On March 18, 2025, Suzanne Collins published her fifth book in the Hunger Games series, Sunrise on the Reaping. Recently, I went away for the Theatre States trip and listened to the book while I was away. This is one of my favorite books in the series she has written; it follows the story of Haymitch Abernathy, the second winner from District 12 and the winner of a Quarter Quell. The Quarter Quell is when it is a multiple of 25, so, for example, 25, 50 , 75. We get to see Haymitch in the other books, but he is portrayed as a lazy person who really let his life go down the drain. In the new books, we can see it from his perspective, which changes how you view Haymitch as a character.
What really stuck out to me while reading this book was how it gave depth to characters we had only briefly seen in the original trilogy. In Catching Fire, we met Mags and Wiress, but in this book, we see them in a whole new light as Haymitch’s mentors. Their guidance and support add layers to their characters and play a crucial role in shaping Haymitch’s growth. Through their mentorship, we can see how there was more to their characters and how it affected Haymitch later in the novels. In Catching Fire, Katniss selects Mags and Wiress as allies she wanted in the games, and we can see how this affects Haymitch because he can see himself in Katniss.
Something else that stood out to me while reading this was how Haymitch refers to Lenore Dove. Lenore is the girl from his district with whom he is in a relationship, and how he speaks about her adds an emotional depth that emphasizes just how young and vulnerable he was during this time of his reaping. Every time he mentions Lenore, it’s with a sense of admiration and almost dreamlike reverence, as if she is his safe place in a world that is slowly unraveling around him. His descriptions of her are filled with tenderness, highlighting how deeply in love he was, but also reflecting the intense emotions of a teenager—when love feels all-encompassing, like the most critical and irreplaceable thing in the world. What makes this even more heartbreaking is that his love for Lenore isn’t just about romance, she also represents the last bit of innocence he has before the Games. There’s a sense that, to Haymitch, Lenore is the best thing he will ever have—the one bright spot in a life that will soon be defined by loss, mainly because he believes that he will die in these games. This adds another layer to his character, helping us understand why he later becomes so emotionally closed off in the original trilogy. It’s a rare glimpse into a time before he was hardened by the Capitol’s cruelty, making his eventual transformation into a broken person.
Overall, the reason this book stood out to me was because of the way it built onto the story without causing too many plot holes and contradicting the original trilogy. It also added to Haymitch and the other characters without feeling like it was rushed, every action each character made was supported by how we saw them built throughout the novel.
Image courtesy of Gemini AI.
