Name: Fabian's review of Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Item: Sunrise on the Reaping
Rating: 4
Author: Fabian

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

Nina May

“Let me go with them. Please!” But they don’t, they hold on to me tight. I lie there, sobbing, begging, calling for Ma and Sid, until no more sounds come out.

They are coffins. Louella, Maysilee, and Wyatt will be riding home with me.[...] Instead, we will finish this journey together.

He merely smiles and says, “Enjoy your homecoming.”

Maysilee leaves the world the way she wanted, wounded but not bowed. [...]

Goodbye, Maysilee Donner, who I loathed, then grudgingly respected, then loved. Not as a sweetheart or even a friend. A sister, I’d said.I guess that’s my answer. [...] A sister is someone you fight with and fight for. Tooth and nail.

But from where I’m sitting, hope seems a lot like white liquor. It can fool you in the short run, but like as not, you’ll end up paying for it twice.

I know it might be wiser to embrace my death now, but there’s something in a person that wants to live.

Fire is catching, she’d say, but if this one burns down the arena, I say good riddance.

“Will you make sure my token gets home to my girl?” Effie nods and lays a hand over it solemnly. “I will do my absolute best.”

“Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore— Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.” Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

"But not crude — this is a family show."

You stay alive, play your songs, love your people, live the best life you can. And I’ll be there in the Meadow waiting for you. It’s a promise. Okay?” [...] “Lenore Dove, I love you like all- fire. That’s for always.”

Once, over at Burdock’s, his ma mixed up some white flour, salt, and water into dough, and all us kids made little animals and stars and things. Too wasteful for my family, but the Everdeens could afford it on account of being hunters and having a little more disposable income. Nothing like the Donners, though.

And the guy telling the story in the song is trying to stop thinking about how he lost his true love.

I’m embracing that when I realize the blood isn’t mine. That fate isn’t mine. And the tribute who’s escaped the arena is Louella.

It’s different for her. No one depends on Lenore Dove for their livelihood. She can run as wild as the wind.

They will not use our tears for their entertainment.

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. 

Fabian

suddenly i‘m ten again, eating up every single hunger games bool there ever was

Thea Sophie

It’s the ending that’s makes this 5⭐️

Blimey! That’s all I’ve got after this book! Now I’m off to stare at a wall for at least an hour!

Aims

It’s the ending that’s makes this 5⭐️

Blimey! That’s all I’ve got after this book! Now I’m off to stare at a wall for at least an hour!

Heartbreaking! I loved everything about this book. An amazing addition to the hunger games series. I loved the way we got glances of Lucy Gray throughout the story. The way Snow was jealous that Haymitch had a covey girl of his own. I knew no matter what, he would take her away. The ending had me crying. Him talking about finding his family in Katniss and Peta did it for me. 

Leah Diaz 

Germaine Lee

The epilogue was actually one of the best things I’ve ever read!! Like how it all connects oh my, soooo good

Haley

SO SO GOOD aaaaa it’s crazyyyy

The epilogue was actually one of the best things I’ve ever read!! Like how it all connects oh my, soooo good

what the actual fuck this is the most heartbreaking thing i have ever read. the other books don't even come anywhere close to the level of grief this one has caused me. FIRST OFF it doesn't help at all to know that haymitch survives. actually that makes it 100x WORSE. Every action he does with the intention of trying to better the lives of the people he cares for. and despite every one of his attempts to die he survives. somehow he survives and he doesn't want to and its just so so so soso heartbreaking and its so sad and everyone dies and the writing it so good and i have never cried this hard during a book. i think the age of each of the children was written very well. like as a reader I could envision the characters as their correct age. But thats also so heartbreaking because they are so small and young and you know everyone dies but they all die SO horrifically its so awful and I couldn't read this book all together it was so painful. When i see the movie trust i will be in tears and i will watch every movie in the series again. 

Eli L

Good, tragic… but not as good as the first three. I still love me some Haymitch.

Jennifer Palmer

Jordan

Should not have listened to this, wish I had read a physical copy. The constant quoting of the same poem over and over and over and over was much harder to skip and annoyed me. I get it's a semi accurate portrayal of grief but it did nothing for me. Otherwise a fine story just not my favorite. 

Julia Rivera

Suzanne Collins never fails to make a chilling story. She adds to our beloved characters and gives them a backstory that gives her original stories a greater nuance, making you want to hold onto them tighter. Haymitch was one of the characters I didn't really put much notice to in the earlier books so it seemed like the perfect decision to write this. It is heartbreaking yet inspiring and a great addition to the series.

bri (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

tara  (she/her)

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 

Fabian &
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

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Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins