Sunrise on the Reaping

by Suzanne Collins ★★★★★

When we first meet Haymitch Abernathy at the beginning of The Hunger Games, he's an absolute mess. He's described as a "paunchy, middle-aged man, who at this moment appears hollering something unintelligible, staggers on to the stage, and falls into the third chair. He's drunk. Very." Shortly thereafter, he "plummets off the stage and knocks himself unconscious."

He's also one of only two District 12 victors in the 74-year history of the Hunger Games.

Sunrise on the Reaping is the story of that victory, taking us back in time to the "second Quarter Quell", a doubled-up version of the Hunger Games that marks the 50th anniversary of the games' start. It features twice as many tributes ("Like two Hunger Games in one," muses Haymitch) and an even greater focus by the Capitol on creating a memorable spectacle. We meet a young Haymitch, on his 16th birthday, who lives with his ma and younger brother. Like many in District 12, they struggle to get by, and to help make ends meet, Haymitch works for Hattie Meeney, brewing white liquor. It's contraband, but the peacekeepers generally look the other way, because they are some of Hattie's best customers.

The focus of his world is Lenore Dove, his love, and she dominates his thoughts as only young love can for a 16-year-old boy. They attend the reaping together, and a series of events leads Haymitch to end up as one of the tributes from District 12, even though his name is not drawn, much like a certain young girl who would follow in his footsteps 24 years later.

That kicks off what is effectively a retelling of The Hunger Games—same story structure, same components, although this time we know the outcome in advance. We're also experts on things like mentors and stylists, the nature of what the arena can be (even though it's always different), and we're not learning about characters like President Snow or Plutarch Heavensbee for the first time. We know that Haymitch will emerge as the victor, and we have a good idea what will happen to his fellow tributes, and so the mystery is in the journey, and what could possibly turn a vibrant young 16-year-old into the stumbling drunk we meet at the start of The Hunger Games.

That's a hard book to keep captivating, but Suzanne Collins has done it incredibly well. To put it simply, Sunrise on the Reaping feels like a retelling of The Hunger Games, but written by an author with the benefit of two decades of additional experience under her belt. What we miss in first-time novelty we make up for with nostalgia; Collins connects a lot of dots, not just to Haymitch but to several other characters in The Hunger Games trilogy, including Plutarch Heavensbee, Effie Trinket, and even Katniss herself. I suspect there are even more Easter eggs embedded in the novel than I noticed, given how long it's been since I read The Hunger Games, but it feels as if Collins spent a significant amount of time thinking about smart ways to link this latest offering to all of the books that came before it.

Beyond being what feels like a fitting swan song for the franchise, it's also just a really good story. It's well-plotted, it's tragic, and it answers dozens of questions a Hunger Games fan might have about several of the characters. Haymitch's experience mimics Katniss's in many ways, and that actually adds to the reader's understanding of the future connection between Haymitch and Katniss. Collins' additional experience and maturity as an author shine through, and while it seems like it would be impossible to recapture the magic of a phenomenon like The Hunger Games, I think she's done it, and dare I say written an even better story than the original. This is a sizable improvement from 2020's The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and a case could be made that it's the best Hunger Games novel to-date. A must for fans of the series.