Sunrise on the Reaping
By Suzanne Collins
Scholastic
382 pages
I love a good dystopia, enjoyed from the comfort of my couch that I can set down as needed. Reading one while seemingly on the verge of living in one is a whole new experience – but perhaps a wake-up that is needed more than ever right now. Right on cue, Suzanne Collins’ “Sunrise on the Reaping” was just released, the latest installment of her popular “Hunger Games” series.
After a trilogy about District 12 Victor Katniss Everdeen and its resulting revolution, followed by “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” – the villain origin story of President Snow – now it’s time for Haymitch’s story. As fans of the series remember, Haymitch Abernathy is District 12’s lone surviving victor of the Hunger Games and, accordingly, Katniss and Peeta’s mentor for their games. In the original series, Haymitch’s defining trait is his alcoholism, the apparent result of the trauma experienced during and immediately after his own Hunger Games. And now we know why.
The premise of the latest installment of the “Hunger Games” series is similar to the others: In the totalitarian nation of Panem, the country is made up of 12 mostly impoverished districts ruled by the Capitol, whose citizens live in opulence and excess, taken from the resources reaped from the districts. Every year, the Capitol hosts the Hunger Games, where each district must send a boy and a girl between the ages of 12-18 years old to fight to the death in a nationally televised arena until a sole victor emerges. The games were created to keep the districts in check following the country’s civil war. They evolved to become a reality show-style source of entertainment for Capitol residents.
In the previous books, Katniss participates in the 74th and 75th Hunger Games, President Snow’s story takes place during the 10th Hunger Games, and now we meet Haymitch at the 50th. It’s the second Quarter Quell, where the rules are altered to mark a 25-year-milestone. This year, each district is required to send twice as many tributes to the games. With his limited odds now halved, 16-year-old Haymitch must leave his widowed mother and younger brother (sound familiar?) as well as his love Lenore Dove.
Fans of the series (like me) will no doubt enjoy the story. It follows the same general Set-up – Reaping – Training – Games – Aftermath format as the other books, though perhaps isn’t quite as engaging, because it lacks the novelty of the original. However – like the best kinds of prequels – we get all kinds of background into not just Haymitch’s character, but other familiar faces including Plutarch, Effie, Mags, Wiress and Betee (aka “Nuts and Volts” from Book 2 of the OG). We even meet Katiniss’s parents. Betee’s story is particularly heartbreaking, as he is forced to mentor his young – and quite likeable – son Ampert in the games, punishment for previous transgressions against the Capitol.
Betee, however, still has some tricks up his sleeve. We also learn new depths to Snow’s evilness and get some insight on what may have happened to a certain missing Covey from “The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes.”
I love the “Hunger Games” stories, but it’d been a few years since I’d read or watched any of them, so I’m sure there are even more insights for the bigger and more astute fans.
A primary theme of “Sunrise” is the questioning of how the many allow themselves to be controlled by the few, noted in one of the book’s epigraphs with a quote from philosopher David Hume. Soon after we meet Lenore Dove, who challenges Haymitch to push against the status quo and tells him that change is possible, to not allow another “sunrise on the reaping” – a concept he had not much considered. As the book continues, there are several incidents where tributes find themselves in rare moments of wielding power over members of the Capitol and are puzzled (some more than others) on what to do next. Even the alliance breakdown among the tributes within the arena challenges existing power dynamics.
The biggest source of excitement, of course, is when we finally make it to the arena to see what the Capitol has in store for us, experienced through the eyes of Haymitch. And here I have conflicting emotions, masterfully created by Collins.
I am drawn in to exploring this new deadly, mysterious fantasyland and wondering how and when the other tributes will die (because we, of course, already know who wins). I’m not disappointed by the world we find, which is a reminder of the sinister nature of all that lies behind the shiny façade of the Capitol and its propaganda.
At one point, when I think we might be leaving the arena early, I’m disappointed that there’s still more terrain to explore and kids left in the game. And then I recognize how messed up it is that I – like the joyfully complicit Capitol residents – am witnessing the murder of innocent children for entertainment. It’s jarring, because, arguably, many (most?) of the people who live in the Capitol aren’t evil, per se. They’re brainwashed and frivolous, succumbed to the bread (“panem” – like the country name) and circuses that makes it convenient and acceptable to ignore the suffering of fellow humans while they feast, party and – essentially – root for their favorite reality show star.
It’s not an excuse. Of course, there are rebels within the Capitol. But it is another way of looking at how the many can be controlled by the few.
It's always risky when a beloved series adds a “reboot” that threatens to tarnish your good memories of the original material. But “Sunrise on the Reaping” adds to the story. It gives us greater understanding of familiar characters while still challenging us to question the evils in the world around us and our role within it – something we all need to be reminded of now. A film version of “Sunrise” is already in the works and set to be released in November of 2026, and – as with the other books – I can’t wait to see this story on screen.
