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Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'
Sunrise on the Reaping (a Hunger Games Novel) by Suzanne Collins
448 reviews
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Alcohol
I wanted to love this book. Truly. I walked in ready to be swept away hoping for new perspectives, deeper character insight, and an emotional punch that would enrich the original trilogy. I grew up as the girl who wore her hair in braids, learned to shoot a bow, threw knives at tree trunks, and whispered “May the odds be ever in your favor” like a prayer. I am the target audience.
Instead, what I got was shallow storytelling, clumsy exposition, characters that felt like cardboard cutouts, and enough contradictions to unravel everything that made The Hunger Games universe so compelling in the first place.
1. Characterization? More Like Name-Dropping
• District 12 didn’t feel like a real place it felt like Suzanne Collins was checking names off a list to make fans nod, not care.
• Relationships were rushed or non-existent. We’re told people feel things, but never shown anything authentic.
• Haymitch’s alliance? The most paper-thin “found family” I’ve ever read. Instant trust, no real depth, no payoff.
• His bond with Maysilee goes from mild distrust to her calling him her “brother” in a way that gave me emotional whiplash.
2. Haymitch Is a Shell of His Future Self
• “He’s only 16” isn’t a valid excuse for him having no real personality or conviction.
• He’s torn between wanting to live for Lenore Dove and signing up for what’s basically a suicide mission against the Capitol. Make it make sense.
• His family—the people he’s supposedly trying to provide for feel like afterthoughts. Until suddenly… they’re not?
• By the end, he doesn’t feel like a young Haymitch. He feels like a placeholder any random teen could’ve filled.
3. Betee and Plutarch: Lazy Fan Service
• Betee meets Haymitch and immediately spills every detail like he’s reciting from a wiki page. Why? How does that make sense?
• Plutarch revealing secrets that would realistically get him executed—for no reason—felt like bad exposition written just to name-drop characters from the OG books.
• These cameos weren’t exciting. They were clunky, unearned, and stripped of any impact. BORING
4. President Snow: From Strategic Genius to Cartoon Villain
• The subtle, calculating menace we feared in the original trilogy? Gone. Poof. Who tf is this guy ?
• This Snow just tells Haymitch everything, including his Lucy Gray connection, as if he’s trying to speed-run his villain arc. Where was the mischievousness of President Snow the speaking in riddles and rhymes. Boring as f***
• The gumdrop poisoning scene was the only moment that almost hit me emotionally—but it collapsed under the weight of weak logic and poor setup. And it was so rushed !
5. Worldbuilding Contradictions That Undermine the Trilogy
• Haymitch, Betee, Mags, Wiress… all act like they’ve never met in Catching Fire. Why?
• No one mentions Wiress’s mental state possibly being tied to this early rebellion? Wild!
• The Capitol has supposedly faced rebellion before—but acts shocked when Katniss sparks one?
• These aren’t small continuity errors. They’re canon-breaking problems that weaken the original story. Like wtf
6. Effie Trinket: Make It Make Sense
• In the trilogy, Effie is assigned to District 12 as punishment—because she’s not good enough.
• But in this book, Plutarch rewards her and puts in a good word?
• So… was she demoted or promoted? You can’t have it both ways.
7. Writing That Feels Like It Was Phoned In
• The prose lacks the nuance and haunting tone that made the original trilogy unforgettable.
• Clunky, repetitive lines like “We’re all just animals sent to slaughter” and “This is my poster” were so overused they became parodies of themselves. If I heard “this is my poster again” I was going to eat a poisonous berry myself
• Dialogue like “You’re probably wondering why I’m here…” reads like a rejected Dora the Explorer script.
• It feels like Collins no longer trusts her readers to feel or infer—she just explains everything. I loved having to think through things myself in the OG. this felt like I was being talked to the way I explain things to my toddler
8. Themes?
• The themes in this book are the same ones explored in the original trilogy—only shallower and more repetitive.
• Yes, the Capitol is manipulative. Yes, propaganda is dangerous. We know. We’ve known. I feel like there could have been more here.
• It doesn’t say anything new. And worse—it says the same things with less depth and far less impact.
Conclusion: The Gumdrop That almost Broke Me
The only moment that almost made ALMOST me cry was when Lenore Dove ate those gumdrops. And even that, while devastating in concept, made no sense within the narrative framework. It was a rare flicker of emotional weight buried in a story full of contradictions and missed opportunities.
This book didn’t expand the universe—it cracked its foundation. It didn’t deepen Haymitch—it erased him. And it didn’t honor the trilogy—it undermined it.
—
But what truly broke me? What could have been.
This book could’ve given us so much more.
Where were the flashbacks to the Games? Where was the Haymitch who couldn’t sleep, who saw Maysilee’s twin sister around every corner, who carried the crushing weight of trauma until it turned him into the bitter, snarky shell we meet in the Trilogy? That’s the story we deserved. The unraveling. The survivor’s guilt. The darkness that doesn’t show up all at once—but grows like rot.
Side note And Maysilee’s death? Blink and you miss it. No buildup. No gut punch. No soul. She was reduced to a plot point instead of the emotional catalyst she should have been.
This could have been a psychological masterpiece. Instead, it’s a Wikipedia summary wrapped in fan service.
Where was the power? Where was the grief? Where was the snarky asshole version of Haymitch we love not yet fully formed, but already there in the shadows?
2 stars. And I’m being generous.
The bow-wielding, braid-wearing, knife-throwing fan in me wanted to love this. But even she couldn’t overlook how hollow this victory truly was.
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, War
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War
For all the emotional damage it's given me, I enjoyed every second if it with my personal highlight being Haymitch's and Maysilee's dynamic changing throughout the book.
Also: lou lou, my loved, I'll make Suzanne Collins pay for the therapy sessions I'll need
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Classism
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Drug use
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail