The Capitol’s Cruelest Game: Sunrise on The Reaping Review

Twice the amount of tributes, even more brutal, and just as devastating. That's the Sunrise on The Reaping by Suzanne Collins, compared to the rest of its predecessors. 

While technically Sunrise on The Reaping is the fifth book of the series, chronologically in the timeline it is the second book. Published in 2025, this young adult dystopian is 384 pages long. As someone who’s always found The Hunger Games series interesting, I went into this fifth book with high hopes.

It's the second quarter quell, the 50th Hunger Games, and we’re finally learning the story of everyone’s favorite town drunk, Haymitch Abernathy. In the 50th games, twice as many tributes are reaped then the usual 24. Haymitch must beat 47 other tributes in order to make it back home to his family, friends, and girlfriend. 

Is the fifth book in The Hunger Games series a victor or just another fallen tribute?

The Tributes

Throughout the previous four books, you meet certain characters that are a part of Sunrise on The Reaping. Most importantly is Haymitch himself, but you also get to finally meet the friend of Katniss's mother who went into the games and also get to see the beginnings of Effie Trinket in the capital.

As far as the other victors throughout the books, you get to see a different light on three specific ones: Wiress, Mags, and Beetee. As a reader, you get more depth to their characters than you do the books that they appear in previously. This adds a layer to their characters that when you go back to reread the original trilogy, you pick up on certain little details that Collins planted there to connect to this prequel.

Let’s talk about Haymitch for a minute; these are his games afterall. When we first meet Haymitch in the first book, he's a full-time drunk and doesn’t seem to care about anything, not even Peta or Katniss. He's a man who seems to have no hope whatsoever. 

In his own book, you get to see a different side of Haymitch before he became the district drunk. Sunrise on The Reaping shows you a different light on his character and the tragedies that he's had to endure before and after his games; everything he experiences in Sunrise on The Reaping makes him a completely different person. That's the person we've all grown to know and begrudgingly love in the original trilogy.

Don’t Believe Everything You’re Told

As always, Collins’s books are incredibly easy to follow and read, but that doesn't make them a simple read. While anyone can read her work and comprehend it, that’s not the point of her writing. Collins uses her work as commentary.

Collins only writes when she has something political that she wants to address. Sunrise on The Reaping focuses on a whole lot of things, but—without giving away too many spoilers—the main thing Sunrise on The Reaping teaches you is to not trust everything you’re told. Collins uses propaganda in her book as a very powerful tool that is used against everyone, even those in power. 

The Start to a Rebellion

Despite the plot of Sunrise on The Reaping being very similar to The Hunger Games and Catching Fire—each story has the same set up: tribute gets reaped, goes into the games, and survives—Sunrise on The Reaping brings a whole new light to the universe of The Hunger Games. We already knew that the victors didn't get the lives that we were told (by the capitol) victors got. Haymitch’s story really shows that even though he won the games, there is no such thing as a victor; there's only survivors.

His story also shows that even though Haymitch won, afterwards his life was controlled by the capital. He was a puppet, much like the other victors, and the capitol took everything from him.

The Area

Outside of characters and plot, I want to talk about the setting because it's so visually unique and different compared to the other games. Collins does a great job of describing the arenas every time, but there's something so interesting about Haymitch’s arena. The 50th quarter quell arena is designed to be shaped like an eye, which makes the literary comparison to Big Brother in 1984 (George Orwell) and that the capital was always watching like Big Brother.

There's also the fact that the arena is covered in bright ‘friendly’ things like flowers, birds, and insects, but all of it is dangerous towards the tributes. The design of the arena continues to push the theme that Collins is trying to get through, not everything is as it's portrayed. People are lying, things are lying, nothing is as it seems, and it's up to you to figure out what is the truth. Just like Haymitch.

Like All Fire

With how popular The Hunger Games franchise is, it's not shocking this book is so memorable. Collins does a wonderful job writing every single time. Every book she makes is incredibly intriguing. Personally, I think I'd have to rank Sunrise on The Reaping as my favorite book of her five so far.

If you get started now and read Sunrise on The Reaping, you might be able to finish the book before the movie releases on November 20 this year.

May the odds be ever in your favor…

My Rating