Suzanne Collins

When you've been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch's name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He's torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who's nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town.

As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he's been set up to fail. But there's something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

The Hunger Games 0.5

Sunrise on the Reaping

sofia mae

Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping, and she is the most precious thing I’ve ever known

hessensitive

I shake off my tarp to repurpose it as a blanket & have almost dozed off again when I hear Wellie begin to cry. I reach to console her, but she's fast asleep. The weeping comes from far below at the base of the tree. Silka? Who else could it be? She isn't trying to hunt us, just huddled against the trunk. I didn't peg her for a crier. Of course, I've still probably got tearstains on my cheeks from Maysilee's passing. I'm sure Silka has plenty to cry about, too. Even if she's the clear front-runner in the Games, we've all of us got enough dead kids to mourn for a lifetime.

I become intensely aware of the three of us, huddled around this tree, the last trio of human heartbeats in the arena. Sad, desperate, but also a rare moment of district unity in the Games. You know what would make it even better? I drop a handful of chocolate balls into the night. A startled sound. The sobs soften to sniffles. A candy wrapper crackles. Quiet.

We lose the rest of our 11 allies & then a Peacekeeper opens the first door marked 12.

I hold out my arms. Without a word, Wyatt & Maysilee join in a group embrace. Lou Lou wiggles in the centre of the hug & we tighten our hold, feeling one another's pulses & sweat & skin. Ten minutes from now, who will even still have a heartbeat?

That's when I see Lenore Dove. She's up on a ridge, her red dress plastered to her body, one hand clutching the bag of gumdrops. As the train passes, she tilts her head back & wails her loss & rage into the wind. And even though it guts me, even though I smash my fists into the glass until they bruise, I'm grateful for her final gift. That she's denied Plutarch the chance to broadcast our farewell.

The moment our hearts shattered? It belonged to us.

Karen

I know one thing, though: The Capitol can never take Lenore Dove from me again. They never really did in the first place. Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping, and she is the most precious thing I’ve ever known.

We do want you. You shook up the Capitol, both figuratively and literally, with that earthquake. You were capable of imagining a different future. And maybe it won't be realized today, maybe not in our lifetime. Maybe it will take generations. We’re all part of a continuum. Does that make it pointless?

But what is that exactly? I think about our journey — everything from sniping with her in those early days after the reaping to battling those pink birds. I guess that's my answer. A sister is someone you fight with and fight for. Tooth and nail. 

jean

The moment our hearts shattered? It belongs to us.

roro :)

I think of the moment with the knives in training, of the country as a whole, and how we just keep submitting to the Capitol's rule. Why? 

(Bre)anne✨

Emilia Vulliamy

“We will be together always. I don’t know how, and I don’t know where, I don’t know anything, but I feel that in my heart. You and me, we will find each other, as many times as it takes.”

Alyssa Weaver

Silka stands there, her hand against her gushing eye socket. Her good eye squints at my gut, estimating the arrival time of my death. Then there's the return of the whistle, her moment of confusion as the spinning ax catches the sunlight, and the dull sickening sound as it lodges in her head.

Anna Oeltjenbruns

I dismount the chariot and lay Louella down, taking a step back so Snow can't pretend he doesn't see her broken little bird body. Then I gesture to him and begin to applaud, giving credit where credit is due. Spin this, Plutarch, I think. Suddenly, the president's expression changes. He turns his attention to the screen to my right, which features a shot of me from the waist up, clapping. 

 that bicycle bell from the Training Center would be in the Arena!

Jacob Edmonds

My ears have picked up a strange sound behind me, out of sync with the nighttime background noise of the woods. I stand still, listening hard.

No . . . Not the pinky promise. 😭😭😭

In the last moments, she releases her grip enough to lock her pinkie around mine. Looking, I think, for a final confirmation of the promise we made to cach other. I nod so she knows I understand and that I will try my best to bring the Capitol down, although I have never felt so powerless in my entire life.

And then she’s gone to wherever people go when they die.

Ampert . . . And those squirrels were all for him.

Ampert’s been swallowed up by the Capitol, and his coffin will hold only these pearly white bones.

Sadie Hoffman

I hold out my arms. Without a word, Wyatt and Maysilee join in a group embrace. Lou Lou wiggles into the center of the hug and we tighten our hold, feeling one another’s pulses and sweat and skin. Ten minutes from now, who will even still have a heartbeat?

After a minute, a Peacekeeper says, “Let’s go.”

The bell rings and Caesar gives me a slap on the back. “This one’s a real rascal, ladies and gentlemen! Haymitch Abernathy from District Twelve! May the odds be EVER in his favor!”

“Ladies and Gentlemnen, welcome to the Fiftieth Hunger Games Night of Interviews. And here’s everybody’s  favorite host, Caesar Flickerman!”

Caesar descends from the ceiling perched on a crescent moon, stars shooting behind him. He’s a young guy wearing a suit so dark blue it's almost black, embedded with tiny light bulbs that make it twinkle. The suit never changes, but every year he dyes his hair a different color, tonight a deep pine-forest green, and paints his eyelids and lips the same color.

“Effie!” cries Proserpina, flinging herself into the newcomer’s arms.

This made me weep like a little baby, I haven’t cried that much for any piece of media since reading Mockingjay back in like 2017. This was incredibly emotional and well written and even though fans of the series knew what would inevitably happen it still hit me like a brick in the head. What impacted me the most was definitely the epilogue, when we get reminded that he also calls Katniss his sweetheart and that it is not at all demeaning like some presumed earlier. And Haymitch raising the geese that his two children (at heart) gifted him. 

Noumbé Diop

At first, inevitably, the story felt too repetitive, but it was still captivating. I loved the way of showing its not just the character, their strength, and courage that ends the ongoing fight, but the chance and the timing plays a great factor. Haymitch could have been the face of the rebellion, but he didn’t have enough chance, and strong people by his side, which cost him his loved one. Katniss could have had the same ending, but she had luck and the right people. I really enjoyed that message. The games were still creative, but again a bit repetitive. 

ovgun

I understand why Haymitch was such a wreck in the OG books..he has the WORST story so far, poor guy. Loved learning about all the other characters and what happened to them/why they are a certain way in Catching Fire. Also makes me think the 75th Quarter Quell was DEFINITELY rigged to get rid of all those “rebels.” Probably why Haymitch was picked before Peeta volunteered. Ugh and then Haymitch had to watch them all die too 😭😭 The guy literally lost everyone

Miranda Watson

The hunger games universe just isn’t for me. 

Samantha Waterson

“You were capable of imagining a different future. And maybe it won't be realized today, maybe not in our lifetime. Maybe it will take generations. We're all part of a continuum.”

Oof my heart hurts. You’d think that reading a prequel makes the pain easier to bear because you already know what happens in the end, but that’s not how it works. Haymitch Abernathy was the mentor of unfortunate District 12 tributes from the original trilogy, but by then he was a middle-aged alcoholic who was so jaded and disillusioned that he wasn’t much of a role model. This is a story of how he ended up so traumatised.

The first prequel, TBOSAS, showed how the Capitol turned what was meant to be a straightforward punishment delivered to keep colonies in check into a spectacle that served the dual purposes of objectifying and flattening the tributes into consumable media, while implicating its own citizens in its ritual massacres so that they no longer want to rebel against their own government. It is more than a little on the nose. Haymitch’s story happens several decades later after Snow has had time to consolidate even more power, but even so, Snow still feels an affinity with Haymitch simply by virtue of them both loving a Covey girl—his lifelong obsession with the emblem of an insuppressible District 12 runs deep. 

Maysilee says, “We never, none of us, had any choices.” What she means is that under Capitol rule, the only thing one gets to choose is their degree of suffering. The only way to live a worthwhile life under such circumstances is to be principled and not close your eyes to another’s pain. SotR is a reminder that revolution must come at a great cost—generations and generations of death—but also that revolution is coming nevertheless. Do your part and trust the process.

What am I supposed to do with my life after reading all the THG books again.

Sobbing as per usual with these books, and honestly I hate Snow with a passion. 

Definitely not the best book out of the series but gets extra points from nostalgia. 

Denisse Garcia Ramírez 

What am I supposed to do with my life after reading all the THG books again.

Sobbing as per usual with these books, and honestly I hate Snow with a passion. 

Definitely not the best book out of the series but gets extra points from nostalgia. 



I really liked the cheeky nod to AI. God, I hope it gets banned.

Jonnie

flies by. but this is not the best of the hunger games. it can only get a 3 for nostalgia honestly. & maybe ampert & maysilee. haymitch is a phenomenal character in katniss’ story and this backstory makes sense. but there were too many nods to the original series, falls into the prequel traps a bit much for me

mara henderson

Saffy

Suzanne Collins is an evil genius. I’m always hesitant to read prequels, but this was just as good as the OG series. I cannot believe how much these she puts these people through. 

what happened here…. i hate to say that i didn’t love this :( but it was not very good 

mallorie 🦌

It's Suzanne Collins. Her books flow tremendously well. You can finish her books in a sitting with how well she handles her writing. Overall I liked this add on better then a Ballad. Haymitch is a super fun character and reading into his hunger games is a whole lot of fun, but some parts felt shallower then the original trilogy. Still very much worth a read!

Max Riley

It was a perfect portrayal of Haymitch’s background and it was really interesting to learn some more of the lore about the character and the world of the hunger games. So many likeable characters and it was cool to see the early stages of the rebellion

Nathan Rogers

I think Suzanne Collins just took my heart out, stomped on it, and then put it haphazardly back into my chest

Tiana holt

Jordan Chan 

Sasadvt

President Snow always gets me so heated at the end of these books. 

Sasha

this might be the most heartbreaking book ive ever read

Janet Akisanmi

I have made it to the end of The Hunger Games Books! What a journey it has been and it’s clear that the most emotional was left to the very end, things will never the be the same again. Having got to know Haymitch over the course of the original trilogy I have been waiting to learn more about him, but I was not expecting what was to come at all.

Twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games Sunrise on the Reaping details sixteen-year-old Haymitch Abernathy’s fateful experience during the 50th Hunger Games (the second Quarter Quell).

It’s always unique to have a prequel where you know the “Ending” of someone’s story before you have really learned about the past and what they have gone through, but this one was done in such a unique way. Haymitch is completely unrecognizable here versus when we first meet him. In this novel, he is just a sixteen boy. Sober. Happy at home with a girlfriend and side job. I half expect the epilogue to be how it was, just to show the development. But things are quickly turned on their head when Haymitch is selected to take part in the Quarter Quell.

This book is torture of the worst kind because no matter how miserable it makes you feel you just can’t stop reading it. I wish I could say it ended happily, but if you’ve read catching fire, then you know that it is simply impossible. Haymitch may have been crowned victor, but Snow is the real winner of his games.

Understanding Haymitch’s backstory through this book brought so much depth to his character traits and actions we see in the original trilogy. Everything, even his simple mannerisms, had been shaped through his time in the arena and through those he had lost. In my mind, Haymitch is no longer the crazy, drunk victor from twelve; but rather a normal guy who's experience with the abnormal changed him for the worse. Now, I know that every time a reread the original books, he will seem like a completely different person to me. Through Katniss' pov, we saw Haymitch from the perspective of an outsider; or someone who didn't truly understand his story. But through this book, we see Haymitch for who he truly is, and I believe that has made all the difference.

Ian Brakspear

I have made it to the end of The Hunger Games Books! What a journey it has been and it’s clear that the most emotional was left to the very end, things will never the be the same again. Having got to know Haymitch over the course of the original trilogy I have been waiting to learn more about him, but I was not expecting what was to come at all.

 

Twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games Sunrise on the Reaping details sixteen-year-old Haymitch Abernathy’s fateful experience during the 50th Hunger Games (the second Quarter Quell).

 

It’s always unique to have a prequel where you know the “Ending” of someone’s story before you have really learned about the past and what they have gone through, but this one was done in such a unique way. Haymitch is completely unrecognizable here versus when we first meet him. In this novel, he is just a sixteen boy. Sober. Happy at home with a girlfriend and side job. I half expect the epilogue to be how it was, just to show the development. But things are quickly turned on their head when Haymitch is selected to take part in the Quarter Quell.

 

This book is torture of the worst kind because no matter how miserable it makes you feel you just can’t stop reading it. I wish I could say it ended happily, but if you’ve read catching fire, then you know that it is simply impossible. Haymitch may have been crowned victor, but Snow is the real winner of his games.

 

Understanding Haymitch’s backstory through this book brought so much depth to his character traits and actions we see in the original trilogy. Everything, even his simple mannerisms, had been shaped through his time in the arena and through those he had lost. In my mind, Haymitch is no longer the crazy, drunk victor from twelve; but rather a normal guy who's experience with the abnormal changed him for the worse. Now, I know that every time a reread the original books, he will seem like a completely different person to me. Through Katniss' pov, we saw Haymitch from the perspective of an outsider; or someone who didn't truly understand his story. But through this book, we see Haymitch for who he truly is, and I believe that has made all the difference.

this book was fantastic. taking bits and pieces of a story that’s been hinted at in the future and fully fleshing it out and giving a wider scope to the existing narrative. knowing Haymitch wins his games doesn’t prepare you or diminish the impact of reading it at all. the political commentary particularly focused on propaganda was done extremely well. 

james cao

What a fabulous backstory to Haymitch and as always adds to the evil that is Coriolanus Snow!!!

Sunrise on the Reaping The Hunger Games 0.5

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