REVIEW: ‘Hunger Games’ Fans Will Love ‘Sunrise On The Reaping’ Like All-Fire

Disclaimer: This review contains minor spoilers for Sunrise on the Reaping.

Sunrise on the Reaping, the fifth novel of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games dystopia, has had some big, hand-me-down shoes to fill well before its March 2025 release. Not only does it have to follow Collins’ original Hunger Games trilogy, set approximately 75 years following said Games’ inception; it must also fill in narrative gaps between the original trilogy and The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, in which 18-year-old future President of Panem, Coriolanus Snow’s slip-slide into fascism develops around his mentoring of District 12 longshot, Lucy Gray Baird during the long-lost 10th Games. 

Fast forward 40 years without another District 12 victor: A generation before he reluctantly mentors original trilogy victors, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark,  fan favorite alcoholic curmudgeon, Haymitch Abernathy, ‘celebrates’ his 16th birthday (on the Fourth of July) by being Reaped for the 50th Games, aka the second Quarter Quell, wherein 48 children are chosen to compete vs. the typical 24. In the Games, conceived by Snow’s father for a school assignment as a means of keeping the Districts (formerly the continental United States) under the thumb of the Capitol (formerly Colorado), kids aged 12-18 fight to the death in an arena that is often a death trap itself in a dizzyingly violent melee of war-cum-reality TV. Each victor then receives a house, ‘extra’ food for their District for the year, and the ‘privilege’ of mentoring each ensuing year’s unlucky competitors.

“They Will Not Use My Tears for Their Entertainment”

An aspect of the Games that both Songbirds and Sunrise hammer home is that the Capitol always has the final say in regard to scorekeeping. In the former, Lucy Gray Baird’s Reaping is blatantly manipulated by District 12's mayor, whose daughter holds a grudge against her over a boy. Likewise, Haymitch’s name does not initially get picked; rather, after one of the chosen contestants is gunned down by Capitol police (‘Peacekeepers’) for attempting to flee, Haymitch attempts to diffuse the tension, only to become his predecessor’s unwitting replacement. In addition, an accident during the Games’ opening ceremony leaves yet another District 12 competitor dead pre-arena. The Capitol’s solution: Brainwashing a District 11 look-alike and forcing her to compete in her own predecessor’s place. Lionsgate’s upcoming film adaptation has officially cast Molly McCann and Iona Bell as 13-year-old Louella McCoy and Lou Lou, respectively. Like Katniss’ arena ally, Rue, Louella / Lou Lou’s fresh-faced innocence only adds to the seemingly endless heartbreak that ensues, to say nothing of the grisly fate (even by Hunger Games standards) of Games mentor, Beetee’s son, who gets Reaped as revenge for Beetee’s sabotaging of the Capitol’s communication system.

Naturally, Hunger Games fans are eager to draw intergenerational parallels, something that Sunrise on the Reaping delivers in spades, albeit with respectable subtlety. Many family surnames crop up repeatedly - the Abernathys, Haymitch informs readers, are known troublemakers, for instance, hence his girlfriend, Lenore Dove’s guardians’ reluctance to allow them to be together. Lenore Dove herself is a descendant of the Romani-coded Covey, traveling musicians that were rounded up by the Capitol and forced to remain in District 12. Collins does not specify whether Lenore Dove and Lucy Gray share a bloodline, but their rebellious spirits and shared love for music make them forces to be reckoned with in their respective eras. Perhaps even more satisfying is Haymitch’s long-secret familial connection to Katniss, as well as Effie Trinket’s own unceremonious introduction to Capitol servitude (and Haymitch) as a last-minute style consultant following the dastardly dysfunctional Magno Stift’s failure to do the job. Less surprising is the subterfuge undertaken by a young Plutarch Heavensbee, whose family wealth and Capitol connections allow him more privacy and privilege than the average citizen. Thus, Heavensbee hosts meetings in his home at President Snow’s behest and also helps sow the seeds of future rebellion alongside Games mentors like the aforementioned Beetee, Mags, and Wiress.

Panem’s #1 Peacekeeper

That Haymitch and Snow do not interact during the original trilogy makes their frequent parallels throughout Sunrise on the Reaping especially intriguing. That is, though the Abernathys have a rebellious reputation, Haymitch does not find himself on Snow’s radar until he makes things personal, including blaming him publicly for Louella’s aforementioned death. Though Haymitch’s actions are naturally censored by Panem’s media, Snow seems to take pleasure in making life as difficult as possible for him, both during the second Quarter Quell and beyond. Snow’s ruthlessness - not to mention, the fact that he is 58 years old during Sunrise - solidifies his repulsiveness far more effectively than his barely legal Songbirds incarnation; think Darth Vader during the 2022 Kenobi TV series (Disney+) at the height of his power. Sunrise-era Snow is no “Thirst Trap Villain,” to put it mildly.

On the other hand, there is even more to love about Haymitch therein, including the trauma-laden pathos underlying his future alcoholism. Like Katniss, Haymitch has a mother and a younger sibling whom he assists via chores and bootlegging white liquor, as well as his relationship with Lenore Dove, of course, whom he loves “like all-fire.” On her official website, Suzanne Collins notes that a frequent motif throughout Sunrise on the Reaping is “David Hume’s idea of implicit submission,” aka “‘the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.’” The more that Haymitch pushes back against Capitol interference in his life and those of his loved ones, the more creatively sadistic President Snow’s responses become; and yet, submission to fascism is simply not in Haymitch’s nature, and thus, he commits to fighting it, regardless of the cost. 

Smarter Or Luckier?

Unsurprisingly, many themes in Sunrise, and indeed, throughout the Hunger Games franchise as a whole, parallel modern world events; art imitates life, with Collins’ writing and world-building yet managing to avoid both ham-handed moralizing and pulling punches regarding the consequences of the unending horrors of Panem. The novel’s 400 pages fly by; like the other Hunger Games novels, Sunrise contains 27 chapters split into three equal parts. In Songbirds, the actual Games portion of the novel concludes in Part II, thus allotting the final third act to young Coriolanus Snow’s burgeoning fascism. On the other hand, Haymitch’s turn in the arena during the second Quarter Quell leaks into the majority of the latter half of the book, an effective means of portraying the excruciating wait for the other 47 kids in there with him to die. That Haymitch begrudgingly accepts that many of the younger Tributes naturally gravitate towards him for protection only adds to said suspense and heartbreak.

Overall, Sunrise on the Reaping does not disappoint. Collins juggles an intimidating number of characters and manages to make the reader care about most of them - Maysilee Donner, the snobbiest girl in District 12 and a fellow Tribute, for example, is a stand-out addition to the story, due to Collins’ complex characterization. In that vein, one wonders whether the seemingly inevitable third prequel trilogy novel will focus around fleshing out, say, a Career Tribute from District 1 or 2. In an ever-increasingly plugged-in and tuned-out world, seeing people excited to read (per Scholastic, 1.2 million copies of Sunrise were sold in the United States in the first week alone) is heartening. Likewise, the franchise’s zeitgeist - a Nexus Point News exclusive recently revealed Lionsgate’s decision to cast Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket, for instance - ensures that there is plenty more on the horizon.

Rating: ★★★★★

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About Sunrise on the Reaping

Sunrise on the Reaping. © Scholastic

Release Date: March 18, 2025

Writer: Suzanne Collins

Genres: Science fiction, Dystopian Fiction

Page Count: 400

Cover Artist: Tim O'Brien

Publisher: Scholastic

Synopsis: 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.