Sunrise on the Reaping - Suzanne Collins | Book Review

Sunrise on the Reaping (Hunger Games prequel)

Suzanne Collins

Reviewed 4/23/2025

Rating: 

⭐️⭐️ 

Review (NO spoilers):

Hear me out. I’m sorry. I didn’t love this. It wasn’t that good. It’s nostalgia bait and fanservice, just like I feared… but most people are eating it up. Not that it’s necessarily wrong to enjoy the ridiculously retconning cameos, but in all honesty, Sunrise on the Reaping just wasn’t good writing, and I’m afraid a lot of readers are too blinded by the fanservice to see it.

I’d personally rather believe that this book is not canon. It reads like a fanfiction. Despite what we already knew about Haymitch’s games (see: Catching Fire), his story had a lot of potential, but it fell flat (in my opinion). 

I didn’t like the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes when I first read it, but upon further reflection (and rereads), it has every good thing that Sunrise on the Reaping lacks. I will reread Sunrise on the Reaping after some time, and see if my opinion changes. I owe it that much. 

Scroll down for spoilered review. Warning... it's a lot.

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Review (SPOILERS):

Strap in… I expect this is going to be the longest review I’ve ever written. I’m going to break it into the following sections: Characters and their Wasted Potential, Plot Conveniences and other Generally Poor Writing, Cameos, Fanservice, & Retconning, In Comparison to TBOSAS, and Future Books.

Note: TBOSAS = the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, SOTR = Sunrise on the Reaping.

Characters and their Wasted Potential:

Collins should rename this book Sunrise on the Wasted Potential. There was so much. Lou Lou, oh my goodness, a really interesting concept and a character we all couldn’t help but pity. But… she did absolutely nothing! I wanted to know more: was this technology used elsewhere (in the future or in the past), what Lou Lou’s family was told, etc. The Newcomer’s alliance was a fascinating move that went absolutely nowhere. Wyatt was honestly kinda cool and unique and he just randomly died offscreen after contributing absolutely nothing to the plot!

Plot Conveniences and other Generally Poor Writing:

I feel like the Gamemakers wanted Haymitch to win. Which would be really stupid of them, after everything he pulled! It’s mentioned multiple times that they’re sending mutts specifically trained on tributes’ scents to target only one person, which kills several people the Gamemakers wanted dead. Why didn’t they use any on Haymitch…? Be for real. He had the ultimate plot armor. The bunny just so happens to drink the water right in front of him when he was wondering about it… I could go on.

And um, why did Beetee even trust Haymitch? Why did Haymitch even trust Beetee? Oh, sure, let me tell this surly teenager the entire rebel plan. Oh, sure, let me trust this unknown man who is enlisting me in a dangerous rebellion. That makes perfect sense!

Haymitch loved Lenore Dove. I got that. He probably thought it 1000 times. Relationships in SOTR were very much telling and not showing; I didn’t like Lenore Dove or understand why other people did. She was barely “on screen” so to speak, but constantly in Haymitch’s thoughts. 

Maysilee suffers from a similar issue of poor relationship writing; Haymitch reflects on how much he dislikes her, but after she saves his life, he instantly considers her a sister? They had no character arc there. Relationship complexity was missing. Not all authors are good at that, sure, but Collins has shown us many times that she can be excellent when writing relationships. SOTR did not deliver on that at all.

Cameos, Fanservice, and Retconning:

Probably the biggest issue and what makes this book suck. Now, don’t get me wrong, a familiar face is nice, and it’s usually so fun to get a nod to an old character or reference to an old scene. But this book just felt like Collins was trying to connect Haymitch’s life story to the other books in literally every way possible, to the point of absurdity.

I would’ve been okay with Mags OR Wiress OR Beetee but getting all three is ridiculous. Not only would it have been WAY more interesting to meet some more victors, but this is arguably retconning Catching Fire. You mean to tell me that Haymitch DID NOT SAY A WORD to Katniss when she specifically requested as allies Haymitch’s mentors and the guy that recruited him for the rebellion…? I’m skeptical. 

My friend, who adored SOTR, suggested that Haymitch walked out because he was amused regarding the similarities between his life and Katniss’s, and that he wouldn’t have told her because it may have implicated her in the new rebel plot. To this I counter: sure, maybe he wouldn’t say anything right away. But after they all died for her? And were weak because they were tortured for him? You’d think he would mention that he actually knew them… there were plenty of opportunities.

And we did not need more Covey, be for real. Lucy Gray was loved, Lenore Dove was useless. Can we stop with the she’s-related-to-blahblah theories? Not everyone has to know everyone (even though Collins seems to think so…)! We didn’t need Katniss’s parents in Haymitch’s story, and the mention of a Mellark really pushed me over the edge. It’s just ridiculous. It’s too much.

In Comparison to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes:

TBOSAS felt like the story that Collins wanted to tell. She had more to add to expand the world, and it was fascinating. It further developed the games, and added depth to Snow’s character. It was a lot more than just a hunger games, delving into Capitol life and peacekeeper life.

SOTR? The opposite. It was the story the fans wanted. It added absolutely nothing to the world, arguably even contradicting canon, and harmed pre-existing characters. And it followed the same format as the first book of the series; a debatably too long training period and then the games. Not to mention that we already knew what happened in that arena, it’s entirely summarized in Catching Fire. SOTR is just another hunger games book. It’s not even really that good of a book. It doesn’t add anything. It leads me to the conclusion that the story is done, and the series needs to be left alone.

Future Books:

Haymitch’s games were highly requested. Unlike TBOSAS, SOTR was 100% written for the fans.

“8777777777777777777777777779eeewwwwwwww” - my cat, walking across my keyboard. Not sure what she's trying to tell me here, but I think she agrees.

Despite the quality issues, it’s obvious that most fans are eating it up… This makes me think Collins will likely just keep going; be one of those writers who just milks the franchise. In that case, what will she write next? What the fans want. 

Judging by general sentiments online and among fellow fans, I suspect it’s either going to be Finnick’s games or the 25th games, aka the First Quarter Quell. The former is popular because people love Finnick, and the latter seems to be requested because people are intrigued by the theme (tributes were chosen through voting, in case you forgot). 

I think the series is done. It’s fine where it is. I’d much rather pretend SOTR isn’t canon and leave it at the trilogy and TBOSAS! But if Collins is going to keep writing, which I unfortunately think is very likely, I very much hope she writes the 25th games. It would force an entirely new cast, and HOPEFULLY lack the abundant cameos and retconning that ruined SOTR for me. 

Final Thoughts:

Honestly? On its own, it’s not that bad of a book. But in comparison to the masterpieces Suzanne Collins has produced in the past, it’s horrible. I’m sorry, that is MY OPINION and you don’t have to agree; but, objectively, it is not near the level of quality the rest of the series delivers. 

To the majority that loved SOTR, I’ll say this: I didn’t love TBOSAS on the first read, but it grew on me tremendously for a variety of reasons. I’ll wait some time and reread SOTR, and add to my review.

Tell me what you think in the comments! I'm open to polite debate, and I would love to discuss contrasting opinions.