Sunrise on the Reaping

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussions of violence, death, and alcohol abuse.

Sunrise on the Reaping is the fifth novel in Suzanne Collins’s bestselling Hunger Games series. The original series comprises three novels: The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010), with the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes published in 2020. Sunrise on the Reaping is a prequel to The Hunger Games, taking place 24 years prior. Sunrise on the Reaping tells the story of Haymitch Abernathy, who appears elsewhere in the series as protagonist Katniss Everdeen’s abrasive mentor. Sunrise on the Reaping centers around Haymitch’s Hunger Games victory at 16, and the fallout from his experiences. The novel adds context to Haymitch’s character and his place in the revolution eventually led by Katniss.

The Hunger Games series takes place in the post-apocalyptic dystopia of Panem, located in the ruins of North America. Panem is a totalitarian police state which comprises the wealthy Capitol, led by President Coriolanus Snow, and 13 subservient districts. 50 years prior to the events of Sunrise on the Reaping, the districts rebelled against the Capitol, causing a civil war within Panem. The rebellion was unsuccessful, and the Capitol regained control over the districts. As a punishment and control tactic, the Capitol government created the Hunger Games, an annual televised battle royale in which “tributes,” children from each district, are forced to fight to the death. The process of selecting tributes is the titular “reaping.”

Standard Hunger Games involve 24 tributes, but Sunrise on the Reaping takes place during the 50th games, which is a Quarter Quell. Quarter Quells are “special” games that occur every 25 years after the war. For Quarter Quell games, the Capitol game designers include a cruel “twist” to mark the occasion. In Sunrise on the Reaping, twice as many tributes are reaped from each district.

The characters and events of Sunrise on the Reaping inform and are informed by the other books in the series. Some characters, like Maysilee Donner and Louella McCoy, are mentioned only briefly in the original trilogy as part of Haymitch’s past. Sunrise on the Reaping fleshes out their characters, developing their roles in Haymitch’s life and in the revolution.

In The Hunger Games, Haymitch is portrayed as a cynical man who has an alcohol dependency and is deeply cagey about his past. Katniss is often frustrated by him, as he is an uncooperative mentor and seems uninterested in helping her survive the arena. Sunrise on the Reaping explores the events that shaped Haymitch’s character. He survives his own Hunger Games only to have his family and girlfriend callously murdered by Snow. His unwillingness to form new relationships is a result of his trauma and the guilt he feels over endangering his loved ones.

Sunrise on the Reaping also illuminates Haymitch’s role in the Second Rebellion against the Capitol, which comprises the major plotline of Mockingjay and Catching Fire. Readers learn that Haymitch was originally intended to play Katniss’s part as the hero of the rebellion, but his plan was foiled when he failed to fully sabotage the arena. Haymitch’s feelings of guilt and failure contribute to his combative personality.

One of Sunrise on the Reaping’s major takeaways is that liberation from oppression is rarely instant—it is often a long, drawn-out process that involves the efforts of a large community and encompasses moments of failure as well as moments of triumph. By exploring Haymitch’s foiled attempt to end the Hunger Games, Collins provides an example of how even a failed action can contribute to a larger movement. Though Haymitch considers his own efforts wasted, readers can see how the spark of resistance struck in Sunrise on the Reaping eventually grows into the fire of revolution.