By J1 Reviewer Lauren Hicks

Readers, myself included, believed that the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins would remain that way, just the Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. The story of Katniss Everdeen and Panem was a closed story, ready to withstand the trial of time and to eventually become a literary classic.

That was until 2019 when Collins announced a new book would be joining the family, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. This book would take place during the 10th Hunger Games, following Coriolanus Snow, the future President of Panem, in his teenage years. He would become a mentor to Lucy Gray Baird, a Covey girl of District 12, who would captivate the Capitol with her songs and go on to win the games. Snow would fall in love with her, but due to his actions as a Peacekeeper in 12, would lose her as she has seemingly disappeared. He would spend the rest of his life dwelling on his songbird. I adored this book, finishing it in a couple of days. It quickly became one of my favorites of the series, just after Catching Fire.

The film adaptation brought Lucy Gray, her songs, and the early years of District 12 to life. Rachel Zegler, Baird’s actor, would charm audiences with her voice and her role. Tom Blyth played her counterpart as Snow. Blyth, being a handsome young actor, would begin to change people’s mind on the cruel President Snow. It was very similar to how people changed their opinion on Darth Vader from Star Wars when Hayden Christensen played that iconic character in 2005, going from a vicious villain to a tragic hero. Videos on TikTok went viral with Snow edited to the song “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” by Taylor Swift, leaving fans believing they could help Snow if they had the chance and he was simply misunderstood. 

The most recent Hunger Games novel, Sunrise On the Reaping, proved that Collins would make fans regret ever believing this. 

Released in 2025, readers follow Haymitch Abernathy, the beloved, drunken mentor of Katniss and Peeta in the original novel. The book begins on Reaping Day, which happens to be Abernathy’s 16th birthday. Collins’ incredible world building skills quickly introduce you to the world that he was raised in and all the characters that help shape it. One character that stands out to me is Haymitch’s girlfriend, Lenore Dove. Lenore Dove is a Covey girl who plays the piano and cares for her geese. She is a very colorful character, very similar to Lucy Gray, and often has wise advice for Haymitch. She was as sweet as a gumdrop, which contrasted well with a sarcastic and rascal-like Haymitch.

As readers know from the original trilogy, Haymitch competes in the 50th Hunger Games, which is the 2nd Quarter Quell. This means that this game would have double the amount of competitors, going from 24 to 48. Despite an overload of character, Collins spends a good amount of time separating them from one another, giving each of the districts their own descriptions and allowing you to understand who Haymitch will be fighting. Some of the characters that really stood out to me were Louella McCoy and Maysilee Donner, who both came from District 12, as well as Ampert Latier, from District 3. Waiting for their death became really painful as the reader knew there could only be one winner, that being Haymitch. The last 100 pages of my copy of the book is covered in tear marks as with every page you turn, Haymitch’s story, along with the others who live in Panem, just gets more and more devastating.

An important theme of this book is propaganda and how the government can abuse it. Collins made sure to show how President Snow used the lack of knowledge in the districts of his will and how deep down, he is truly a villain and a horrible person, hell bent on ruining the lives of the people who get in his way. He made sure that any of his opposition would catch on fire and burn to the ground. Anybody who believed that Snow was simply misguided will be sorely proven wrong. Unlike the Tom Blyth-Hayden Christensen analogy, President Snow does not ever have a redeeming moment like Darth Vader does in Return of the Jedi.

This novel does an excellent job of developing Haymitch’s character and showing why he becomes the alcoholic that he is when we are introduced to him. It also references the works that have come before it, which makes it extremely important to read the four books that came previously before you start this one. It truly deepened my appreciation for Collins’ work, as there are so many things in this book that tie into others, making it seem like it was planned all along.

Sunrise On the Reaping was a very easy read. You dive right into the action in the first few pages and it made me not want to put the book down at all. It was not difficult to follow, especially if you already have some background knowledge from reading the others. If you want to read the new addition to the Hunger Games franchise, it can be bought at nearly any store offering a book section. The hardcover version of the book is selling for about $20 and is currently on sale if you purchase it through Amazon. 

With every novel, Collins seems to be outdoing herself, with Sunrise On the Reaping being her best book to date. I could only hope that she continues to show the games of other fan favorite characters, like Finnick and Johanna, and with every book, she continues to surpass the previous.