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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Amanecer en la cosecha by Suzanne Collins

839 reviews

adventurous dark emotional 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: Complicated

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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: Complicated

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

Wow. What a sad book! I gave all the other books (minus Ballad - that was 3.75⭐️) 5 stars. This one…maybe it was too sad, or maybe I was a bit Hunger Games-ed out after reading them all back to back, but I don’t know…something about it made it not as much as a favorite of mine. 

Still! What a wonderful, devastating book! I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who has read the original trilogy. Haymitch is such a better character than Coriolanus. 

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adventurous challenging 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: Yes

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

After The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (which admittedly I wasn't a huge fan of) I was hesitant about this, but my hesitation was completely unwarranted. Collins does not hold back from the obvious political message she had to make and I'm glad for it. The book is both brutal, beautiful, hopeful, and heartbreaking all at the same time. Given it's a prequel you know what will happen, but still you find yourself hoping against hope for a different outcome. Originally I had thought we didn't need a book about Haymitch's game, I mean, didn't we get told what happened and how he won in the original trilogy? But I was proven wrong, there was much more to his story and I'm so glad Collin's told it. 

This book shows that a revolution does not happen overnight, and while certain plans within the book do not succeed, they do start a spark for a larger fire to burn in the future. We do not have to accept the way things are and things are worth fighting for even if we don't get the end results we hope for right away, A message I think we all need right now.

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

Wow, you just know Snow HATES to see a tribute from District 12 coming. This book clearly explains why Hamish is the way he is in the subsequent books. The trauma and abuse that he experienced, how do you get over something like that, the PTSD has to be excruciating. I did enjoy getting to hear more about Beetee and Wiress’s back stories.  I need more of these books, especially Finnick and the others from the 75th Hunger Games.

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

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dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix

“Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.”

Sunrise on the Reaping pulled me right back into the world of the Hunger Games, and it did so with the emotional weight I was hoping for. We’ve always known Haymitch carried deep scars, but now we see the exact horrors that shaped him. This book doesn't just fill in the gaps—it deepens our understanding of him in a powerful way.
The buildup to the Games is slow, deliberate, and rich with characters who all play a role in shaping who Haymitch becomes. One of the most heartbreaking moments for me was Ampert’s death. What it reveals about Beetee’s backstory, and the way it emotionally breaks Haymitch, felt like a turning point. That quote—
“I want to kill them all, Snow, the Gamemakers, every person in the Capitol who has been party to this atrocity.”
—is raw and unfiltered pain. It’s the moment where Haymitch’s resistance to the Games shifts from passive to actively rebellious.

The symbolism of the gray rabbit really stuck with me too. That little creature was more than just an animal—it was hope. Innocence. Comfort. And when it’s brutally taken from him, so is that hope. From then on, Haymitch carries the belief that anyone he loves will eventually be lost. It’s painful but so telling of why he becomes who he is by the time Katniss meets him.

Some may see the references to the prequel and the original trilogy as fan service, but I found them meaningful. The way the story gently lays groundwork for characters like Effie and Plutarch makes it all feel more connected. District 12 has always felt small and tightly woven, and that feeling is reflected beautifully here.

In the end, the reason Haymitch doesn’t give up isn’t because he’s unbreakable—it’s because of the promises he made. These quotes from the end hit me hard: 
“No, Haymitch, we need someone exactly like you.”
“Just luckier?” I say.
“Luckier, or with better timing. Having an army at their back wouldn’t hurt.”
and then being met in the epilogue with
 "She’s not an easy person; she’s like me, Peeta always says. But she was smarter than me, or luckier. She’s the one who finally kept that sun from rising."

This was everything I wanted from a return to Panem. Brutal, heartbreaking, and ultimately powerful.

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adventurous challenging 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

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adventurous challenging dark sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

"Auch wenn es schneit, ein neuer Tag bricht an."

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