Reviews with content warning for Death - Sunrise On The Reaping

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Sunrise On The Reaping by Suzanne Collins

2195 reviews

romanticmelody's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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: Yes

Content Warnings

laurelcloud's review against another edition

3.5

dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Sometimes when I finish a book and I don't know what I'm feeling about it, I like to check out other reviews to see what opinions resonate with me. I finished this book having really enjoyed it but also feeling unsure and I gotta say, the negative reviews have really convinced me this time.

As a standalone, this book is pretty decent. The characters are a little blank and it just feels like one of those super easy, quickly digestible YA reads. But it also doesn't really work as a standalone, naturally, falling somewhere in the middle of a 5-part series. And it also does NOT work with the series.

It really overuses characters from previous books to give itself credibility but that doesn't hold the book up. It's kind of just a bad rewrite of the first Hunger Games book if I'm honest. Very formulaic and predictable. Suzanne Collins really lost the magic with this one. I mean, it was sputtering out pretty badly with the previous book but this one absolutely doused it.

I'll still watch the movie and I still love the original trilogy but the more she adds on to it, the sloppier it gets unfortunately. I don't regret reading it, I did still enjoy it. Let me be clear, Suzanne Collins' mediocrity is still better than a lot of people can ever hope to be. But it did not feel like a true Suzanne Collins masterpiece.

Read at your own discretion and temper your expectations. It'll still break your heart, just like 10% of the usual amount for this series.

Content Warnings

thatboyadrian's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective 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

It took me a while to finish this book because it was making me depressed. The themes were hitting a little too close to home with our current political climate. But this is an amazing book. I loved all the callbacks and nods to the previous books, especially to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Sunrise on the Reaping perfectly shows how Haymitch went from a normal teen to the cold-hearted drunk we met in The Hunger Games.

It also perfectly shows the seeds being planted for the rebellion in Catching Fire and Mockingjay. You can tell how much they learned from Haymitch's attempts and planned better for when the time came. While reading I couldn't help but be in awe of how many parallels existed between Haymitch and Katniss. They both made money doing something illegal. They weren't actually reaped. They both received rare scores. Haymitch told Katniss and Peeta pretty much the exact advice that Wiress gave him for surviving.

Content Warnings

lucialockleymorante's review against another edition

5.0

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.

Content Warnings

moonitious's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

erin22's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

xmusicxobsessed's review against another edition

5.0

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

I was close to tears constantly. Two chapters in and I was already devastated. Haymitch's story is a sad but important one that shows the power of propaganda and media manipulation. I loved Maysilee as well. We lost a queen too soon.

Content Warnings