Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
⭐⭐☆☆☆
“I love you like all-fire.”
Don’t miss out on the 5th installation in The Hunger Games series.
Sunrise on the Reaping takes us back to the 50th Hunger Games, where we get to revisit a beloved character – Haymitch Abernathy. This time, the alcoholic, middle-aged mentor is now a 16-year-old, fresh-faced teenager, facing another Reaping day. Panem is ramping up for the second Quarter Quell, and as with every Quarter Quell, there are special circumstances. Instead of the normal number of tributes, twice the amount of children will be forced to enter the arena and fight to the death. That’s 48 instead of 24 children, 2 boys and 2 girls from each district.
We’ve already heard a small amount about Haymitch’s games from the original Hunger Games trilogy, but this book takes us further into the story and tells a tale of first love, rebellion, and the power of propaganda to shape the narrative.
Themes
The biggest theme Sunrise on the Reaping is propaganda and how it can completely change the narrative. We know what Katniss and Peeta know about Haymitch’s games. However, this book dives deeper and we discover the Capitol didn’t tell the whole story.
Are we surprised? We have known since The Hunger Games that the Capitol controls much of the media in Panem. This book just gives the reader and Haymitch a stronger sense of helplessness as he questions how he can rebel against a ruling power that controls the whole story. They keep the districts divided by portraying a skewed reality.
Of course, the same themes are felt throughout this book that permeate the original trilogy. Because it precedes the original trilogy, the story still highlights a theme of inequality and class struggle with the division between The Capitol and The Districts.
However, don’t think that rebellion and defiance are not still simmering under the surface. The rebellion that Katniss finished had a much earlier start than we originally thought.
What I Liked
I always enjoy returning to the world of Panem. It was interesting to see Haymitch’s POV before his trauma and learn about who he was before he was changed by his circumstances. However, I hate to admit that there wasn’t much else that I liked about Sunrise on the Reaping.
What I Didn't Like
I am a firm believer that the more books you write within one series, the worse the books get. I’ve seen it with Warriors. I’ve seen it with the Percy Jackson universe. And Suzanne Collins obviously is not exempt from this. I really wanted to like this book. It was my most anticipated read of the year by far! I preordered it months before it was released. But in the end, it fell short of my expectations.
The Writing
First, the writing style. One of the things I love about The Hunger Games is that the writing style feels very mature, even though it’s technically a YA novel. I still read it frequently, and I don’t ever feel like the writing diminishes or I’m reading a book for teens. I feel the same about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
I don’t feel like Sunrise on the Reaping kept that. The writing feels very juvenile and simple to me, with short sentences and a prose that lacked depth. For the first time, I read a book within this series that felt like it was actually written for tweens/teens, and it did not stand up to my adult standards.
I feel like a part of this is that this book was filled with telling the reader things, instead of crafting scenes that can show the reader things. There is just too much info-dumping through character dialogue or Haymitch’s inner monologue.. Haymitch said that Lenore Dove is a spitfire and rebellious, instead of the book showing events where she exhibited these characteristics (at least, not until after we found out these characteristics about her). There are many more examples, but I don’t want to get too spoiler-y.
The Fan Service & Relying on Nostalgia
Another thing was the sheer amount of characters being revisited. It was to the point that it felt like fan service. In this book, characters reintroduced are:
- Effie
- Plutarch
- Katniss’ parents (and we learned their names – Burdock and Asterid)
- Beetee
- Wiress
- Mags
- President Snow (and wow he really just can’t get over Lucy Gray Baird)
It got to the point where it felt like the book was relying on my connection to old characters to make me interested in it. I could feel myself rolling my eyes every time another character was introduced who I already know. Some people like that we got to see all of these characters again, but I feel like it was a bit cheap.
The Lack of Suspense
Finally, the problem with writing a story that we already know the outcome to – it’s super hard to create suspense and excitement. I didn’t connect to any tribute introduced to me because I knew they were going to die. I didn’t feel like there was a point to getting invested in them.
Lenore Dove could’ve been a good character, but she’s hardly in the book. And when we do see her, she’s honestly doing stupid things and causing problems. In my opinion, she is just a very dull character without much going for her. Perhaps if she had more page time, I could’ve learned to like her. However, the book follows Haymitch, so Lenore Dove was not featured enough for her to grow on me. Because of that, I didn’t really feel any suspense near the end of the book.
Final Thoughts
Overall, my expectations were let down by this book. I was so excited for it, but it did not live up to the hype. It didn’t say much that the original trilogy didn’t already touch on, and I couldn’t make any connections with the newly introduced characters. I think that Suzanne should retire the retelling of the different Games, and perhaps focus on a new fresh story or perspective. I wouldn’t mind returning to Panem, but I dread to see another book released that tells the story of another Games from a character we already know. I don’t really understand why other people want to see Finnick’s games. There would just be more tributes we don’t care about and more talk about propaganda and class differences. I also don’t think Suzanne would write about that since we’ve only focused on District 12 thus far. Who knows, maybe visiting District 4 might be interesting?
Despite my dislike of the book, I do plan to see the movie adaptation once it’s released, and I will write a review on that once the time comes!
Have you read the Sunrise on the Reaping? What did you think about it? Let me know in the comments below!
If you’re interested in purchasing a copy, you can find it online at Thrift Books.
