sunrise on the reaping review
oh suzanne collins, the woman you are. i have just finished sunrise on the reaping, and my goodness gracious. spoiler warnings ahead!!
listen, suzanne collins is not the kind of writer who churns out books just because she can. she only writes when she has something to say, and when she does, she does it with precision, purpose, and gut-wrenching impact. this book is no exception. sunrise on the reaping is not just another installment in the hunger games universe—it’s a sharp, unflinching look at power, control, and the cycles of oppression that mirror our very real world. i mean before even reading the first chapter, readers are met with quotes that paint the realities of rigged political systems. the fact that reaping day in this book is on july 4th? that is not a coincidence. collins has always used dystopia to hold a mirror to our reality, and this time, she’s making sure we see the irony of a country celebrating “freedom” while systematically maintaining oppression.
this book bridges so many gaps in the hunger games universe. the interconnectedness of these characters across generations makes panem feel even more alive. (and makes me go crazy oh my god) we get a deeper understanding of what led to the broken version of haymitch we first met in the hunger games. we see the direct connections between characters, the echoes of past rebellions, and how history doesn’t just repeat—it compounds. in fact we learn that katniss was not the first to attempt to rebel against the capitol, it was our beloved haymitch abanarthy.
haymitch. my god, haymitch. i have always loved him, but this book? this book made me feel his pain in a way that i never had before. we already knew he won the 50th hunger games, but knowing and witnessing are two very different things. he was thrown into a rigged reaping, a rigged game, and fought desperately to survive. he wasn’t just fighting for himself; he was fighting against a system designed to break him. and the details—his birthday being on reaping day, him promising lenore dove that he wouldn’t let the sunrise on the reaping again, and then in catching fire being the last name ever pulled for the hunger games—devastating. absolutely devastating.
and then there’s the emotional weight of haymitch’s story beyond the arena. this man, who was full of love and light, had a family and friends and his girl, all taken away from him by a guy who can’t get over his failed situationship, and then he pushed everyone away out of fear of losing them, who drowned his pain in alcohol because he knew what the capitol could take from him, somehow found the strength to open up to katniss. katniss, the daughter of one of his childhood best friends. katniss, who he became a father figure for without even realizing it.
speaking of katniss, this book proves what we’ve all known: she is just a luckier version of haymitch. everything he did, she finished. everything he lost, she avenged. he walked so she could run, so she could do what he never got the chance to. this book makes that parallel clearer than ever, and it makes their bond all the more heartbreaking and beautiful.
also, let’s talk about woody harrelson. because i am convinced suzanne collins must have told him some of this backstory. the way he played haymitch—every choice, every flicker of pain in his eyes, every bitter joke—it all lines up so perfectly with the deeper layers of his character that we now have access to. and now, in this book, we even get an epilogue. we see haymitch in the timeline of katniss and peeta and we see the threads of his story finally weave together.
suzanne collins didn’t just give us another hunger games book—she gave us a reckoning.
this book isn’t just about haymitch. it’s about survival, about the weight of history, about the echoes of rebellion that never truly fade. and as an avid hunger games fan, as someone who has loved this world since i first picked up the series, sunrise on the reaping is everything i could have wanted and more.
i must stop myself here because if i keep going, we will be reaching another four thousand word essay. but let say, if you’ve read it, let’s talk. i could discuss this book forever and truly want to hear your thoughts.
