Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Published: March 2025
Summary from Goodreads:
When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?
As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.
Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.
Confession:
Ever since I read the very first Hunger Games book, I wanted to know Haymitch’s story. How did he win the games? What horrors did he endure? Did he try to fight back like Katniss? All of these questions were answered in this book, and even though it was very emotional read, I am very glad I read it.
Haymitch starts off as a young man on the cusp of having every happiness he wants. Spending time with his family and his girl Lenore. But then due to circumstances beyond his control, he is reaped and sent to the games. He knows his chances are slim, but he does everything he can to rebel against the system, and this is what changes him the most. Even though I saw most of what happened to him after the games coming, I was just as devastated as he was that those things came about. I think he would have survived the aftermath of the games if not for the losses he suffered afterwards. I would have liked just a little bit more about his life between his game and his meeting Katniss and Peeta, than we got in the epilogue, but it was still a really good ending for the story.
The story itself is very similar to the first book in the series. We have Haymitch being sent to the games and becoming friends and allies with the other tributes. Most we don’t get to know well, as there are 48 this time, but the few we do get to know I really liked. Maysilee was perhaps my favorite as she found very subtle ways to help her fellow tributes, but also paint a picture for the audience, that they were human too, and not just play things that were there for the pleasure of the Capital. She was tough and didn’t deserve the death she received.
The arena was really interesting this time around, full of deadly beauty. We also got a bit of a glimpse of the nitty gritty of how the games are run and the things that could be done to destroy it. The pacing was really well done and of course the writing and the story were compelling enough that I found it really hard to put the book down.
For fans of the series, this is a must read. It is full of characters that you will be rooting for, although it was hard to knowing that they weren’t going to make it to the end of the games. I really enjoyed learning Haymitch’s story, and reading this makes me want to reread at least the first book where it all began.
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