The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
The Hunger Games
By: Suzanne Collins
Genre: YA, Dystopia
Number of Pages: 374
Published: September 14, 2008
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Dates Read: April 18, 2025 - April 28, 2025
Format: Hardcover

In the ruins of North America, lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capital in the mountains surrounded by twelve districts. After a failed rebellion, to keep the districts in line, the Capital forces them all to send one boy and one girl, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death that’s broadcasted on live TV.

After her twelve-year-old sister, Prim, gets her name called at her first reaping, sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen volunteers as tribute and “signs her death sentence”. But Katniss has been surviving since her dad died when she was twelve and she’s been close to death before. If she’s going to win this, she must make choices that weigh against humanity, life, and love.

First off, listen – I don’t reread things. I have only ever reread The Book Thief and that was one reread, years after reading it the first time because I’ve always said that was my favorite book and I needed to make sure it still was…

Anyway, did I reread this because Sunrise on the Reaping destroyed me and I needed to go back to the “beginning”.

Yes.

Did I get more emotional about everything that happened because I know what would and has happened?

Yes.

Did I appreciate it even more than I did when I first read it?

I believe so – but then again, that was SIXTEEN YEARS AGO. I was sixteen-years-old myself when this book came out and was obsessed with being the same age as Katniss. Now, as a 33-year-old, I’ve seen this through a new lens and Suzanne Collins can emotionally wreck me at any age.

Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games #0.5) / Suzanne Collins

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
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.