The long-awaited new book in the Hunger Games series “Sunrise on the Reaping” has finally been released.   

Now with how busy life has been for myself, I haven’t actually picked up a novel in years and read it cover to cover. As a kid that grew up with the “Hunger Games” books and movies, I felt that this was a fantastic opportunity to pick up this brand-new release from author Suzanne Collins. 

The book takes place during the 50th annual Hunger Games, which is referred to as the second quarter quell. Every 25 hunger games are denoted as a quarter quell and the games have a different spin on things different than they usually do. Most of this has to do with how contestants are chosen (also known as being reaped).   

In “Sunrise on the Reaping,” it shows us that the 50th games have double the number of tributes. Collins also clues the reader in on the fact that the first quarter quell had its contestants reaped by a district vote instead of lottery draw.   

This is one of the many little breadcrumbs of the world that Collins adds in “Sunrise on the Reaping.” I think that these crumbs of info to be great because they keep the reader engaged in finding out more about the world that Collins is still trying to build. 

This book also helps to measure out some of the other beats in the timeline of the series as a whole, with the original three books in the series taking place at the end of the hunger games life cycle.   

The last book to come out in the series, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and “Sunrise on the Reaping” both take place before the original books.   

Getting to read about the beginnings of President Coriolanus Snow in “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” provided nice insight into the mind of the character. He makes his return in “Sunrise on the Reaping” as the main big-bad.  

Forcing his control over many throughout the book, he is just as manipulative as ever. 

I really find Snow to be a great villain. I think he is a great symbol for what I see is corruption by survival. The longer he is in power, the more power he has. 

I like a villain that grows over time. This book gives us a nice checkpoint on how much power he has compared to where he was 40 years earlier during the events of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”  

Our narrator for this book is none other than Haymitch Abernathy, who acted as Katniss and Peeta’s mentor back in the original Hunger Games series.   

“Sunrise on the Reaping” shows the origins of Haymitch and how he was able to win the 50th Hunger Games. 

We see Haymitch get reaped and trained for the games. He learns so much about the world of the one percent that is trying to hold control over his life.  

Like with Snow, I think seeing how characters came to can be very insightful on behavior that they exhibit in other works. I thought it was interesting that many of the characters that we were introduced to back in the second Hunger Games book, “Catching Fire,” made their appearance in this book.  

Characters like Beetee, Mags, Wiress and Plutarch are all in this book. I had a lot of fun reading the part with them in it as it was like taking a trip down memory lane, only with fresh new depictions of the already interesting crew of characters.  

Haymitch is supposed to represent the songbird motif that Lucy Gray represented in “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” It’s really not until the final few chapters when Haymitch walks into this role. 

When he finally sees that Snow has targeted him on purpose to control the rest of his life, Haymitch begins to tangle with the song lyrics that have been echoed throughout the book; most of the back few pages just being song lyrics. 

I think Haymitch’s spiral is the greatest way to show what he had been through along with showing where he’d end up at when readers first meet him in “The Hunger Games.”  

Post reading the book, I have found myself going down an internet rabbit hole of Hunger Games content.   

I have seen many people saying things like, “I think there is going to be another book.” This next possible book would complete these most recent releases as a trilogy. Another book is needed for many reasons.  

For starters I just want to see more content made about this world. Collins has set up a world based around a yearly event that strikes chaos and fear into the lives of many people.   

But Collins has left so many in-depth details on the table to be expanded on that I think without another book that it would be disappointing to the full potential of this world that she created.   

The books set up around 80 years of history as a timeline, but only checks in at certain places, and although I don’t feel we need to see every part I still think that there have been big moments in this world’s history that still need to come to light.   

Now of course this is all up to Collins. 

But I would like to encourage her as she has been able to create a world out of thin air that not only captured the minds of people back in the early 2010’s but continues to capture the minds of old and new readers today in 2025. 

I do think the middle and very tail end of this book shine the brightest, which makes the front seem slow at times but nothing too much worth gripping over loudly.   

All in all, this was an enjoyable book, and I cannot wait for more.  

Rating: 9/10

Gunnar Olson can be reached at 581-2812 or at deneic@gmail.com.