adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Sunrise on the Reaping is set during the 50th Hunger Games - Haymitch Abernathy's games. This book dives into that brutal arena, exploring not just the games themselves, but the crumbling moral fabric of a society built on spectacle and control. Honestly? This book was traumatising -but in that kind of way that you can't put it down. I'd go so far as to say it's Collins' most emotionally intense and well-written book yet. It connects so cleverly to the original trilogy and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but not in a heavy-handed or obvious way. Instead, it weaves everything together into a fuller, darker picture of Panem's evolution. One of the best parts was getting to know Haymitch on a deeper level. His relationship with Louella was heartbreaking and beautiful - it mirrored the dynamic he later has with Katniss, but you could feel how much more raw and unfiltered this version of him was.
That scene when Haymitch places Louella's dead body in front of Snow and CLAPS, absolutely gut-wrenching. It wasn't just powerful; it was poetic and deeply unsettling. That moment alone gives this book 5 stars.
Would I recommend this book? Abso-f***ing-lutely... if you want to be traumatised and emotionally wrecked in the best, most Suzanne Collins way possible.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Suzzane really said stop with the Snow's edits on TikTok! 

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dark emotional sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

"I love you like all-fire."

Suzanne...wtf. How will I recover? I

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A

You know the saying... Suzanne Collins writes when she has something to say. And boy does she. This book was fantastic. I don't know how Suzanne Collins writes a story we know the ending to in such a way that has you hooked from the first sentence. She masterfully worked with propaganda in this book. I'll reread it soon, after I wipe the tears from my eyes.

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adventurous challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I loved Sunrise on the Reaping! Getting Haymitch’s perspective was so raw and real—it made me love him even more. The mix of his sarcasm, pain, and cleverness made this such a captivating read. Easily one of my favorites from the Hunger Games world!

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This was harder to read than past books with everything going on in the world. It offered some interesting backstory on characters we know from the other books, in particular Haymitch, but it doesn’t really offer anything new or especially interesting.

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