Reading With Tyler

Name: Sunrise on the Reaping
Series: The Hunger Games #0.5
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic
Format: Kindle
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia, Fantasy, Romance
Noted Tropes: Games & Trials, Media’s Role
Spice Rating: None

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Review:

I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum for the main trilogy as they do come after Sunrise on the Reaping, however there will likely be spoilers for the series in the review. Spoilers for Sunrise on the Reaping will be hidden as normal. That being said, there is a part of me that suggests perhaps you skip this review if you haven’t yet read Sunrise – because somethings seem innocent enough to write but may actually be classed as spoilers. And just in case you are going to skip this review – know that I gave it 5 stars, very nearly 6, and I would recommend reading Snow’s book (The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) before you read Sunrise on the Reaping; and I would say you should read both prequel books after the main trilogy.

“I love you like all-fire.”

At first, I didn’t particuarly care for this way of Haymitch and his love, Lenore Dove, expressing their feelings towards each other… By the end of Sunrise, this sentence alone would make me emotional and I did not see that coming. Suzanne Collins not only wrote a very unique set of games, but also managed to keep this book feeling very unique despite the similarities between it and the later books in the main trilogy.

We follow Haymitch, one of my favourite characters in The Hunger Games, period, as he finds his name being called out as one of two male tributes for the Second Quarter Quell from District 12. But before that all kicks off, we’re introduced to some important people in Haymitch’s life – and if you’re anything like me… you reach a point when you’re reading when suddenly you realise that we were introduced to these characters in Sunrise. And from that point on everything made me tense. Every move Haymitch made, everything any one from 12 said or did in preperation for the games, every friendship made… It all made me nervous. (I am aware that things are definitely illuded to in the later books, but that’s very different to finding out the truth of what happened).

Collin’s really handled this amazingly – I think I didn’t quite click with Snow in his prequel book because I didn’t care for him anyway! But because I cared for Haymitch a lot, I really got hooked in with Sunrise. As expected, we find out why Haymitch is the way he is and I loved that. The whole way through I was looking for what might end up being the trigger for his downfall into alcoholism and just downright nastiness… And when we got it… Man. I don’t think I will ever look at gumdrops the same way.

It’s hard to explain why I loved this as much as I did, without spoiling outcomes for certain characters. But I will add that there were some comments made by Haymitch – particularly surrounding Mags – in Catching Fire, that I was hoping we would learn more about. So, I was both suprirsed and really happy when we learned that Mags, Beetee and Wiress were part of this story. It felt good to finally care for these characters more than just for what they did for Katniss later in the series.

Sunrise really felt like it snapped a bunch of pieces together. We started to understand why Snow hated certain things as a result of his prequel, but in Haymitch’s prequel we really see that his issues started long before Katniss showed up and that he truly is evil. If you came away from Songbird thinking Snow aint all that bad, just out for himself, then buckle up buttercup because I don’t think you will for much longer.

Sunrise on the Reaping was so almost a 6. I am sure if I had read this at a different time it would have gotten there. But let me say this is, in my opinion, a much darker games and story with some very brutal deaths – so please make sure you’re in a good place when you read this. And I now have a whole new bunch of names to add to my ‘will immediately make me want to cry my eyes out when I hear their name’… Thank you Suzanne.

“I know that every year for my birthday, I will get a new pair of tributes, one girl and one boy, to mentor to their deaths. Another sunrise on the reaping.”