Review - Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

“May the odds be ever in your favor” - but what if they never were to begin with?”

Suzanne Collins is back, and she’s returned to Panem with a vengeance.

Sunrise on the Reaping takes us to the 50th Hunger Games - yes, that Second Quarter Quell - and gives us a front-row seat to the trauma and triumph of a young Haymitch Abernathy. If you’ve ever wondered what made him the cynical, haunted mentor in The Hunger Games, buckle up. This book doesn’t just answer that question but it digs deep into the soul of Panem’s rot.

Book on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Sunrise-Reaping-Hunger-Games-Novel/dp/1546171460

What I love about Collins is her ability to write action that feels visceral and deeply philosophical. She’s not just showing us kids in an arena; she’s pulling back the curtain on power, propaganda, and the machinery of control. The Capitol’s manipulations hit harder here, maybe because we already know where all this leads. That tension - knowing the future but still hoping for something different, makes every page hum.

Haymitch is the standout, of course. He’s smart, snarky, and burdened by a moral compass that refuses to let him sleep. Watching him navigate the Games is both thrilling and heartbreaking. It’s a reminder that “winning” in Panem doesn’t mean surviving, but it means losing something irreplaceable.

Collins also gives us a richer view of District 12 before Katniss, before the Mockingjay, when hope was even scarcer and rebellion just a whisper. There’s a quiet brutality to this book, but also a strange kind of beauty in the moments of resistance and grace.

Final thoughts? If The Hunger Games was a battle cry, Sunrise on the Reaping is a slow, steady burn. It’s not just about survival but it’s about the cost of playing by someone else’s rules. Collins has once again reminded us that stories shape societies. And in Panem, those stories are always loaded.

A haunting, layered prequel that doesn’t just expand the universe, rather it deepens it.

Read it if you’re ready to see the Games through a sharper, sadder lens.