After Sunrise on the Reaping, a prequel to the Hunger Games series was announced on June 6, 2024, I had one question: Is this series going to be driven into the ground just for profit? After reading it, I can happily say that although this book proved very lucrative (over 1.5 million copies were sold in the first week), the story is extremely compelling in the best way possible. My eyes were certainly not dry, and my heart was wrenched, but it was compelling nonetheless.
The book takes place in Panem, a dystopian country in which an annual Hunger Games – a televised event in which twenty-four children fight to the death – is held. As most fans would remember, every twenty-five years, there is a “Quarter Quell” – a special event in which there is a special games where the rules are twisted. Sunrise on the Reaping starts in District Twelve on the morning of the second Quarter Quell. The narrator is Haymitch Abernathy, who we know eventually becomes Katniss and Peeta’s mentor twenty-four years later.
In the original trilogy, we know Haymitch to be a bitter alcoholic who loathes the games. While his dry, sarcastic humor may have been a bit funny and fitting for his character, I always felt that it created a great distance between me, the reader, and Haymitch’s character. Now, being inside his head and reading his every thought, there is no longer that boundary. It was not only interesting, but almost necessary to know Haymitch’s story and slowly uncover why he is the way he is.
Not only are we given the origins of Haymitch’s character, but we also learn more about a few characters from the other four books. Additionally, many new characters were introduced, ones that I could very easily connect to. If you are a fan of the other books, I could not recommend it more.
