On March 18, author Suzanne Collins released “Sunrise on the Reaping,” the second prequel in her popular dystopian franchise “The Hunger Games.” Taking place 24 years before the first novel “The Hunger Games,” the prequel will also follow a movie adaptation, which will be produced by Lionsgate and is set to release on Nov. 20, 2026.
Set 40 years after the first prequel, “The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes,” readers once again return to District 12 to follow the 50th Hunger Games and its second-ever winner, Haymitch Abernathy. In the original trilogy, Haymitch served as a mentor to the two protagonists, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, helping them navigate through the 74th and 75th Hunger Games and even eventually the Second Rebellion. In the original trilogy, Haymitch is a drunkard, first appearing when making a fool of himself in front of the entire of Panem. He’s a tragic figure, obviously haunted by the past, yet we’re unable to uncover it until the second prequel, where we are teased with what he suffered through.
In the novel, we follow him through the 50th Hunger Games, as a 16-year-old impoverished boy who evolves from an underdog into the victorious champion. The 50th Hunger Games, or the Second Quarter Quell, is a unique case as it has twice the number of tributes as usual — two boys and two girls. Haymitch is chosen as one of the four tributes for District 12. But after one of the tributes attempted to escape and was subsequently killed, Haymitch is forced to leave his family and join the 50th Hunger Games after originally narrowly avoiding it.
Unlike its first prequel, “Sunrise on the Reaping” returns to the familiar first-person perspective of the original trilogy. It’s a welcome return, inviting readers to sympathize more with Haymitch while better understanding his emotional and motivational states compared to the first prequel.
Although it’s a prequel, the returning readers already know the background of the novel, with Haymitch explaining the repercussions of his victory over the 50th Hunger Gamesto to Katniss in “Mockingjay.” As a result, the novel is spoiled for readers of the original trilogy, leaving readers disconnected to the other characters of the novel, as they know that all of the other tributes will die and that Haymitch will tragically lose both his family members and his girlfriend. The first part of the novel is very heavy with this issue: Katniss’ accidental entrance into the Hunger Games similarly matches Haymitch’s entry. This results in an earlier section too similar to the original novel, making the entire novel feel lacking in any innovative or creative ideas.
Final rating: 2/5
