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stephanieluxton 's review for:
Sunrise on the Reaping
by Suzanne Collins
dark
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:
Complicated
This prequel tells the story of the 50th Quarter Quell hunger games - starring Haymitch Abernathy.
Everyone has been losing their minds over how great this book is and although I gave it 4 stars, that was a very generous 4 stars. The book is fast paced and the hunger games concept will always be appealing because the arenas and game designs differ from book to book.
I had fun reading this but it did disappoint me. There's quite a few reasons this book didn't work well for me and I think it's because it truly is a fan service book - I don't think the author had any intention of writing these prequels when she started the main trilogy.
Here's where it went wrong for me:
1. The suspense is lessened because we already know how Haymitch's games end, as it was revealed in a previous book. Even though I read that book over 10 years ago, I still remembered that part. There's no suspense wondering if he is going to win or sacrifice himself for one of the others because we already know he lives. We also know that his major side quest that he's on is not going to have the major effect the rebels want, because otherwise the main trilogy wouldn't happen. Throughout the story, Haymitch questions who he can trust, but the readers already know, diminishing the suspense/mystery even more.
2. The romance was boring. I just didn't really care. We didn't get to see the romance blossom, grow, or change. This book had the flattest love story out of the entire series.
3. The deaths carried very little emotional impact. Quite a few loveable characters get injured or die in horrific ways and none of them carry a weight even close to what we experienced in the first book. Everytime a major characters died, I found myself thinking "Whelp. That sucks." and carrying on. This may also be because there are so many characters in this book that the author has to snuff them out pretty quickly. I don't think the story benefitted from having so many characters in any way.
4. I also think there were too many mutts in this one and it made the game feel super rigged. I know the game is established to be somewhat rigged from the start, but this was next level. Also the mutts weren't as daunting as ones from the other books. There was very little tension throughout this game. I didn't feel like the stakes were super high and I didn't feel scared enough.
What did the author do right? Well, there were a couple good character arcs. I believe she did her best to create suspense even though we already know where Haymitch ends up decades later. The book is fairly fast paced and very easy to read. Most people seem to really like it so I think she did alright.
Everyone has been losing their minds over how great this book is and although I gave it 4 stars, that was a very generous 4 stars. The book is fast paced and the hunger games concept will always be appealing because the arenas and game designs differ from book to book.
I had fun reading this but it did disappoint me. There's quite a few reasons this book didn't work well for me and I think it's because it truly is a fan service book - I don't think the author had any intention of writing these prequels when she started the main trilogy.
Here's where it went wrong for me:
1. The suspense is lessened because we already know how Haymitch's games end, as it was revealed in a previous book. Even though I read that book over 10 years ago, I still remembered that part. There's no suspense wondering if he is going to win or sacrifice himself for one of the others because we already know he lives. We also know that his major side quest that he's on is not going to have the major effect the rebels want, because otherwise the main trilogy wouldn't happen. Throughout the story, Haymitch questions who he can trust, but the readers already know, diminishing the suspense/mystery even more.
2. The romance was boring. I just didn't really care. We didn't get to see the romance blossom, grow, or change. This book had the flattest love story out of the entire series.
3. The deaths carried very little emotional impact. Quite a few loveable characters get injured or die in horrific ways and none of them carry a weight even close to what we experienced in the first book. Everytime a major characters died, I found myself thinking "Whelp. That sucks." and carrying on. This may also be because there are so many characters in this book that the author has to snuff them out pretty quickly. I don't think the story benefitted from having so many characters in any way.
4. I also think there were too many mutts in this one and it made the game feel super rigged. I know the game is established to be somewhat rigged from the start, but this was next level. Also the mutts weren't as daunting as ones from the other books. There was very little tension throughout this game. I didn't feel like the stakes were super high and I didn't feel scared enough.
What did the author do right? Well, there were a couple good character arcs. I believe she did her best to create suspense even though we already know where Haymitch ends up decades later. The book is fairly fast paced and very easy to read. Most people seem to really like it so I think she did alright.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Torture