Book Review: Sunrise on the Reaping

Haymitch Abernathy has always been one of my favourite characters in both the Hunger Games movies and books. As a fellow Hunger Games victor himself, you see first hand the toll that the games and the Capitols authoritarian rule have taken on him. A man so lost in his own anguish that he resorts to drinking away any sense of sobriety so he doesn’t have to feel any of the pain.  While the main Hunger Games trilogy gives us small hints about his past, a lot of the main exposition was hidden for a long time. That’s why it made perfect sense that for her next book in the franchise, Sunrise of the Reaping, Suzanne Collins would take us all on a harrowing deep dive into the 50^th annual Hunger Games alongside Haymitch and learn first-hand what level of trauma he endured in his fight to oppose the Capitol at every turn.

The narrative behind the book follows Haymitch on his 16^th birthday in District 12, which unfortunately happens to be on the same day as the annual reaping ceremony for the Hunger Games. Haymitch spends what little free time he has looking after his mother and little brother as well as moonlighting with his romantic partner Lenore Dove who he loves for her rebellious spirit. Despite having a lot of responsibilities to his home, fate deals Haymitch a cruel hand when he is drawn as one of the 4 tributes as part of the 2^nd Quarter Quell stipulation which required each district to offer twice as many tributes. Haymitch holds no love for the Capitol and shares Lenore’s rebellious outlook on their control of the districts. Seeing what they have taken from him and what more they expect him to endure, Haymitch steels his heart as he prepares to take on the Capitol and turn their 50^th annual Hunger Game into a beacon of defiance.

The narrative scope of Sunrise on the Reaping is incredible. I was worried initially that the book would bog down into a lot of nostalgia-bait but Suzanne Collins smartly utilizes existing material in the story in a way that feels relevant. Following Haymitch on his journey to defy the Capitol in his Hunger Games is filled with so much tragedy that you fully understand why he ended up the way he did by the time Katniss’ games came around.  Besides being from District 12, Katniss and Haymitch share a lot more commonality that we were initially led to expect.  Their personal ties to both their families and friends make their forced ordeal in the Hunger Games even more emotional because they know how much they have to lose.  In Haymitch’s case though, his affiliation with Lenore Dove influences his rebellious nature to be more present in comparison to Katniss.  Seeing Haymitch’s journey of defiance and the end result of his time in the Hunger Games is like watching a slow-motion car crash, you know how this all ends, but seeing the scale and scope behind the impact his defiance leads to makes me empathise with Haymitch so much more than I already did.

Again I’m not typically a fan of the 1^st-person perspective in books, but it’s used in such smart way in these books that I actually don’t mind it.  Framing everything from Haymitch’s perspective helps layer that personal element to the story and gives you a much deeper impression of Haymitch as a character.  It’s worth highlighting how bleak this story is too.  A lot of the books in this series all offer some semblance of sadness when it comes to the general tone and theme, but Sunrise on the Reaping really delivers on the concept.  It has to because Haymitch in the original trilogy is such a shell of a person that you knew something truly terrible had to have happened to him to turn him into that person. Again, with it being prequel, it helped my engagement with the story notably because despite knowing the outcome, I was compelled to follow along and learn just how tragic Haymitch’s story is. 

Sunrise on the Reaping may have just knocked Catching Fire off the podium for my favourite book in the series.  I think on its own merits, it’s an excellently written book which pulls no punches in showing the turmoiled journey Haymitch Abernathy is forced to endure in his own Hunger Games. While we know the outcome is somewhat happy for him in the end, it’s really appreciated that Suzanne Collins put everything into realizing the sorrow that defined his past with little to no details omitted. As its own independent story, it serves as a nice vertical slice into the world of Panem but the extra context it provides will make me look at Haymitch Abernathy’s part in this series with even more empathy than I already had.