When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?
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.
Last Tuesday was one of the greatest days of my life: I finally got the latest Hunger Games book that I preordered months ago (and I got the Barnes and Noble exclusive edition).
You guys know how much I love the original HG trilogy, and although I haven’t posted my review of the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes yet, I loved that one too.
But what about Sunrise on the Reaping?
Well to no one’s surprise, I loved this 5th book just as much as I did the first four. My exclusive edition came with an interview Suzanne Collins did with her publisher, which dove even deeper into the connections with the previous books and her reasoning behind certain characters and dialogue. But even without that, this book was over 5 stars.
Sunrise on the Reaping is written in 1st person just like the original trilogy, which I love because it allows you to see even more of Haymitch’s personal dialogue and thoughts and attitudes. It was wonderful to see what his life was like before his time in the Hunger Games and as a mentor, and the epilogue describing his relationships with Katniss and Peeta made it even more amazing.
I can’t reveal too much without giving spoilers for the whole book, but let’s just say a lot of characters from previous books come back into the story, either by family line or they’re directly involved in Haymitch’s life. And the poetry that Suzanne Collins incorporated into Sunrise on the Reaping fit the narrative so perfectly, especially the overarching storyline that began with Snow and Lucy Gray in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Here’s just a sample of what Collins tied into Haymitch’s story:
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”
— The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
This fifth Hunger Games book still has all of the elements that the first four books did: there’s some violence/gore in the Hunger Games themselves (seeing as it’s a competition of kids fighting to the death), and Haymitch has a love story just like Katniss and Peeta, but there’s little to no cursing and no inappropriate scenes. Collins manages to explore ethical questions like manipulation, propaganda, and “real or not real?” without it feeling overbearing or political — her themes always fit her characters and stories beautifully, which makes them even more powerful and touching.
Whether you’re a longtime fan of the Hunger Games or if you’ve never picked up any of the books in your life, you should go read Sunrise on the Reaping. But seeing as it’s the 5th book in the series and takes place in between the prequel and the original trilogy, you should probably just go read ALL the books 🙂
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