A review by arlorees
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I found this to be a completely different reading experience to the original series and to the first prequel, not necessarily in a bad way, but in a notable way.

I suppose because I knew the ending going in, including
what happens to Haymitch's family, since he is entirely alone by the original series
that most of the actual tension was sucked out of the story, for me. But that does not mean that it wasn't enjoyable. This was an extremely easy read, chapters were flying by and by the time I was in the last quarter I couldn't put it down, I had to finish it. 

If I had to name an emotion to summarise the experience of reading it, it'd be that I found the whole thing very interesting. I was fascinated to see some of our big name characters from the original series 25 years younger. I loved in particular the seeding of
Effie being not the worst person in the capitol
among others.

The best thing about this book, in my opinion,
was watching the transition from Haymitch pre-victor into Victor Haymitch. I think this was written incredibly, his haze and drunkenness and refusal to let anyone close to him was so smoothly written that I barely noticed the transition and yet by the end I could tell he felt so much closer to the Haymitch we knew from the trilogy. Incredible writing.


If you're a hunger games fan, this is an obvious recommendation. Don't worry about it spoiling the original series or anything like that. This is a slam dunk of a prequel. Informative of characters we know and love from the originals and illustrative of how far back some of the plots really go. 
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