‘Sunrise On The Reaping’ Shows That There’s Still A Ton of Life in the ‘Hunger Games’ IP

When The Hunger Games rolled onto the vampire-filled YA scene back in 2008, no one really thought we’d be talking about Panem Today, Panem Tomorrow, and Panem Forever. But with Sunrise on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins continues to mine her dystopian world for fresh but familiar stories. And this time, she does not disappoint.

Haymitch Abernathy is a real saucy britches of a character, and readers of the original trilogy know scant details about his life aside from the fact that it’s been full of white liquor and regret. Sunrise on the Reaping takes us on a bleak promenade through Haymitch’s government-induced PTSD from “winning” the Quarter Quell of the Hunger Games, when the celebration demanded twice the entrants from each district. It is a ride.

Young Haymitch is a rascal with simple needs. Life is hard, but he’s got a gorgeous girl to kiss, an adoring brother to talk to, and a ma who loves him fiercely. His birthday kinda sucks every year, as it falls on the reaping day, but hey! They’ve never chosen Haymitch before, so maybe his luck will hold out. And sure enough, he isn’t one of the four tributes. But then, in typical District Twelve style, troops shoot the original tribute during a rebellion, forcing Haymitch into the games.

When the tributes arrive in the Capitol, everyone dismisses District Twelve. Their stylist can’t even be bothered to take care of them, since Twelve, as a whole, is such a boring loser of a district. But then, at the opening ceremony, things go awry, and Haymitch takes the opportunity to give President Snow some attitude. Suddenly, the crowd is aware of Twelve, the throwaway district is in the crosshairs of the country’s leader, and Haymitch’s unhappy ending is secure.

It takes a certain skillset to throw readers into a world they know to tell a story they think they know in a satisfying, compelling way. Collins aces it. At every turn, the reader knows Haymitch is headed for a life of misery, but still yearns for him to find a way to change his outcome. Every optimistic thought that pops into his head is a twisted dagger to the heart, which makes Sunrise on the Reaping a heaping handbasket packed full of dark fun.

While the book is excellent, it’s far from perfect. The shoehorning in of characters from the original trilogy along with forty-seven tributes destined for death often lacks balance. An abundance of plot bogs Collins’s sparse writing down, while somehow, at the same time, she glosses over the depths of the world too much. Parallels between the existing lore and the add-ons sometimes feel contrived, but that doesn’t matter much, because Haymitch shines as a character.

At its heart, Sunrise on the Reaping is a novel about personal awakening, and the way rebellions rise. Haymitch not only discovers the horrors of propaganda and government control, he also faces his own complicity. It’s not a subtle lesson, but it is a timely one.