“Sunrise on the Reaping,” (SOTR) the highly anticipated prequel novel of “The Hunger Games” series by Suzanne Collins, was released on March 18. Over 1.5 million copies were sold worldwide in the first week alone, making it the second-best debut of 2025, and beating out first-week sales for the two previous installments of the series.
All the books in “The Hunger Games” franchise take place in a future dystopian version of America called Panem. Panem is composed of 12 districts and the Capitol. To punish the districts for their rebellion, the Capitol forces one boy and one girl from each district to fight to the death each year in the titular competition, The Hunger Games.
“SOTR” takes place 24 years before the events of the first Hunger Games book and tells the story of the 50th games, the games District 12’s own Haymitch Abernathy won. Because it is a Quarter Quell year, these games are extra special as there are twice the total number of usual tributes, 48 in total. The protagonist of “SOTR,” Haymitch, is also a main character in the original trilogy. He acts as Katniss and Peeta’s mentor when they go off to the Hunger Games nearly a quarter of a century later.
Hunger Games fans were in an interesting position going into “SOTR.” We all already knew who the winner of the games would be. “Catching Fire,” the second book in the original trilogy, revealed some details about the arena and events of the 50th games. This left many fans wondering, what more to the story is there? And how much don’t we know?
The answer is a lot.
The most important insight from “SOTR” is Haymitch’s backstory. When we meet him in the first Hunger Games book, he is a depressed drunk, living alone with seemingly no friends or family. “SOTR” reveals how Haymitch got to that point, adding depth to his character and stirring compassion for him within the reader.
While at the beginning of the original trilogy, Haymitch is characterized as unfeeling and harsh, in “SOTR” he is the exact opposite. He has a little brother he’d do anything for. He loves his girlfriend like “all-fire.” Throughout the preparation for the games, he is seen time and time again taking care of the underdogs and defending his alliance members.
All this changes when Haymitch returns home after winning the games. After becoming a personal target of President Snow for his rascal-like attitude and attempts to defy the Capitol at every turn, Snow ensures Haymitch will lose everyone he’s ever loved. Haymitch is forced to witness the deaths of his mom, brother and girlfriend, Lenore Dove. To protect those he loves, he remarks, “I drive away anyone and everyone who could ever have been considered dear to me.”
The end of “SOTR,” although depressing, perfectly sets the stage for how readers find Haymitch two decades later in “The Hunger Games.” Watching Haymitch’s transformation in this novel was heartbreaking. But the prequel added a much-needed layer to his character that makes events in the original series even more impactful.
Besides Haymitch’s backstory, “SOTR” provides readers with backgrounds for some of our favorite characters from the original trilogy. On nearly every page, there was a namedrop that shook me to my core. Haymitch’s mentors were Wiress and Mags, two victor tributes who allied with Katniss and Peeta in the 75th Hunger Games. The father of one of Haymitch’s allies was Betee, another victor tribute in “Catching Fire.” And who shows up when District 12’s stylist is MIA before the interviews? Our queen, Effie Trinket, the escort for the district in the original trilogy.
While these familiar faces were exciting discoveries for longtime Hunger Games lovers, they were not just fan service. The fact that the victors who play key roles in the rebellion appear in this prequel is crucial to one of Collin’s key messages in the book: Revolutions are not built overnight. Change, especially against a regime as authoritarian and oppressive as Snow’s, is the product of years, decades in this case, of struggle and rebellion.
Perhaps the most perfect symbol of this idea comes with another character cameo: Plutarch Heavensbee. In “Catching Fire,” Plutarch is the Head Gamemaker and is crucial to executing the rebels’ plan of breaking the victors out of the arena and starting the revolution. In “SOTR” however, we learn Plutarch has been working to use the Hunger Games to start a rebellion within Panem and crack the Capitol for a long time.
In “SOTR,” Betee and Plutarch instruct Haymitch to “break the arena” while he is in the games, by sneaking into the control room beneath the arena and exploding the water tank that fuels the games. While their plan ultimately fails, this plot provides much insight into the history of the rebel movement of Panem.
Prior to reading this book, I thought the rebellion began with Katniss and Peeta and their fist full of berries. “SOTR” reveals to us that there has been at least one prior attempt to bring down the games, and more than likely, many more, both before and after Haymitch’s time. While Haymitch is disappointed that he couldn’t end the games with his defiance, Plutarch reminds him, “You were capable of imagining a different future. And maybe it won’t be realized today, maybe not in our lifetime. Maybe it will take generations. We’re all part of a continuum. Does that make it pointless?”
And 25 years later these words prove true. Haymitch was pivotal in bringing down the Capitol in “Mockingjay,” the last book in the original trilogy. In the epilogue of “SOTR,” Haymitch says, “She was smarter than me, or luckier,” in referring to Katniss and how she was ultimately the one who could do what he couldn’t in his games, bring down the Capitol and end the reaping forever. While it may be true that Katniss was smarter or luckier, or just the right person at the right time, Haymitch, and his attempt to break the games were a necessary step in the journey.
I think the main lesson Collins wants us to take away from “SOTR” is that revolutions take time. One protest, one person, one poster are not enough. It might take 25 years or more of toil and struggle for a movement to take hold. The most beautiful symbol of this is Haymitch’s flint striker. A parting birthday gift from his love, Lenore Dove, Haymitch’s flint striker symbolizes the spark that began the revolution. Katniss, the girl on fire, was the flame that carried it out.
Collins’s message about the persistence required to carry out the revolution is also found in the title. Early in the book, in a conversation with Lenore Dove, Haymich admits how he struggles to see how a world without a reaping, without a Hunger Games, is possible. In response, Lenore Dove answers, “That’s part of our trouble. Thinking things are inevitable. Not believing change is possible.”
Lenore Dove reminds him that nothing is inevitable, not even the sun rising tomorrow. The title is echoed a final time as Lenore Dove is dying. She makes Haymitch promise that he won’t let the sun rise on another reaping, that he will end the grotesque tradition of the Hunger Games forever. This last promise haunts Haymitch for a long time after her death. He doesn’t see a way forward. He turns to alcohol, unable to get past the feeling of inevitability until he meets Katniss. Katniss’ defiance of the capitol shows Haymitch there is a way forward. The inevitable doesn’t have to be inevitable.
I believe Collins wants “SOTR” to be our Katniss, our reminder that we can reject the status quo. Change is possible. There might not be a Mockingjay, rising from the ashes, armed with a bow and arrow to lead our cause. The struggle may be quiet. The rebellion may be long. Our fight may be cut out from mainstream media, covered up by propaganda, our story twisted. But the possibility of a sunrise on a better world is enough to keep us going.
“SOTR” is a beautifully tender, yet harrowingly tragic story. Despite page after page of grief and loss, the novel is one of hope. Haymitch’s story not only expands the world of “The Hunger Games,” it also expands our knowledge of our world.
