Listen to the author read this review:
Rowde, England, UK – After waiting for five years, fans of the Hunger Games were rewarded this week with the release of the latest edition of author Suzanne Collins’ world famous series.
Sunrise on the Reaping is a prequel to the original series and a sequel to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, placing it second in the timeline. It follows the story of the second quarter quell, the 50th Hunger Games.
For the uninitiated, The Hunger Games series is set in a dystopian world in which, every year, one boy and one girl between 12 and 18 are selected via a lottery and forced to participate in a compulsory televised death match.
A spectacle of brutality, The Hunger Games are orchestrated by the powerful to maintain their grip on the weak, created by the government to punish and control the poorer districts who had once rebelled.
This book tells the backstory Haymitch Abernathy, a beloved character in the series who serves as a mentor to others, including two other popular characters, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. It also shares the gut-wrenching tale of Haymitch’s own Hunger Games.
‘Ladies and gentleman, let the Fiftieth Hunger Games begin!’
It didn’t surprise me that fans across the globe flocked to shops to grab their copy of Sunrise on the Reaping. Luckily I was one of the fans who managed to get their hands on a copy.
I was excited to delve into Collins’ brilliant and heartbreaking world of Panem once more. I had high expectations and the author did not disappoint.
This book shattered me. As someone who absolutely loves the series, I finished back to front in one night.
Collins is a talented and unique storyteller who grips you from the very first page. I was fully immersed in her brutal worlds the moment I started reading.
The political undertones hit hard. It’s scary how relevant the themes are, but I think the complex world the author is building with this series is part of the reason it has been so successful.
Sunrise on the Reaping further developed what we already know about Panem by giving us much better insight into the manipulative and sadistic nature of its government, known as the Capitol.
As well as her superb world building, Collins writes fantastic multi-dimensional characters.
I loved Haymitch’s character in the original series and learning his backstory in this book made him even more complex. I found it fascinating to see how he developed from a young boy into the mentor we met in the original series.
Other characters from the series, like Mags, Wiress and Effie Trinket, also appear. While we know Haymitch survived the Games, the tensions in this book were high and there were many surprising plot twists, character appearances and parallels to the other books that kept me engrossed in the story.
Despite devouring this book, there were a few things that could’ve worked better. The pacing was off. The build up to the Games was extremely long, while the Games themselves were rushed and lacking detail.
Though the long build up aided in the development of the characters and made the losses more hard hitting, the Games lacked some of the detail and brutality that they’d previously had.
Unlike the original series which dragged the Games out – creating more tension, fear and impact – Sunrise on the Reaping failed to do this in the same way. Instead, the deaths came quickly and with little detail about the Games.
It felt like the Games were over so much faster than in other books, and it took away some of their emotional impact.
The epilogue added another layer of sorrow that I wasn’t prepared for.
I didn’t think this book could make me cry harder, but then I read the epilogue and was proven wrong.
I’m excited to see what the author does next with this series.
Though this book wasn’t as gripping as the original trilogy, if you are a Hunger Games fan, you’ll love Sunrise on the Reaping. And if you have yet to read the series, this is your sign to delve into the exceptional mind of Suzanne Collins.
Jess Worrow is a Junior Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
