After much anticipation, Hunger Games fans have finally been fed with Suzanne Collins’ latest (and potentially final) instalment in her wildly popular book series and its film adaptations. Focusing on the beloved character Haymitch Abernathy, Collins finally gives fans the much-desired insight into one of the most impactful figures in the series. While we all know Haymitch as Katniss and Peeta’s District 12 mentor, Sunrise on the Reaping delves into his life before his Games, during them, and after his victory. 

The tone of Sunrise on the Reaping is consistent with the previous parts of The Hunger Games series. While still suited for its young adult audience, this novel feels darker and more harrowing, as we gain deeper insight on Haymitch — the victor of the 50th Hunger Games and the second Quarter Quell. We are introduced to a younger version of him, where there is very little trace of the disillusioned alcoholic we came to know in the original trilogy. Instead, we see him as a hopeful teenage boy with a family, a lover, and a life he believes is worth fighting for. As the novel progresses, we witness his gradual and devastating transformation. The Capitol does not just take from him physically — it systematically strips away his innocence, his hope, and even his rebellious spirit. The Games are brutal, but it is what comes after that which truly breaks him. 

His victory, rather than securing his future, becomes his undoing as he learns the horrifying truth: defying the Capitol has consequences, and that these Games have no victor. One of the most striking lines in the series appears again in this novel: “Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.” This phrase, spoken by Haymitch near the end, echoes the lyrics of Lucy Gray Baird in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the prequel to The Hunger Games. Though their Games were 40 years apart, Lucy Gray’s words continue to resonate, proving that history does not just repeat itself — it haunts too. 

A huge part of this novel lies in its subtext and the overarching themes of authoritarianism, resistance, social justice, and the ethics of entertainment (to name a few).  We are living in a time that eerily mirrors the dystopian themes of these novels. Just as she did with the original trilogy, Collins uses fiction to speak to reality, offering both a warning and a glimmer of hope.  She speaks to the Haymitches of the world — the hopefuls, the hopeless, the rebels, and the revolutionaries. She reminds us that there is light and that even if it takes 75 years, that light will never go out as long as we continue to fight, resist and persist.