Book Review – Sunrise on the Reaping

Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5) by Suzanne Collins
Narrator: Jefferson White
Series: The Hunger Games #0.5
Published by Scholastic Inc. on March 18, 2025
Length: 12 hours 48 minutes
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult
Pages: 387
Format: Audiobook, Hardcover
Goodreads

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.

Continuing on our book club books joint reviews this month with Sunrise on the Reaping (A Hunger Games Novel)!

 

 

Julie’s Review:

Knowing how Haymitch was in the original trilogy is one thing, but seeing how he became the jaded drunk who never recovered from his trauma is another.

A Hunger Games book is never going to be a joyful read, but this one was especially painful. The last like 20 pages were the worst. But even with the arena and you know everyone is dying, so don’t get attached, but you do. You get attached because our narrator is attached. I didn’t know Haymitch was capable of caring so much, but having a character who loved so hard and lost so much – it makes his descent into sorrow even more tragic.

The arena was interesting, the alliances and schemes were fun. It was interesting to meet the characters we really got to know in the second book of the original trilogy, as mentors to the district no one cares about. The connections to Haymitch and Katniss’s family, the origin of the Mockingjay pin, so many things leading to where the series takes it.

The evilness of the Capitol and President Snow’s ruthlessness, felt even more fresh and raw in his youth. He was absolutely horrifying, especially in his knowledge of a particular family. Haymitch was never meant to win the games, but there must be a victor. And when the victor can’t die, you make him suffer in other ways.

Now that I have a book hangover I’m actually reading Snow’s book. I don’t know if it will help. I do love a villain origin story and Snow is very much a hated character.

I wonder if there will be more books, maybe showing how the rebellion and revolution builds up. There has to be something more between the Second and Third Quarter Quells. Certainly there isn’t 25 years of blind compliance.

 

---

Lynn’s Review:

Well-written but also a major downer of a downer. Which I expected. But, I also was not prepared for how much of a downer this turned out to be. Let’s just say if I were Haymitch, I’d also be a depressed alcoholic.

Things I thought I’d have to worry about prior to reading:

• Being bored with the plot because we already know who survives Haymitch’s quell.
• Finding the whole dystopia storyline to be too much for me, emotionally.

Things I really should have been worried about prior to reading: 

• Becoming emotionally attached to characters who I KNEW would end up dead. Devastatingly.
• Realizing that revolution takes a long time is very discouraging.

I was really impressed by how Suzanne Collins brings the familiar names and characters together in this novel, introducing us to Effie, Mags, Beetee, even Katniss’s parents. Even Katniss’s mockingjay pin is mentioned in this book! I didn’t read BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES, but watched the movie. The tie-ins to that story are here as well; weaving an excellent story between the happenings in the prequels and later-set the Hunger Games novels. 

Jefferson White’s narration is well done with Haymitch and the other male characters. Narration for the female characters was ok. I would have struggled distinguishing multiple characters if there were more female characters in the same scene.

Make your own choices to read or not. Worthwhile for the masterful writing, plotting, and characters. But be forewarned that it’s heartbreaking. It’s one of those books I probably wouldn’t have read if it weren’t for book club. 

 

Subscribe to Chapter Break posts.