lucy Gray 2.0 for no reason other than being able to throw in a dumb scene between Haymitch and President Snow having that parallel.
Oh my god that just reminded me how HORRENDOUS Snow's character was portrayed in this. His interactions and overall dynamic with Katniss were fascinating in the original trilogy. Mainly because of how meticulous he is. However, in this book he's just a wide open book with Haymitch. Getting all buddy buddy to thoroughly explain to him (more so the readers) how he ALSO loved a Covey girl. Then basically makes it abundantly obvious he's going to do something to Lenore Dove because of that connection to Lucy Gray. All subtlety gone for no reason. Also why the fuck was Snow eating the same poison as the parade master??? The dude only poisons actual political enemies. He can kill a worker who fucked up whenever and however he wants. He's never had to explain himself before (ie. Giving Seneca the same poison berries Katniss and Peeta were going to eat).
If Collin's really wanted to write a book focusing on the heavy propaganda from the Capitol it would've been infinitely more interesting to do it from the perspective of someone from District 1 or 2. They by far have been more affected by the propaganda than any other District. To the point that they view it as an honor to be reaped vs every other District having a higher tendency to rebel (ie. the propaganda hasn't actually worked there). It would've actually been a new perspective we haven't seen before as well as added to the overall worldbuilding to finally see the ins and outs of a different district.
The Newcomers alliance was insanely juvenile especially for Suzanne. Again it COULD'VE been interesting. Though somehow with 30+ teenagers not a single one turns traitor to try to protect themselves?? How is that even statistically possible? They all just 100% trust each other and stick to the alliance the entire time because they care about each other soooo much when they barely even know each other? So boring. They don't even fully consider the fact that helping each other would then mean their own death because there's only one victor. EVERY SINGLE TIME Haymitch has to consider what he'd do if it came down to just him and one of his allies they just happen to be killed by someone else or the Gamemakers. No one had to make a SINGLE tough decision. There was always a convenient way to get out of it. It was genuinely INFURIATING. The og trilogy was incredible at exploring these hard trolly problems the games forces kids to deal with, but that just goes out the window in this book.
There was zero reason for Betee to just automatically tell Haymitch his entire plan. None. It doesn't even make logical sense why Haymitch went along with the idea to go against the Capitol. He kept talking about how much he wants to go back to Lenore Dove and yet at the same time wants to go on a suicide mission. Not to mention the fact that he's essentially the sole provider for his family but they're treated as an afterthought to him. He goes against the Capitol but then agrees to play their puppet AFTER everything because he finally realized they can do something to his family???? I'm sorry but that's just horrendous writing. There was also zero reason for Plutarch to tell Haymitch anything but of course he does just to get people excited for connections to the og trilogy. Haymitch doesn't even feel like himself. "But this happened so long ago before his trauma and he's only 16" Okay?? I just refuse to believe that his ENTIRE personality came from trauma. He felt like a placeholder that any character could've slid into.
Several things in the og trilogy now make absolutely ZERO sense because of this book. Catching Fire especially makes no sense. HOW did Haymitch, Wiress, Betee, Mags, etc just act like they've never met before? Haymitch was even hesitant of Katniss teaming up with them and yet fails to mention he literally did in his games? They all kept calling Wiress insane and yet no one wanted to mention she's only like that because she was tortured for being involved with helping Haymitch??? They were all completely fine with just treating her like absolute shit?? You're telling me the Gamemakers have dealt with rebellious shit during the games but had no sure fire way to ensure it never happens again? They really didn't see the plot of Catching Fire happening when it's apparently already happened before? This all powerful government that's the master of keeping people in control just failed to control people after decades to prepare? Also I'm pretty sure it was mentioned or heavily inferred that Effie is assigned to District 12 because she isn't good enough for anything better. Yet in this book she's considered a hero and Plutarch puts in a good word for her to replace Drusilla and she's ecstatic about it... I'm sorry but again not only is that horrendous writing but it also makes no sense and now retcons the original books.
The Gamemakers had absolutely no reason to not just immediately kill Haymitch at the start of the games. Instead it felt like they were almost HELPING him to win. Snow quite literally tells him to HIS FACE that he's going to die a painful death....did everyone just conveniently forget that? What, Snow just decided to allow him to wreak more havoc during the entirety of the games? For what reason? They have mutts that can go after specific people based off just their scent and they just decided NOT to have any go after Haymitch?? He literally was only attacked by ones that barely did any damage and were easily killed/deterred. The plot armour was insufferably bad. Of course we know he survives but that doesn't mean he just gets out of everything SO easily.
What happened to the signature insane Suzanne Collins PLOT TWISTS??? We used to have "They're BOTH going to eat the berries!" "IT'S A CLOCK!!" "Holy shit the Capitol brainwashed Peeta to kill Katniss!" "If it wasn't for the baby!" What do we get in this book? Absolutely fucking NOTHING. Not a single jaw dropping genuinely shocking twist.
The writing was insanely bad. The drop off in prose from the original books is actually just sad. I can't even count the amount of times I cringed throughout this whole book. There was so much dialogue that didn't even sound like anything real human beings would say. Betee literally meeting Haymitch for the first time (paraphrased) "Hi Haymitch you're probably wondering why I'm here....Well let me explain EXACTLY why I'm here" I'm sorry you're trying to tell me the same author of The Hunger Games wrote that shit??? I've seen Dora episodes with more subtlety than that. But apparently Suzanne sees all her readers as moronic 2 year olds that need every. single. thing. overly explained to them. I was going to go insane if I had to read "we're all just animals sent to the Capitol's slaughter" or "this is my poster" one more time. I guess it's my fault for expecting even an OUNCE of subtlety and nuance from this book.
Now let's talk about the themes. I've seen countless people praise this book for it's themes and commentary and I just can't help but be completely dumbfounded. This book explores the EXACT SAME themes and commentary that the original three do and did 10 billion times better. There is not a SINGLE new thought. Wow the Capitol is extremely controlling and uses propaganda in order to do so? They change things about what's actually shown to viewers? Who would've thought? You could watch any reality TV show and come to the same conclusion. It'd be more beneficial to just read the og trilogy or 1984.
I could genuinely go on forever but I think this is enough to thoroughly explain why I'm giving this 1 star. I also would like to point out I wanted to love this SO BADLY. Everyone I buddy read this with can attest to that. I was constantly trying to convince myself it wasn't THIS bad and trying to come up with any possible excuse for every issue I had. I just eventually hit a point where I couldn't keep lying to myself.
That way I wouldn't have had to waste my time reading nonsensical fanfiction that retcons vital parts of the og trilogy. I genuinely refuse to believe this was written by the same author that wrote The Hunger Games. There's just absolutely no way.
I will die on the hill that this book should've followed Haymitch as a victor after his games. Everything about his games was already explained in canon. We could've watched Haymitch in the Capitol meeting other victors that we haven't met before, seen him mentor kids year after year just to watch them die, descend into alcoholism, go deeper into how victors were sold to people in the Capitol, the start of the rebellion, etc. But no instead we got a boring, bad retelling of his games to tell us things we already know but with some dumb cameos thrown in for fan service so people are blinded by nostalgia and not realize how much of a dumpster fire this was.
SPOILERS from here on out because I have to go into detail to make my point clear.
The nonstop cameos from past characters were overdone. Mags OR Wiress being Haymitch’s mentor would’ve been fine but BOTH is just insane. This was another opportunity for Collins to have expanded on the world and introduce us to other victors. Instead of course she chooses the easy way out and picks people we already know to dodge having to do any actual work AND blind people with nostalgia. Plutarch just happened to be assigned to District 12? Effie just happens to be the one girl's older sister? Oh and don't even get me STARTED on all the people we just happen to see name dropped while still in District 12. Not to mention that they all just felt like caricatures of themselves. This happened 25 YEARS before the og trilogy, and yet they all have the exact same personalities and zero character development. Every single connection to the original books and Ballads felt extremely forced it was painful. It was just a lazy way for Suzanne to not have to do any actual worldbuilding. Not to mention the were 73 YEARS of the games before the first book and yet all of these characters just happen to meet in the 2nd Quarter Quell??? That’s just laughably implausible and again lazy.
The plotting and pacing was just horrible. It felt like Suzanne had an end goal in mind but put zero thought into how to actually get there. The plot is just a regurgitated version of the games from book 1, but beyond predictable, straightforward, and convenient. There is not a single problem that arises that doesn't immediately have an easy, perfect solution out of nowhere. The pacing for the first half was painstakingly slow, while the last half was beyond rushed. It made it impossible to care about anything that was going on in the games or after them because we barely spent any time reflecting on it.
This had some of the most underdeveloped characters and character relationships I've read in a book. The beginning in District 12 felt like Suzanne was trying to name drop as many people as possible before the Reaping. Instead of I don't know actually building real dynamics between the characters like she was capable of in book 1, but I guess she lost that ability when writing this book. I get it there were 48 kids so we were never getting to get to know each and every one. It would've been nice to understand a SINGLE one better though. Instead we just get a bunch of one dimensional characters to feel absolutely nothing towards or are just told how to feel about them. I already felt like it was going to be hard to care about anyone's death since we already know what's going to happen, but it was made impossible to care because we knew absolutely nothing about anyone. Instead of building new relationships to make this new alliance actually make sense, Suzanne just spends more time making Haymitch talk to characters we already know and have them trust each other immediately for zero sensible reason. The careers STILL being the "dumb jocks" who suck up to the Capitol and have absolutely zero depth or personal motivations is so overdone and boring. This was Suzanne's opportunity to do something interesting with them and make them more complex but nope they're just boring characters we're told to hate and not care about their deaths. Even though they're also in the Districts and should hate that they're put to the slaughter each year too. The development of Haymitch going from hating Maysilee and not trusting her at all to calling her sister was laughably bad. That was some of the most forced dynamic change I've ever read in my life. Almost forgot how Haymitch's precious Lenore Dove is just Lucy Gray 2.0 for no reason other than being able to throw in a dumb scene between Haymitch and President Snow having that parallel.
Oh my god that just reminded me how HORRENDOUS Snow's character was portrayed in this. His interactions and overall dynamic with Katniss were fascinating in the original trilogy. Mainly because of how meticulous he is. However, in this book he's just a wide open book with Haymitch. Getting all buddy buddy to thoroughly explain to him (more so the readers) how he ALSO loved a Covey girl. Then basically makes it abundantly obvious he's going to do something to Lenore Dove because of that connection to Lucy Gray. All subtlety gone for no reason. Also why the fuck was Snow eating the same poison as the parade master??? The dude only poisons actual political enemies. He can kill a worker who fucked up whenever and however he wants. He's never had to explain himself before (ie. Giving Seneca the same poison berries Katniss and Peeta were going to eat).
If Collin's really wanted to write a book focusing on the heavy propaganda from the Capitol it would've been infinitely more interesting to do it from the perspective of someone from District 1 or 2. They by far have been more affected by the propaganda than any other District. To the point that they view it as an honor to be reaped vs every other District having a higher tendency to rebel (ie. the propaganda hasn't actually worked there). It would've actually been a new perspective we haven't seen before as well as added to the overall worldbuilding to finally see the ins and outs of a different district.
The Newcomers alliance was insanely juvenile especially for Suzanne. Again it COULD'VE been interesting. Though somehow with 30+ teenagers not a single one turns traitor to try to protect themselves?? How is that even statistically possible? They all just 100% trust each other and stick to the alliance the entire time because they care about each other soooo much when they barely even know each other? So boring. They don't even fully consider the fact that helping each other would then mean their own death because there's only one victor. EVERY SINGLE TIME Haymitch has to consider what he'd do if it came down to just him and one of his allies they just happen to be killed by someone else or the Gamemakers. No one had to make a SINGLE tough decision. There was always a convenient way to get out of it. It was genuinely INFURIATING. The og trilogy was incredible at exploring these hard trolly problems the games forces kids to deal with, but that just goes out the window in this book.
There was zero reason for Betee to just automatically tell Haymitch his entire plan. None. It doesn't even make logical sense why Haymitch went along with the idea to go against the Capitol. He kept talking about how much he wants to go back to Lenore Dove and yet at the same time wants to go on a suicide mission. Not to mention the fact that he's essentially the sole provider for his family but they're treated as an afterthought to him. He goes against the Capitol but then agrees to play their puppet AFTER everything because he finally realized they can do something to his family???? I'm sorry but that's just horrendous writing. There was also zero reason for Plutarch to tell Haymitch anything but of course he does just to get people excited for connections to the og trilogy. Haymitch doesn't even feel like himself. "But this happened so long ago before his trauma and he's only 16" Okay?? I just refuse to believe that his ENTIRE personality came from trauma. He felt like a placeholder that any character could've slid into.
Several things in the og trilogy now make absolutely ZERO sense because of this book. Catching Fire especially makes no sense. HOW did Haymitch, Wiress, Betee, Mags, etc just act like they've never met before? Haymitch was even hesitant of Katniss teaming up with them and yet fails to mention he literally did in his games? They all kept calling Wiress insane and yet no one wanted to mention she's only like that because she was tortured for being involved with helping Haymitch??? They were all completely fine with just treating her like absolute shit?? You're telling me the Gamemakers have dealt with rebellious shit during the games but had no sure fire way to ensure it never happens again? They really didn't see the plot of Catching Fire happening when it's apparently already happened before? This all powerful government that's the master of keeping people in control just failed to control people after decades to prepare? Also I'm pretty sure it was mentioned or heavily inferred that Effie is assigned to District 12 because she isn't good enough for anything better. Yet in this book she's considered a hero and Plutarch puts in a good word for her to replace Drusilla and she's ecstatic about it... I'm sorry but again not only is that horrendous writing but it also makes no sense and now retcons the original books.
The Gamemakers had absolutely no reason to not just immediately kill Haymitch at the start of the games. Instead it felt like they were almost HELPING him to win. Snow quite literally tells him to HIS FACE that he's going to die a painful death....did everyone just conveniently forget that? What, Snow just decided to allow him to wreak more havoc during the entirety of the games? For what reason? They have mutts that can go after specific people based off just their scent and they just decided NOT to have any go after Haymitch?? He literally was only attacked by ones that barely did any damage and were easily killed/deterred. The plot armour was insufferably bad. Of course we know he survives but that doesn't mean he just gets out of everything SO easily.
What happened to the signature insane Suzanne Collins PLOT TWISTS??? We used to have "They're BOTH going to eat the berries!" "IT'S A CLOCK!!" "Holy shit the Capitol brainwashed Peeta to kill Katniss!" "If it wasn't for the baby!" What do we get in this book? Absolutely fucking NOTHING. Not a single jaw dropping genuinely shocking twist.
The writing was insanely bad. The drop off in prose from the original books is actually just sad. I can't even count the amount of times I cringed throughout this whole book. There was so much dialogue that didn't even sound like anything real human beings would say. Betee literally meeting Haymitch for the first time (paraphrased) "Hi Haymitch you're probably wondering why I'm here....Well let me explain EXACTLY why I'm here" I'm sorry you're trying to tell me the same author of The Hunger Games wrote that shit??? I've seen Dora episodes with more subtlety than that. But apparently Suzanne sees all her readers as moronic 2 year olds that need every. single. thing. overly explained to them. I was going to go insane if I had to read "we're all just animals sent to the Capitol's slaughter" or "this is my poster" one more time. I guess it's my fault for expecting even an OUNCE of subtlety and nuance from this book.
Now let's talk about the themes. I've seen countless people praise this book for it's themes and commentary and I just can't help but be completely dumbfounded. This book explores the EXACT SAME themes and commentary that the original three do and did 10 billion times better. There is not a SINGLE new thought. Wow the Capitol is extremely controlling and uses propaganda in order to do so? They change things about what's actually shown to viewers? Who would've thought? You could watch any reality TV show and come to the same conclusion. It'd be more beneficial to just read the og trilogy or 1984.
I could genuinely go on forever but I think this is enough to thoroughly explain why I'm giving this 1 star. I also would like to point out I wanted to love this SO BADLY. Everyone I buddy read this with can attest to that. I was constantly trying to convince myself it wasn't THIS bad and trying to come up with any possible excuse for every issue I had. I just eventually hit a point where I couldn't keep lying to myself.
March 25, 2025
5 stars!
Reading Sunrise on the Reaping was an emotional journey I was completely unprepared for. From the very first page, I found myself transported back to when I was 13, reading The Hunger Games for the first time. That series didn’t just entertain me—it changed me. It ignited a love for reading that still burns today. Suzanne Collins is the reason I became an avid reader, and I’ll always be grateful for that.
So when I heard a prequel focusing on Haymitch was in the works, I was so excited. Haymitch’s story felt like something I needed. His character is so layered, and yet we never get to fully understand his background in the original trilogy. I couldn’t wait to dive deeper into his world. But little did I know, Sunrise on the Reaping would hit me harder than I ever expected! It made the emotional impact of The Hunger Games feel like a lighthearted adventure by comparison. I wasn’t prepared for how utterly wrecked I would feel reading this book.
This book takes an emotional toll that is insane. Suzanne Collins doesn’t just write a story—she reaches inside your chest and twists your heart. From the first page, Sunrise on the Reaping pulls you in with a force so strong it’s almost suffocating. There’s no escape from the raw emotions this book unleashes.
The pacing is perfectly done, too. While we spend a significant portion of the book preparing for the games, rather than being immediately thrown into the arena, there’s never a dull moment. In fact, the slower build-up I think was a blessing. It gave us the space to connect with Haymitch on a much deeper level and understand the intricate web of relationships that shaped him.
I appreciated that the story took its time. It wasn’t just about rushing to the inevitable tragedy of the games—it was about understanding the man who would later become the cynical mentor we know in the original trilogy. Haymitch’s emotional journey is complex, and the way the book takes its time to reveal his trauma, pain, and resilience made every moment feel earned.
I knew things weren’t going to end well from the very beginning, but I wasn’t prepared for the gut-wrenching intensity of the emotions I would experience. Haymitch’s world shatters in the most brutal way imaginable. Every piece of stability he has, his relationships, his hopes, his safety is ripped away from him in ways that are cruel and unforgiving.
What struck me most was the way this book forced me to reflect on survival and sacrifice. In The Hunger Games, we see characters struggling to survive within a broken system, but Sunrise on the Reaping takes it further—showing us that surviving is about much more than just staying alive. It’s about the personal cost of survival, the choices we’re forced to make, and the immense sacrifices that are often required.
I was completely absorbed that I couldn’t put this book down! It felt like I had discovered a missing piece to a puzzle I didn’t even know existed. This prequel didn’t just deepen my understanding of Haymitch’s character, it expanded the world Collins built in The Hunger Games in ways I never expected. Every twist and turn kept me fully invested, and each new revelation left me in awe. The way she seamlessly connected Sunrise on the Reaping to the original trilogy was masterful. I found myself staring at the page, picking my jaw up off the floor, marvelling at how skilfully the two narratives intertwined. It’s one of those books where every piece of lore revealed feels like an important discovery, and the more you learn, the more layers are added to the world you thought you knew.
What I also loved about this book was how familiar characters like Beetee, Wiress, Mags, and Effie returned. Their appearances were like a warm embrace from the past, reminding me just how much I missed them! But even more than the returning characters, I found myself really loving the new characters that were introduced. I wasn’t just invested in Haymitch’s fate—I cared about everyone’s. Every person, felt necessary to the story. Collins� ability to create such memorable, multi-dimensional characters, where every character feels like they are playing an important role, is a rare talent in a world where so many characters can feel disposable.
Sunrise on the Reaping isn’t just about rebellion and loss; to me, it’s a deep exploration of the power structures that govern our world. I believe it sheds light on how these structures can manipulate, control, and ultimately destroy. The themes of propaganda, blind faith, the manipulation of art as a political tool, and the overwhelming sense of powerlessness really resonated with me, especially in today’s world. I think this book goes beyond being a mere dystopian tale; it’s a sharp, poignant commentary on how those in power can twist narratives to fit their agendas. I felt a deep sense of frustration—not just with the Capitol, but with the systems of power that exist in our own world. The powerlessness that permeates this story felt strikingly familiar. I couldn’t help but reflect on how often we see those in power rewriting history to suit their needs, how often we feel like we have little control in a world that seems out of our hands.
I think Haymitch’s journey underscores a truth that resonated deeply with me: revolutions don’t always lead to clear victories. Not everyone gets to be the hero, and sometimes the fight for change doesn’t bring immediate results. I believe that real change doesn’t happen because one person makes the perfect stand; it happens through the collective, imperfect efforts of many. This theme felt especially relevant to me. In today’s world, where people are fighting for justice, equality, and rights, it served as a stark reminder that the path to change is never neat.
The ending, though tragic, felt right in its own way. We all knew where Haymitch’s story was heading, but experiencing it firsthand was still gut-wrenching. For me, it left me with a profound sense of loss and helplessness, yet it felt like the perfect culmination of his journey. Knowing what we already do about Haymitch’s character, it was clear that the story’s conclusion was not about a neat victory, but rather about the painful, chaotic reality of revolutions. The cost of change is often devastating, and the price of survival can be almost too high. Yet, even in the midst of the heartache, I believe there’s a strange kind of hope in that ending. It reminded me that, even in the darkest moments, change is possible—however difficult and costly it may be. It was a bittersweet ending, one that left me breathless, reflecting on all Haymitch had endured—and everything he had come to symbolise.
Overall, this book was everything I hoped for and more! It surpassed my expectations in ways I didn’t anticipate. Suzanne Collins has this remarkable ability to evoke such strong emotions—anger, heartbreak, frustration, and even brief sparks of hope that feel all the more powerful for their rarity.
“I love you like all-fire.�
(sobs)
I'm still reeling from everything Sunrise on the Reaping made me feel, but it's a reading experience I’ll never forget. I cannot wait to see it on the big screen!!
“They will not use my tears for their entertainment.�
Reading Sunrise on the Reaping was an emotional journey I was completely unprepared for. From the very first page, I found myself transported back to when I was 13, reading The Hunger Games for the first time. That series didn’t just entertain me—it changed me. It ignited a love for reading that still burns today. Suzanne Collins is the reason I became an avid reader, and I’ll always be grateful for that.
So when I heard a prequel focusing on Haymitch was in the works, I was so excited. Haymitch’s story felt like something I needed. His character is so layered, and yet we never get to fully understand his background in the original trilogy. I couldn’t wait to dive deeper into his world. But little did I know, Sunrise on the Reaping would hit me harder than I ever expected! It made the emotional impact of The Hunger Games feel like a lighthearted adventure by comparison. I wasn’t prepared for how utterly wrecked I would feel reading this book.
This book takes an emotional toll that is insane. Suzanne Collins doesn’t just write a story—she reaches inside your chest and twists your heart. From the first page, Sunrise on the Reaping pulls you in with a force so strong it’s almost suffocating. There’s no escape from the raw emotions this book unleashes.
The pacing is perfectly done, too. While we spend a significant portion of the book preparing for the games, rather than being immediately thrown into the arena, there’s never a dull moment. In fact, the slower build-up I think was a blessing. It gave us the space to connect with Haymitch on a much deeper level and understand the intricate web of relationships that shaped him.
I appreciated that the story took its time. It wasn’t just about rushing to the inevitable tragedy of the games—it was about understanding the man who would later become the cynical mentor we know in the original trilogy. Haymitch’s emotional journey is complex, and the way the book takes its time to reveal his trauma, pain, and resilience made every moment feel earned.
I knew things weren’t going to end well from the very beginning, but I wasn’t prepared for the gut-wrenching intensity of the emotions I would experience. Haymitch’s world shatters in the most brutal way imaginable. Every piece of stability he has, his relationships, his hopes, his safety is ripped away from him in ways that are cruel and unforgiving.
What struck me most was the way this book forced me to reflect on survival and sacrifice. In The Hunger Games, we see characters struggling to survive within a broken system, but Sunrise on the Reaping takes it further—showing us that surviving is about much more than just staying alive. It’s about the personal cost of survival, the choices we’re forced to make, and the immense sacrifices that are often required.
I was completely absorbed that I couldn’t put this book down! It felt like I had discovered a missing piece to a puzzle I didn’t even know existed. This prequel didn’t just deepen my understanding of Haymitch’s character, it expanded the world Collins built in The Hunger Games in ways I never expected. Every twist and turn kept me fully invested, and each new revelation left me in awe. The way she seamlessly connected Sunrise on the Reaping to the original trilogy was masterful. I found myself staring at the page, picking my jaw up off the floor, marvelling at how skilfully the two narratives intertwined. It’s one of those books where every piece of lore revealed feels like an important discovery, and the more you learn, the more layers are added to the world you thought you knew.
What I also loved about this book was how familiar characters like Beetee, Wiress, Mags, and Effie returned. Their appearances were like a warm embrace from the past, reminding me just how much I missed them! But even more than the returning characters, I found myself really loving the new characters that were introduced. I wasn’t just invested in Haymitch’s fate—I cared about everyone’s. Every person, felt necessary to the story. Collins� ability to create such memorable, multi-dimensional characters, where every character feels like they are playing an important role, is a rare talent in a world where so many characters can feel disposable.
Sunrise on the Reaping isn’t just about rebellion and loss; to me, it’s a deep exploration of the power structures that govern our world. I believe it sheds light on how these structures can manipulate, control, and ultimately destroy. The themes of propaganda, blind faith, the manipulation of art as a political tool, and the overwhelming sense of powerlessness really resonated with me, especially in today’s world. I think this book goes beyond being a mere dystopian tale; it’s a sharp, poignant commentary on how those in power can twist narratives to fit their agendas. I felt a deep sense of frustration—not just with the Capitol, but with the systems of power that exist in our own world. The powerlessness that permeates this story felt strikingly familiar. I couldn’t help but reflect on how often we see those in power rewriting history to suit their needs, how often we feel like we have little control in a world that seems out of our hands.
I think Haymitch’s journey underscores a truth that resonated deeply with me: revolutions don’t always lead to clear victories. Not everyone gets to be the hero, and sometimes the fight for change doesn’t bring immediate results. I believe that real change doesn’t happen because one person makes the perfect stand; it happens through the collective, imperfect efforts of many. This theme felt especially relevant to me. In today’s world, where people are fighting for justice, equality, and rights, it served as a stark reminder that the path to change is never neat.
The ending, though tragic, felt right in its own way. We all knew where Haymitch’s story was heading, but experiencing it firsthand was still gut-wrenching. For me, it left me with a profound sense of loss and helplessness, yet it felt like the perfect culmination of his journey. Knowing what we already do about Haymitch’s character, it was clear that the story’s conclusion was not about a neat victory, but rather about the painful, chaotic reality of revolutions. The cost of change is often devastating, and the price of survival can be almost too high. Yet, even in the midst of the heartache, I believe there’s a strange kind of hope in that ending. It reminded me that, even in the darkest moments, change is possible—however difficult and costly it may be. It was a bittersweet ending, one that left me breathless, reflecting on all Haymitch had endured—and everything he had come to symbolise.
Overall, this book was everything I hoped for and more! It surpassed my expectations in ways I didn’t anticipate. Suzanne Collins has this remarkable ability to evoke such strong emotions—anger, heartbreak, frustration, and even brief sparks of hope that feel all the more powerful for their rarity.
“I love you like all-fire.�
(sobs)
I'm still reeling from everything Sunrise on the Reaping made me feel, but it's a reading experience I’ll never forget. I cannot wait to see it on the big screen!!
March 25, 2025
4.25 ⭐️
� 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 ����𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
to anyone who's read all of the previous hunger games books, go read this asap!! suzanne fed us. there's so many connections and parallels to the other books in this. so much lore just in the first few chapters. and the epilogue.. be prepared to cry u guys🥹🤍
also, apparently there’s already a movie in the making for this book?? AND possibly a finnick book coming in the future?? it’s a great time to be a hunger games fan rn🤭🤭
� 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 ����𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
to anyone who's read all of the previous hunger games books, go read this asap!! suzanne fed us. there's so many connections and parallels to the other books in this. so much lore just in the first few chapters. and the epilogue.. be prepared to cry u guys🥹🤍
also, apparently there’s already a movie in the making for this book?? AND possibly a finnick book coming in the future?? it’s a great time to be a hunger games fan rn🤭🤭
March 24, 2025
4 stars. Harrowing, tragic, and holding a mirror to our present society in ways I found horrifying and compelling, Sunrise on the Reaping is a prequel story starring fan-favorite Haymitch Abernathy that fans won't want to miss.
March 19, 2025
"There's something in a person that wants to live."
Oh, Haymitch, how I've always loved you. Oh, Haymitch, how I always will.
Oh, Haymitch, how I've always loved you. Oh, Haymitch, how I always will.
Currently reading
April 6, 2025It’s time to add some emotional trauma to my Sunday 🫡
—�
the inner child in me is screaming � haymitch is finally getting his own book 😭🤩
—�
the inner child in me is screaming � haymitch is finally getting his own book 😭🤩
April 9, 2025
A prequel of pain and punishment in Panem, Sunrise on the Reaping brings the blood, brutality, and betrayal of the Capitol’s games back for another thrilling and utterly chilling edition of Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games series. Haymitch has always been my favorite and so I had high hopes for this installment. Dear Suzanne Collins, you delivered and more. Collin’s series signature critiques of propaganda, oppression and rule by fear and force come screaming through this novel where winning isn’t surviving. it’s just a different way to die.� Set about 40 years after the events of yet with 24 years still to come before Katniss first steps into the arena in , Sunrise unveils the tale of Haymitch Abernathy as he is plunged into a fight for his life in the 50th Hunger Games. The return of familiar characters from a new vantage point—Haymitch is 16 and �not a drinker� at the outset of this novel—allows even stories we thought we knew a chance to reveal that Katniss and the reader’s knowledge of the past was largely filtered through government propaganda and the truth is much more horrifying. There is certainly a lot more reaping than sowing here, and though this novel seems rather hit or miss with fans I found this to be a page-turner of dark excitement and dystopian social criticism that draws us into an unsettling feeling of complicity in the violent voyeurism of The Games that, for all the brutal bleakness, manages to center the fragile humanity and will to endure in a way that keep the story from collapsing under the weight of burdens already well-trod in the series. A fast-paced and fun return to the gruesomeness of Collin’s dystopian vision, this is an excellent new chapter where moments will make you feel as if your � heart breaks into fragments so small it can never be repaired,� and Collin’s shows she still has the power to move audiences in new and surprising ways. Because you will never think of squirrels the same again. Sorry.
�I’m entirely the Capitol’s plaything. They will use me for their entertainment and then kill me, and the truth will have no say in it.�
You know that quote from how �Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist,� but rather they �tell children the dragons can be killed�? Replace fairy tale with dystopian fiction and dragons with government and you get to what Collin’s is doing here. A key to good dystopian fiction is showing a behemoth of terrible might and power, but then showing how there is a weak point where the average person can topple it all. If they have luck and good friends on their side I suppose. While the original series felt like a warning against being moths to the flame of marketing media that upholds social inequalities prostrates us before the powerful, Sunrise arrives at a time where we’re already drowning in the muck and the mire. Yet Collin’s doesn’t wallow, in fact she seems to be slapping us with pages saying “STOP THIS, pay attention!� (which includes all the thirst traps of prequel Snow, stop it, sure he’s so hot but he’s an evil genocidal maniac so nah) and while the novel peers into the gloomiest, most gruesome corners of Panem to highlight the horrors within, there is a spark of revolutionary spirit just itching to catch light. Collin's has always had an excellent philosophical undercurrent to her tales and Sunrise upholds this intellectual weight. She even opens with a quote from that aptly sets the stage:
Collin's gives a sharp look at the power of propaganda to reduce the masses to cattle in the eyes of the State, to give them entertainment to keep them occupied and to keep the oppressed down with marketing that claims they deserve their poverty. It is in keeping with what Roman poet wrote around 100A.D. that 'everything now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.' And now we have kids killing each other in hopes they can put food on the table but are really just lambs for the slaughter. In an interview, Collin's discussed how the version of Haymitch we meet in the start of the original novel was 'misleading' and this book offers a better view of him and why he is. The key to her novel, she mentions, is Hume's concept of implicit submission which he defines as why people 'resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers' and how we can see a reflection of our current society in the world of Panem. As to the question why the many submit to the few in Panem, Collin's says Hume already answers this:
Collins also adds that the novel is also about 'the uncertainty of inductive reasoning, propaganda, love.' Because of the ways propaganda and misinformation worm through the narrative, Haymitch was the most logical choice to be the narrator and so begins our dark journey to the past and back to another of the bloody arenas for the Games.
'He who controls the media controls the minds of the public.'
�
The way Collins sets this up with astute parallels to the original trilogy is fantastic and while it is likely the darkest and saddest of the novels, it might well be the most rebellious. To know where things will end up by the era of Katniss only enhances the tension and terror here as we realize little Haymitch’s reward for not dying in childhood is an adulthood of depression and alcoholism leading to activism (can relate, buddy!). But while filling in these gaps in time Collins also emphasizes the gaps between the rich and the poor, the glitz and glamour of the Capitol overflowing with wealth where women can get literal cat ears modified onto their head with the harshness of the districts like 12 where Haymitch is bootlegging so his family can live off the meager pay. The impoverished contestants are less people and objects of disposable entertainment for those in the Capitol who objectify, sexualize, gamble on and bat nary an eye when they die. Things are not peachy in Panem poverty and all roads seem a rocky burden with no goal in sight.
�And that’s part of our trouble. Thinking things are inevitable. Not believing change is possible.�
The story begins as the 50th Hunger Games is adding a new twist–double contestants for twice the terrible entertainment. This is the fateful games that ensnared Haymitch to toil as mentor for the rest of his life and with double the contestants Collins manages to pack in double the violence and trauma. We have a father made to mentor his own son knowing damn well he’s not gonna make it and Haymitch isn’t even reaped but a sudden death gets him tossed in anyways. Oh also the reaping is Haymitch’s birthday. Happy birthday, kid! �Nobody feels like having cake after watching two kids being hauled off to the Capital for slaughter.� Dead kids and deadly squirrels sure make for a fucked up read and while the novel often nudges towards torture porn (this one is BRUTAL, friends), that is actually a large part of the point–the Capitol’s annual funfest is just straight up torture porn maketed as a patriotic display of power. Snow, disease-ridden and fully leaning into his evil impulses, is an obdurate tyrant at this point dispensing cruelties for the sake of cruelty and hoarding enough power that nobody will dare lift a finger to stop him regardless of how monstrous his actions are. And his henchmen will always ensure �snow lands on top� or it’s their heads. The erosion of checks and balances, the inability for the people to keep their leaders in check, leads to terror. Like, oh hey here’s a copy of the dead girl, you’re welcome! *shudders*
�You don’t win the Hunger Games by playing fair. You win by knowing the rules better than they do.�
We always knew the games were bleak and fucked up. But whew does Collin’s really pull back the covers to reveal just how intensely fucked up we are talking about. Like real bad. No spoilers but if you thought everything was chance well…ask Plutarch about that because apparently he’s been here the whole time and Collins leads into some rebellion stuff that makes you realize it was far more orchestrated behind the scenes of playing dumb that occurs in the original novel. Haymitch in particular where being a drunk idiot nobody expects anything from is a great mask if you need to weasel your way in to light the fuse of revolution. It’s really great to see more fleshed out versions of side characters, though some great characters might just be absent…�In fifty years, we’ve only had one victor, and that was a long time ago. A girl who no one seems to know anything about.� But hey, at least the love interest in this one is also musically inclined. But whew love doesn’t seem to get much of a good break in this world.
�They will not use my tears for their entertainment.�
It’s another year of the Hunger Games and as usual people are like “hey so this shit sucks and maybe we should stop it?� but really nobody ever does because trying has pretty unfathomably terrible consequences. And not just for you but your loved ones too. �Don't let them paint their posters with your blood. Not if you can help it,� is good advice, but also a reminder that dying brutally with dignity is the only victory really, that the dying brutally part is just…it’s going to happen to you. Brace yourself, this book gets rough but is also surprising because what you thought you knew about Haymitch’s life was all under the wraps of government propaganda�
�The Games must end. Here. Now. Every death reinforces the importance of the arena plot succeeding.�
Propaganda takes center stage in the social criticisms on the novel and Collin’s pulls in a lot of poetry quotes from the likes of and among others enhance the atmosphere but also remind us how much a pretty pairing of words can affect people. Of course is always on mind with a quote at the ready for any good dystopian fiction too:
And don’t forget William Blake’s �A truth that’s told with bad intent, / Beats all the lies you can invent.� We see how propaganda dupes a populace, how it coaxes submission, how it rubs out the feelings of empathy and humanity if we can cast the poor fighters as glamorous contestants of entertainment, but also how it can mask atrocities and secure power. The role of propaganda to grease the gears of authoritarianism is on full display in Sunrise, but so is the role of the revolutionary who must rise against it. The cost, however, will be great.
�I love you like all-fire.�
Returning to the world of The Hunger Games was a real treat full of trauma but wow did I enjoy Sunrise on the Reaping. This one is harsh. This hits hard and had me feeling all the feelings with BIG SAD being a primary one of those feelings. A well crafted tale that earns its telling by making the long list of familiar names not merely fan service but an opportunity to reveal new truths, deepen the history, and expose the lies of the Capitol to see that it is somehow still even more sinister than we could have realized. This was a fun read and one that was impossible to put down and if Suzanne Collins writes anything Hunger Games, you best believe I’ll be there with bells on.
4./5
�The snow may fall, but the sun also rises.�
�I’m entirely the Capitol’s plaything. They will use me for their entertainment and then kill me, and the truth will have no say in it.�
You know that quote from how �Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist,� but rather they �tell children the dragons can be killed�? Replace fairy tale with dystopian fiction and dragons with government and you get to what Collin’s is doing here. A key to good dystopian fiction is showing a behemoth of terrible might and power, but then showing how there is a weak point where the average person can topple it all. If they have luck and good friends on their side I suppose. While the original series felt like a warning against being moths to the flame of marketing media that upholds social inequalities prostrates us before the powerful, Sunrise arrives at a time where we’re already drowning in the muck and the mire. Yet Collin’s doesn’t wallow, in fact she seems to be slapping us with pages saying “STOP THIS, pay attention!� (which includes all the thirst traps of prequel Snow, stop it, sure he’s so hot but he’s an evil genocidal maniac so nah) and while the novel peers into the gloomiest, most gruesome corners of Panem to highlight the horrors within, there is a spark of revolutionary spirit just itching to catch light. Collin's has always had an excellent philosophical undercurrent to her tales and Sunrise upholds this intellectual weight. She even opens with a quote from that aptly sets the stage:
'Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few, and the implicit submission with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers.'
Collin's gives a sharp look at the power of propaganda to reduce the masses to cattle in the eyes of the State, to give them entertainment to keep them occupied and to keep the oppressed down with marketing that claims they deserve their poverty. It is in keeping with what Roman poet wrote around 100A.D. that 'everything now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.' And now we have kids killing each other in hopes they can put food on the table but are really just lambs for the slaughter. In an interview, Collin's discussed how the version of Haymitch we meet in the start of the original novel was 'misleading' and this book offers a better view of him and why he is. The key to her novel, she mentions, is Hume's concept of implicit submission which he defines as why people 'resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers' and how we can see a reflection of our current society in the world of Panem. As to the question why the many submit to the few in Panem, Collin's says Hume already answers this:
'We're allowing ourselves to be controlled by "opinion." And that's where propaganda comes in. All right, then. "What propaganda de we all consume on a daily basis that maintains this status quo? Is it harder to maintain in an autocracy or a democracy where we pride ourselves on our intellectual or political freedom? How much propaganda does it take to make you think that implicit submission is what you want? Is it inevitable? Is there a way to protect ourselves from it?'
Collins also adds that the novel is also about 'the uncertainty of inductive reasoning, propaganda, love.' Because of the ways propaganda and misinformation worm through the narrative, Haymitch was the most logical choice to be the narrator and so begins our dark journey to the past and back to another of the bloody arenas for the Games.
'He who controls the media controls the minds of the public.'
�
The way Collins sets this up with astute parallels to the original trilogy is fantastic and while it is likely the darkest and saddest of the novels, it might well be the most rebellious. To know where things will end up by the era of Katniss only enhances the tension and terror here as we realize little Haymitch’s reward for not dying in childhood is an adulthood of depression and alcoholism leading to activism (can relate, buddy!). But while filling in these gaps in time Collins also emphasizes the gaps between the rich and the poor, the glitz and glamour of the Capitol overflowing with wealth where women can get literal cat ears modified onto their head with the harshness of the districts like 12 where Haymitch is bootlegging so his family can live off the meager pay. The impoverished contestants are less people and objects of disposable entertainment for those in the Capitol who objectify, sexualize, gamble on and bat nary an eye when they die. Things are not peachy in Panem poverty and all roads seem a rocky burden with no goal in sight.
�And that’s part of our trouble. Thinking things are inevitable. Not believing change is possible.�
The story begins as the 50th Hunger Games is adding a new twist–double contestants for twice the terrible entertainment. This is the fateful games that ensnared Haymitch to toil as mentor for the rest of his life and with double the contestants Collins manages to pack in double the violence and trauma. We have a father made to mentor his own son knowing damn well he’s not gonna make it and Haymitch isn’t even reaped but a sudden death gets him tossed in anyways. Oh also the reaping is Haymitch’s birthday. Happy birthday, kid! �Nobody feels like having cake after watching two kids being hauled off to the Capital for slaughter.� Dead kids and deadly squirrels sure make for a fucked up read and while the novel often nudges towards torture porn (this one is BRUTAL, friends), that is actually a large part of the point–the Capitol’s annual funfest is just straight up torture porn maketed as a patriotic display of power. Snow, disease-ridden and fully leaning into his evil impulses, is an obdurate tyrant at this point dispensing cruelties for the sake of cruelty and hoarding enough power that nobody will dare lift a finger to stop him regardless of how monstrous his actions are. And his henchmen will always ensure �snow lands on top� or it’s their heads. The erosion of checks and balances, the inability for the people to keep their leaders in check, leads to terror. Like, oh hey here’s a copy of the dead girl, you’re welcome! *shudders*
�You don’t win the Hunger Games by playing fair. You win by knowing the rules better than they do.�
We always knew the games were bleak and fucked up. But whew does Collin’s really pull back the covers to reveal just how intensely fucked up we are talking about. Like real bad. No spoilers but if you thought everything was chance well…ask Plutarch about that because apparently he’s been here the whole time and Collins leads into some rebellion stuff that makes you realize it was far more orchestrated behind the scenes of playing dumb that occurs in the original novel. Haymitch in particular where being a drunk idiot nobody expects anything from is a great mask if you need to weasel your way in to light the fuse of revolution. It’s really great to see more fleshed out versions of side characters, though some great characters might just be absent…�In fifty years, we’ve only had one victor, and that was a long time ago. A girl who no one seems to know anything about.� But hey, at least the love interest in this one is also musically inclined. But whew love doesn’t seem to get much of a good break in this world.
�They will not use my tears for their entertainment.�
It’s another year of the Hunger Games and as usual people are like “hey so this shit sucks and maybe we should stop it?� but really nobody ever does because trying has pretty unfathomably terrible consequences. And not just for you but your loved ones too. �Don't let them paint their posters with your blood. Not if you can help it,� is good advice, but also a reminder that dying brutally with dignity is the only victory really, that the dying brutally part is just…it’s going to happen to you. Brace yourself, this book gets rough but is also surprising because what you thought you knew about Haymitch’s life was all under the wraps of government propaganda�
�The Games must end. Here. Now. Every death reinforces the importance of the arena plot succeeding.�
Propaganda takes center stage in the social criticisms on the novel and Collin’s pulls in a lot of poetry quotes from the likes of and among others enhance the atmosphere but also remind us how much a pretty pairing of words can affect people. Of course is always on mind with a quote at the ready for any good dystopian fiction too:
�All propaganda is lies, even when one is telling the truth. I don’t think this matters so long as one knows what one is doing, and why.�
And don’t forget William Blake’s �A truth that’s told with bad intent, / Beats all the lies you can invent.� We see how propaganda dupes a populace, how it coaxes submission, how it rubs out the feelings of empathy and humanity if we can cast the poor fighters as glamorous contestants of entertainment, but also how it can mask atrocities and secure power. The role of propaganda to grease the gears of authoritarianism is on full display in Sunrise, but so is the role of the revolutionary who must rise against it. The cost, however, will be great.
�I love you like all-fire.�
Returning to the world of The Hunger Games was a real treat full of trauma but wow did I enjoy Sunrise on the Reaping. This one is harsh. This hits hard and had me feeling all the feelings with BIG SAD being a primary one of those feelings. A well crafted tale that earns its telling by making the long list of familiar names not merely fan service but an opportunity to reveal new truths, deepen the history, and expose the lies of the Capitol to see that it is somehow still even more sinister than we could have realized. This was a fun read and one that was impossible to put down and if Suzanne Collins writes anything Hunger Games, you best believe I’ll be there with bells on.
4./5
�The snow may fall, but the sun also rises.�
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