The Hunger Games to this day is one of the top talked about series. Which is why the thought of getting a story (a whole entire book) on the 50th hunger games caused fans to freak out. Fans were enthusiastically taking guesses on if their favorite characters would make an appearance.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins is a novel featuring 16 year old Haymitch Abernathy as he is reaped, otherwise known as being chosen to compete, for the 25th Hunger Games. This year twice as many tributes, or competitors, will be chosen for the games. It is a game in which Haymitch will have to kill everyone of his competitors. The book earned a solid rating of 4.7/5 stars on Goodreads.
Haymitch goes through tragedy after tragedy, making readers even more saddened for his future. A boy who once had a brother, mother, love, friends, and a job turns to a man with a glass bottle of liquor as his only comfort and companion.
Sunrise on the Reaping is a prequel to the original Hunger Games series, telling the readers of Haymitch’s games. Haymitch is one of the biggest characters in the original series which followed Katniss as she tried to survive the games. Haymitch, being her and another character Peeta’s mentor, was at first kind of useless. He was the only survivor from district 12, therefore was the only person Katniss and Peeta had to help them. After Haymitch’s games we are told he became a drunk and basically told the two that they just needed to “survive”. Throughout the original series Haymitch became a beloved character with his wits and general personality. Catching fire we get to see Haymitch’s games in a video that Katniss and Peeta watch and that is what hooks readers to read this book.
Sunrise on the Reaping is the best Hunger Games book in my opinion. The fan favorite Catching Fire simply cannot compare. Haymitch’s story is unique and beautiful. Oftentimes, series tend to have a hard time making a new story. It can seem like you are reading the same story with different character names. On the flip side, some stories might feel like they don’t even fit in with the original story. However, Sunrise on the Reaping takes the best and leaves the bad of both these scenarios.
Throughout Sunrise on the Reaping leaves subtle hints and foreshadowing are left all throughout the book often also leaving little connections to the other book in the Hunger Games series. This is one of my favorite things about this book. Every step is just full of connection and beautifully put together to deepen why readers love reading about this world.
The parallels between Katniss and Haymitch do not escape readers. Both 16, dead fathers, a younger sibling, hangs out in the woods, and are a little too daring at times. Both do illegal activities in district 12 and are a bit hot headed. The idea of how Rue reminds Katniss of Prim. Apert and Louella do the same for Haymitch, reminding him of Buz. All young kids who Katniss and Haymitch find themselves wanting to protect are because of the reminder of their siblings. The way each part of the book makes readers want to reread the series and compare and contrast everything. The word “sweetheart” alone brings us back to the original story. It felt like every five minutes you wanted to text your friend to tell them about what you got to read latest and how much it is affecting you. You question everything as you read.
Snow after The Ballad of Songbirds was shown a lot more love and sympathy from fans which is why this book really throws readers back into why you hate him. Snow is a funny evil kind of character. You love the character who has sarcasm and is funny but you know he is very much the bad guy. Snow is that character no matter how much you want to spin it. Which isn’t to say you can’t like his character just to say you got to admit the man is crazy evil. That is why Haymitch and many of his daring acts to demonstrate defiance to Snow doesn’t just show the other characters in the story what’s happening, or just simply him trying to make Snow mad but rather an attempt to also show the audience.
One of the biggest things about all of the Hunger Games is the idea of propaganda and educating readers about its use. We see over and over within this book alone times where something didn’t “fit” the image the Capitol or Snow wanted everyone to see that they just changed it. They didn’t show certain events or they redid events to make it seem like that is what really happened. Almost reality tv cutting and putting together something untrue for the audience. Except here it is harmful. Propaganda leads large numbers of people to believe things that aren’t true and the book itself is a huge reflection on propaganda. We thought the little bit of catching fire that we get when they talked about haymitch’s games would be what actually happened. Then readers got this book and got that message of propaganda once again right in the face. Readers thought it was real that that little was what really happened. Readers got misled by propaganda.
Many readers have said that this will be Suzanne Collins’s last book because she has made her message very clear with this latest novel. To put it simply, the video that Katniss and Peeta see of Haymitch’s game is nothing close to the book we got. Now that might seem obvious in the fact that catching fire gave Haymitch a short piece of his game and history obviously the book would be different. Even so it is drastically different. Propaganda causes people to believe things that aren’t true.
In short, I absolutely loved this book. I personally would rate it up there with my 10/10 stars books. This is a must read.
