A Thrilling Addition to a Beloved Series
By Sofia Rizos, Senior Staff Writer
Sunrise on the Reaping is the second prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy, written by Suzanne Collins. The novel follows the main character, Haymitch Abernathy, a mentor to the tributes of District 12 in the first book. We are given a detailed backstory of how a young boy with a family and girlfriend became a broken, traumatized alcoholic. Haymith was one of the 48 tributes—from ages 12 to 18 years old—who were reaped for the second quarter quell, or the 50th Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games are a fight to the death against 47 other tributes in an arena designed to torture or kill the children. The child who wins is drowned in riches and a better life, as the gamemakers say, but sometimes that’s not the reality for many victors of this bloodbath of innocent children. Readers get to dive deeper into the dystopian world of the districts ruled by the Capitol. We follow him through the process of being prepared as a spectacle and an object to bet on by Capital citizens who view the live spectacle of innocent children being mercilessly taken as a form of entertainment. The reader has the unique opportunity to follow his thoughts, as he is viewed as a tool for entertainment rather than a human being.
Overall, this book is one of the best I’ve ever read because it seamlessly ties into the other novels in this collection. It connects the dots perfectly as to why we see Haymitch acting the way he does in the first personality and helps the audience identify with him. This book was very emotional and does those parts perfectly, building up our emotions to break them. It makes one understand almost every character in the book—whether you like them or not—which is a difficult feat for many authors. I loved how Suzanne Collins addresses wealth inequality and injustices in the dystopian world, which can be translated to our modern society. Although this book is set in a dystopian world, one can still recognize elements of the real world reflected in the novel. A junior at St. Joe, Brooke Kansteiner, explained why she loved the book.
“I loved how she portrayed the characters with realistic emotions that were complex but to me that’s what made it human,” said Brook Kansteiner.
I personally did not have any qualms with this book whatsoever; reviewers have mentioned some recurring cons, such as the pacing and overused plot characters. Some reviewers complained that the plot was good; however, the pacing was slow and rushed at times. Regarding overused plot characters, the book lets the reader re-meet characters from other Hunger Games books in a different light. While this may sound interesting to some, others believe this book could’ve been a perfect opportunity to introduce new characters into the series. However, despite these critiques, this book has maintained a 4.50-star rating on Goodreads and a __ star rating on Amazon. Mrs. Murphy, an English teacher at St. Joe, describes what age demographic she would recommend this book to.
“I would recommend this book to ages 12-18 because its material has complex ideas of society while maintaining a reading level understandable for middle and high schoolers,” Mrs. Murphy said.
Although I think anyone could like the plot of this book, I have some groups of people in mind who would enjoy it more than others. I think this book is fitting for middle school students and young adults. The writing is easy enough for middle school students to understand but includes enough complex ideas to keep young adults interested in the subject matter, and young adults or teenagers might recognize parts of the world or identify with Haymith. Anyone who has a taste for a dystopian world with in-depth characters and a deep, complex society would enjoy this book.
