Sunrise on the Reaping

 First book review and I am starting off with a bang! This post is about Suzanne Collins’ newest book Sunrise on the Reaping. 

I have been a long-time fan of The Hunger Games series. They were the books that could pull my middle school self out of a reading slump at any point in time and I am excited to say that her newest two books have made that fact stay true even though I am older. I only very recently read both of her newest books by using the libby app and my local library! While this did test my patience greatly, it was very much worth the wait. Before I started reading Sunrise on the Reaping, I was filled with excitement because of the things I had been seeing on social media… I knew it had to be good. I was instantly hooked from the very first chapter with mention of Lenore Dove and her Covey roots. Meeting young Haymitch before his reaping was the greatest gift Collins could have given her readers, and is not to be taken for granted given how the story ends. The old side of Haymitch that we only get glimpses of during Katniss and Peeta’s games is shown in full brightness throughout the book, especially with him being the narrator for most of the book. 

Even though we as the readers know who wins the games since this is a prequel, that fact did not take away from the book in the slightest. It had me questioning what I already knew, and that feeling is how you know that it is a fantastic book. Sunrise on the Reaping felt like one big definition of the five degrees of separation theory when we get to meet the critical characters early in their lives such as Effie, Katniss Everdeen’s father (Burdock Everdeen), Plutarch, and of course President Snow with his ever-important Covey ties. Due to being reintroduced to these critical characters during their developmental years, I do think it would be helpful to re-read the entire series before starting Collins newest book. I felt like I could manage not re-reading the series for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes but I wish I had the history of the characters in the forefront of my mind for Sunrise on the Reaping.

Per usual, nothing is as it seems in this book, and yet the surprises never failed to get a reaction out of me. I cried a grand total of three times while reading this book. Yes, three times. The first time was due to Collins doing such a wonderful job of getting your heart to bleed even for the characters who got under your skin. The second time was the utter shock of events post-games since that part was not explicitly stated in the other books, and the third time was sheer frustration about the cruelty displayed by the capitol that existed in both Haymitch’s years and beyond as we see in the later books. The ending was the absolute cherry on top and truly completes the series. Sometimes when I hear that great books or series are having a prequel written, I get nervous because I do not want it to ruin the already perfect image of this universe that was so wonderfully created, and this book could not be further from that. This prequel truly does nothing but add to this already amazing series and I would absolutely recommend reading this book if you have read the entirety of the series. 

Happy reading!