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A review by avery_ray
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This was great, and if you love the original hunger games you will love this as well. I personally enjoyed it more than “A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” because it was far better edited, however I still think it needed to be edited more. Overall I would give it 4.25/5 stars, I had a great time reading it. Expect to cry.
*** SPOILERS ***
I personally think that the romance in this book was over handed. It became annoying the amount that Lenore Dove was mentioned for no reason to me it made the moments where her character were used well, the reaping scene, a few times in the arena, and her death less impactful because Haymitch was already thinking about her all the time and it just felt overhanded to me. Also I know she’s important because she’s a Covey but honestly? I felt like she overshadowed Haymitch in his own story and at the same time felt unnecessary.
A few spoilery things I did love though, cause again, I thought this was a great book:
Louella and Lue Lue - oh my god, this hurt so bad and it was so well done. Louella’s death and her replacement with Lue Lue really put in perspective the difference between this games and the original books. Adding into this the shower scene, so good and made me want to throw up. Then the flowers and Lue Lue’s death? It all killed me, this was one of the best storylines in the book.
Maysilee- I really loved maysilee as a character and I loved her arc through the book. Honestly if I didn’t already know and love Haymitch I would have been rooting for her to win the games, what a bad ass, what a fun character, and what a good job giving a character without a lot of main character time such depth.
Characters from other books- this was both good and bad for me. I loved seeing Effie, same with Pultarc and Beetie (although I don’t necessarily think his addition was necessary). I did like Wiress and Mags being there but they didn’t stand out much to me and I felt like it wasn’t necessary for them to be there. The introduction of Haymitch to Pultarc was great however and really set up their relationship going forward, I actually would have loved to see more of this after the games. (I did not like the scene where Pultarc gets Lenore Dove on the phone, it felt unnecessary to me, but I loved the scenes with the milk and in the attic after the games, what a great set up to when they use it in catching fire!) I liked Beetie’s addition, I thought the storyline with his son was fantastic and heartbreaking (that was definitely on of the worst deaths for me along with Luella and Ma and Sid), still even though I did end up liking the story line just fine, I think I would have preferred the story to follow more on the line of the original hunger games, without the arena destroying plot. I would have still loved some of the defiant things that Haymitch was doing like fleeing with Luella’s and Lue Lue’s bodies, attacking the arena after Ampart’s death and breaking through the hedge, but to me the big plot felt kind of out of character for Haymitch especially at that time in his life, and it felt like Lenore Dove was taking over the story again. Idk maybe that’s just me. I did love how the capital was changing the narrative of the games though, that was fantastic. And again I love love love Effie so no complaints from me on that cameo.
Overall, this was a good book. In my opinion it was better than ABOSAS, but it was still far from being as good as the original hunger games trilogy and I felt like at points it was heavy handed and a bit cheesy (although I do love a little cheese).
*** SPOILERS ***
I personally think that the romance in this book was over handed. It became annoying the amount that Lenore Dove was mentioned for no reason to me it made the moments where her character were used well, the reaping scene, a few times in the arena, and her death less impactful because Haymitch was already thinking about her all the time and it just felt overhanded to me. Also I know she’s important because she’s a Covey but honestly? I felt like she overshadowed Haymitch in his own story and at the same time felt unnecessary.
A few spoilery things I did love though, cause again, I thought this was a great book:
Louella and Lue Lue - oh my god, this hurt so bad and it was so well done. Louella’s death and her replacement with Lue Lue really put in perspective the difference between this games and the original books. Adding into this the shower scene, so good and made me want to throw up. Then the flowers and Lue Lue’s death? It all killed me, this was one of the best storylines in the book.
Maysilee- I really loved maysilee as a character and I loved her arc through the book. Honestly if I didn’t already know and love Haymitch I would have been rooting for her to win the games, what a bad ass, what a fun character, and what a good job giving a character without a lot of main character time such depth.
Characters from other books- this was both good and bad for me. I loved seeing Effie, same with Pultarc and Beetie (although I don’t necessarily think his addition was necessary). I did like Wiress and Mags being there but they didn’t stand out much to me and I felt like it wasn’t necessary for them to be there. The introduction of Haymitch to Pultarc was great however and really set up their relationship going forward, I actually would have loved to see more of this after the games. (I did not like the scene where Pultarc gets Lenore Dove on the phone, it felt unnecessary to me, but I loved the scenes with the milk and in the attic after the games, what a great set up to when they use it in catching fire!) I liked Beetie’s addition, I thought the storyline with his son was fantastic and heartbreaking (that was definitely on of the worst deaths for me along with Luella and Ma and Sid), still even though I did end up liking the story line just fine, I think I would have preferred the story to follow more on the line of the original hunger games, without the arena destroying plot. I would have still loved some of the defiant things that Haymitch was doing like fleeing with Luella’s and Lue Lue’s bodies, attacking the arena after Ampart’s death and breaking through the hedge, but to me the big plot felt kind of out of character for Haymitch especially at that time in his life, and it felt like Lenore Dove was taking over the story again. Idk maybe that’s just me. I did love how the capital was changing the narrative of the games though, that was fantastic. And again I love love love Effie so no complaints from me on that cameo.
Overall, this was a good book. In my opinion it was better than ABOSAS, but it was still far from being as good as the original hunger games trilogy and I felt like at points it was heavy handed and a bit cheesy (although I do love a little cheese).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Grief, Alcohol
Minor: Miscarriage, Death of parent