By Ava West
“Just because the sun rose yesterday and it rose this morning, there’s no guarantee it will rise tomorrow. You can’t rely on something happening in the future just because it happened in the past,” Suzanne Collins said in a recent interview with Scholastic’s David Levithan.
Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games world returned to readers on March 18 and followed one of the most beloved characters in the series, Haymitch Abernathy. Collins’ world has long been a staple in the young adult genre, although the dystopian series has been known to capture the attention of all age groups. There is a fascination with the scary, gory and often thought of distant world. But with this new addition to the series, the world has never felt closer or more real.
Collins has often been noted as saying that she only writes when she feels she has something to say. The original trilogy was inspired by Collins’ flipping through TV channels and the vast difference of things that could be seen. One channel reporting on war, the next a reality TV show, another a game, there wasn’t any pattern to it except for it was all entertainment.
She was concerned about the state of the world and for the youth, and the various things that could be consumed in one sitting. With these ideas, she created “The Hunger Games.” She took quite a long hiatus after the original three books came out. Apparently having said enough.
The author made a return with the release of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” ($27.99, 528 pages) on May 19, 2020. Which brought back readers to the world and followed the infamous Corionulos Snow. Fans were gripped when the movie came out and the normal arguments were held that are usually held when a book is adapted into a movie. (Was the casting right? Should the film have been longer? Shorter? Were the costumes right?)
But there hasn’t been anything new directly from the author in five years. If Collins only writes when she has something to say, then she certainly had plenty to talk about with this novel.
“Sunrise on the Reaping” is brilliant, in normal Collins fashion, and pushes readers to examine even more when it comes to morality. We are living in a very uncertain time and Collins does a great job of creating parallels from our world to her fictional world. As the characters, and Collins herself, have talked about, nothing is guaranteed. The sun may not rise tomorrow.
Haymitch Abernathy is a complex character, one book is not sufficient to understand him, but Collins certainly has done the best that anyone could. It’s interesting that one could be a complete pacifist but when entering a fictional world, can be pulling for a character to kill, or at least not be killed. That is the point, after all, to examine the characters’ morality, and your own.
Abernathy’s character will have you throwing your book, weeping hysterically, searching TikTok to see if others share your pain and in the end, will leave you with a smidge of peace.
I am wholly against spoilers, so no names shall be dropped. But if you’re wondering if any other familiar faces will be making an appearance besides Abernathy in “Sunrise on the Reaping,” you are in luck.
I would say that The Hunger Games books are best enjoyed in the order they were published, “The Hunger Games,” “Catching Fire,” “Mockingjay,” “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and finally, “Sunrise on the Reaping.” However, to each their own. I would also say that it is worth getting your own copy of the book, as every library (including the online ones, such as Libby) is very backed up.
All this being said, if you’re a fan of The Hunger Games series, or even if you’re not, this book is worth your time. If you feel like the world is collapsing around you, this book is worth picking up. If you’ve been chasing that feeling of reading you had when you were a kid, this book is worth reading.
Though not for the faint of heart, this book is a five-star read. So grab a box of tissues, grab a soft surface to throw your book at, grab a friend for moral support and – even in risk of sounding completely geeky and cheesy – may the odds be ever in your favor.
