Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping marks the fifth entry in The Hunger Games series and the second prequel after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. This latest installment returns us to the brutal and dystopian world of Panem, unveiling the origins of Haymitch Abernathy—one of the series’ most enigmatic and tragic characters. Taking place 24 years before Katniss Everdeen’s rebellion and 40 years after Coriolanus Snow’s rise in Songbirds and Snakes, this novel chronicles the harrowing 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.
Collins has a talent for intertwining political allegory, psychological depth, and survivalist grit, making Sunrise on the Reaping a compelling and necessary addition to the Hunger Games canon.
A Second Quarter Quell: Twice the Tributes, Twice the Trauma
At the heart of Sunrise on the Reaping is Haymitch Abernathy, a 16-year-old from District 12 who is reaped for the 50th Hunger Games. This isn’t just any Games—this is a Quarter Quell, a cruelly amplified version of the already horrific annual event. In honor of this twisted anniversary, the Capitol demands double the tributes, meaning 48 children are sent into the arena.
Haymitch is introduced as a sharp but cynical teenager who has already learned how to play the games of survival in the harsh district that produced Katniss years later. He dreams of an escape, of a future with his love, Lenore Dove. But when his name is drawn, those dreams are shattered. Alongside three other District 12 tributes—a childhood friend, a calculating oddsmaker, and a privileged girl from town—Haymitch must navigate the brutal politics of the Capitol before even stepping foot in the arena.
The Games themselves are nightmarish, pushing the horror beyond even what we saw in Katniss’s time. The doubled number of tributes means alliances and betrayals are inevitable at a dizzying pace. The arena—its dangers, its twisted Capitol-engineered obstacles, and its psychological torment—shapes Haymitch into the hardened mentor we come to know in The Hunger Games.
Character Study: Haymitch Abernathy’s Transformation
Haymitch has long been one of the most intriguing figures in the series—a man numbing himself with alcohol, haunted by a past that fans only glimpsed in the original books. In Sunrise on the Reaping, we see how his wit and rebellious streak were forged in fire.
Collins crafts a young Haymitch who is both familiar and surprising. His cleverness, his ability to manipulate an audience, and his survival instincts make him an undeniable protagonist. Unlike Katniss, who is reluctantly defiant, Haymitch understands the Capitol’s game and plays it masterfully. He becomes an early prototype of the rebellion, using subversion, intelligence, and unexpected alliances to carve his way through the Games.
The emotional core of the novel lies in his relationships. His love for Lenore adds a tragic dimension to his character, while his bond with his fellow tributes—especially the young, bright Louella McCoy—makes the brutality of the Games all the more devastating.
By the novel’s end, we see the raw and irreparable transformation of a boy into a broken man. The Capitol doesn’t just take Haymitch’s innocence; it systematically dismantles every reason he has to fight, leaving behind the jaded mentor we later meet.
A Dystopian Nightmare: The Arena and Its Horrors
If Collins has a signature strength, it is in her ability to create arenas that feel like living, breathing nightmares. The 50th Hunger Games is no exception.
Unlike the forests and beaches of previous Games, this arena is an ever-shifting, labyrinthine environment filled with deadly traps. It is a place designed to keep tributes moving, never allowing them to settle into a strategy for long. Poisonous gases, shifting landscapes, and psychological warfare engineered by the Capitol make it one of the most punishing settings in the series.
One of the most chilling elements is the manipulation of hope. The arena is filled with illusions—mirages of home, voices of loved ones, and false exits that lead only to death. This psychological torment is amplified by the increased number of tributes, forcing Haymitch to face the harshest truth of the Games: there is no saving everyone.
Themes: Rebellion, Trauma, and the Cost of Survival
Collins weaves Sunrise on the Reaping with familiar yet devastating themes:
The Price of Rebellion: The novel subtly plants the seeds of Haymitch’s later role in the revolution. Unlike Coriolanus Snow in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, who chooses power, Haymitch chooses resistance—albeit at great personal cost.
The Psychology of Oppression: The Capitol’s cruelty is on full display, not just in the Games but in its manipulation of perception. The audience sees only entertainment, while the tributes live in hell.
Survivor’s Guilt and Trauma: Haymitch’s journey is one of loss. By the end, victory feels hollow, and survival is just another form of punishment.
Where Sunrise on the Reaping Stands in The Hunger Games Saga
While The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay chronicled Katniss’s revolution, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes gave us the chilling origin of Snow’s dictatorship. Sunrise on the Reaping bridges these two narratives. It is neither a story of tyranny’s rise nor a direct rebellion—it is about the cost of merely existing in Panem’s twisted system.
Where Katniss’s story was about defiance and accidental rebellion, Haymitch’s is about calculated resistance, survival through intelligence rather than brute force. His victory is not a triumph but a cautionary tale.
The novel also deepens our understanding of the Quarter Quells. While Katniss’s 75th Hunger Games was an engineered attempt to silence her, Haymitch’s 50th was a massacre designed to demonstrate the Capitol’s absolute control.
Critique: What Works and What Falls Short?
What Collins Does Well:
A gripping, character-driven narrative that adds depth to the Hunger Games universe.
A compelling protagonist whose transformation is hauntingly believable.
Thematic complexity that makes the novel more than just an action-driven prequel.
Brutal, immersive world-building that elevates the stakes of the series.
Where It Falls Short:
Some moments of the novel lean heavily on exposition rather than action.
The romance subplot, while emotionally compelling, sometimes feels secondary to the arena’s tension.
Given the 48 tributes, some characters don’t receive the development they deserve.
These minor criticisms, however, do little to diminish the book’s impact.
Final Verdict: A Worthy, Devastating Addition to The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins has once again delivered a novel that is not only thrilling but deeply unsettling. Sunrise on the Reaping is a must-read for Hunger Games fans, offering a raw and emotional look at one of the series’ most compelling characters.
While it may not carry the same explosive revolution of Mockingjay or the political intrigue of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, its strength lies in its portrayal of quiet, inevitable devastation. This is not the story of a rebellion—this is the story of why a rebellion was necessary.
And with that, the sun rises on yet another reaping, and Haymitch Abernathy steps into the darkness.