Book Review: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Sunrise on the Reaping is the latest prequel to the original Hunger Games trilogy. It’s set 40 years after the events of the recent prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and 24 years before The Hunger Games.  

I love the original Hunger Games series so I’m always excited to read any new books that Suzanne Collins releases to take me back into the dystopian world of Panem. While The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes gave us the story of a young President Snow, Sunrise on the Reaping is the story of 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy. We all remember adult Haymitch from the original trilogy – the only surviving District 12 tribute in the history of the Hunger Games who is tasked every year with mentoring the poor kids who are chosen at the reaping. He lives a self-imposed isolated life and relies heavily on alcohol to get through his days. After reading Sunrise on the Reaping, adult Haymitch can certainly be looked upon with more compassion and understanding!

The story follows a similar structure to the first Hunger Games book. We start off with the lead-up to the reaping and then the reaping itself. But a key difference here is that these Hunger Games are a Quarter Quell which means twice as many tributes will be reaped from each district. We follow the tributes to the Capitol and their preparation for entering the arena. Here we are introduced to some new characters but many it turns out are familiar (just younger!) There’s Effie Trinket, Plutarch Heavensbee, Beetee and Wiress just to name a few. They’re joined by an interesting mix of tributes – Maysilee Donner (another District 12 tribute) being one of my favourites.

The Hunger Games themselves are predictably brutal. Suzanne Collins does a great job of creating unique arena landscapes in each of her different books. They’re always well described which makes them easy to visualise. Even the crazy ‘muttations’ which torment the tributes seem to take on a different (but equally terrifying) form in each new book.

There are a lot of similarities between young Haymitch and Katniss Everdeen which explains their friendship and understanding of one another in the original series. Haymitch’s instinct to protect the younger, more vulnerable tributes made me think of Katniss and Rue in the first book. I also love how Haymitch was really laying the groundwork for the future rebellion that Katniss takes up 24 years later. Even though at the time for him it would’ve felt futile, especially after everything he loses trying to bring down the Capitol.

Like the other books in the series, Sunrise on the Reaping is in the works to be turned into a movie. It already has a November 2026 release date and some key cast announcements – which so far, I’m very impressed by! Standby for a book versus movie comparison next year…

Overall, Sunrise on the Reaping was an engaging and heartbreaking read which made me see Haymitch in a whole new light. It’s a great addition to the Hunger Games series and I hope to see more prequels in the future focusing on other characters - maybe Plutarch Heavensbee next?

Posted by Rachel Reads

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