Book Review - Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Title: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games # 0.5)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dystopian/ Young Adult/ Reread/ Science Fiction
Published: 2025
 
Description: 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 truing not to think too hard about his chances. All eh cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
 
When Haymitch’s name is called, he can fell 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 want to fight… and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.
 
Review: If there was one book I was looking forward in 2025, it’s “Sunrise on the Reaping”. In preparation of this, I reread the original trilogy and also read “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”. I was so excited to finally pick up Suzanne Collins’ newest story in the Hunger Games universe. And it did not disappoint. It exceeded every expectation I had.
 
In “Sunrise on the Reaping” we start on the day of the reaping, for the 50^th annual Hunger Games: the games Haymitch Abernathy was in. We already got a glimpse of these games in “Catching Fire”, but in this book we get all the details. And just when you thought these books couldn’t get any darker, Suzanne Collins makes it even more horrific and emotional.
 
When we first meet Haymitch, in “The Hunger Games”, we learn he is a grumpy, bitter man. Drinks a lot, has lost his lust for life. And now I know why. Of course, we knew that he won the 50^th Hunger Games, but we never learn what he had to go through.
 
You would think that, with a book where you already know who the winner is going to be, there will be little surprise. Well, think again. Collins manages to surprise and shock us many times. Just the way Haymitch had to enter the Games alone was a twist.
 
There are many familiar characters in this book, which I will not discuss here. But Collins also introduces us to a bunch of new characters as well. Some of them with links to well-known characters. I especially loved Ampert, Maysilee Donner and Lenore Dove. Great characters, that you really care about. But the star is Haymitch, who was already one of my favorite characters in the series (maybe only Finnick beats him). It’s such a clever idea to focus on his story in this book. And I was invested from start to finish. And you really understand older Haymitch so much better now.
 
I somehow knew that I was going to enjoy “Sunrise on the Reaping” but I never thought I would be so consumed by this book. I loved everything about this, it broke me mentally and emotionally. We experience love, grief, loss, gain, hope, helplessness and so much more in this book. Suzanne Collins did it again and shows us that this series is not dead yet. Far from.
 
Rating: 5/ 5