Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games #0.5)
By: Suzanne Collins
Genre: YA, Dystopia
Number of Pages: 400
Published: March 18, 2025
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Dates Read: March 18, 2025 - March 23, 2025
Format: Hardcover

Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think about his chances at the fiftieth Hunger Games. This year, it’s the Quarter Quell and twice as many tributes will be taken to the arena to fight to the death. All Haymitch wants to do is get through the day, celebrate his birthday with cake and spending time with the girl that he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, his life is shattered and he’s pulled away from his family and his love, shuttled off to the Capital with three other District 12 tributes: a young girl who’s nearly a sister to him, an oddsmakers, and the most stuck-up girl in town. Haymitch quickly discovers he’s being set up to fail, but there’s something in him that wants to fight… not only for his life in the arena, but far beyond its walls.

It’s been three days since I finished this novel and I’m still not over it. This book is everything I wanted for Haymitch’s Hunger Games and so much more. It’s gut wrenching. It’s thrilling. It’s heart shattering – which, yes, is so much more than breaking, let me tell you!

The connections that Suzanne Collins makes in this that then interweaves into the original trilogy is phenomenal – there were pieces I didn’t even know were missing from the puzzle that she reveals. I don’t think I’ve ever had the strong desire that I’ve had after reading a book to reread an entire trilogy as I’ve had with this. Again, if that doesn’t showcase the talent of Collins’ writing, I don’t know what else you need. (Though the urge is still there to just sit and read the original trilogy, I did purchase the four movie set on DVD and have binging those).

Even though we all know what the outcome of Haymitch’s story is, it still didn’t stop this from being agonizing. You meet both new and old characters and no matter how much you try to shield your heart, that wall gets detonated.

Overall, Haymitch’s journey shows that not everybody gets to be the hero, especially at the start, and that change doesn’t happen overnight – it sometimes can be twenty-five plus years in the making.